Title: Self-discovery (5) 2000.01.23
Text: Philippians 2:5
Today, continuing from the previous time, I would like to conclude the word ‘self-discovery’ by witnessing what kind of frameworks hinder spiritual growth and why we must boldly break our molds in order to receive answers and blessings.
1. Personality frame as a hindrance to spiritual growth
In the second half of Colossians 3:9, it says to the children of God who are born again in the Lord, “Having put off the old man and his works, and put on the new man, who are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.”
Therefore, we, who have been born again in the Lord, must be renewed in our knowledge with only the Word of God, which is the truth, by thoroughly throwing away not only the appearance and behavior of the old man, but also the previously held untruthful knowledge. Even if something you thought was right, if it goes against the Word of God, you have to throw it away. If there is a frame that you made up saying, ‘This is the truth’ because you don’t fully know the truth, you have to break it down boldly.
In order for us to discover and break these molds, it is very helpful to realize where our molds come from. Of course, the root is because of evil in the heart, but more specifically, if you know how all the fields you have have influenced the shaping of the mold, you can break the mold more quickly.
One of the factors is the personality, because it can be said that the personality is a frame that one has created during the process of growing up. Of course, there are many fields of personality that are innate through the qi in the nature of parents, but this can also be changed according to one’s efforts and through the teaching of the truth. For example, an introvert as a child turns into an extrovert as he grows up, and a timid person becomes bolder.
Let’s look at an example of how personality influences the formation of a frame.
1) Bright and positive personality and dark and negative personality
A person with a bright and positive personality confesses, ‘I can do it, it will be fine’ rather than becoming discouraged when certain difficulties come and sees a relaxed and generous appearance. However, a person with a negative and dark personality will see the opposite.
It is the fact that this kind of personality greatly affects the way we enter into the Lord and live our life of faith. For example, a bright and positive person can easily embrace others because they have a relaxed and generous mind, and because they always try to see the bright and good side, they try to understand others rather than misunderstand them, and they are full of gratitude and joy in everything.
Therefore, you rarely bump into other people, and even if you do, you can easily reconcile. Also, when someone rebukes you or criticizes you, you can see that instead of feeling depressed and having a hard time because of it, you can say ‘I can do better in the future’ and gain strength.
On the other hand, what about a person with a negative and dark personality? Because I am always impatient and worried, not only do I have little time to embrace my partner, but I also see the negative side of anything I see first, so I misunderstand and judge rather than understand and embrace it. And depending on the circumstances around you, your emotions change easily, and you become anxious and discouraged even over small things.
So, when someone points out or rebukes you, you suffer and suffer for a long time, so you cannot easily get along with or harmonize with other people.
Because of these dark and negative parts in one’s mind, whatever one sees is not the truth, it is distorted and hidden, and it is the fact that if you accumulate images from these personalities, it can become your own frame.
So, which of these two personalities can grow spiritually faster? Naturally, he is a person with a bright and positive personality. This is because human cultivation is a process in which people collide with each other and discover themselves within them and transform into the truth, so bright and positive people can go through this process more quickly.
Moreover, God’s Word says, ‘Rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances.’ If you follow these words, of course, you can change into a bright and positive personality. Therefore, if you have a frame that stems from your personality, you must first change your personality to think positively about everything and have a bright and generous mind that can embrace anything.
2) Active and bold personality and passive and timid personality
You can see that God uses more people who are positive and bold in the truth. Let’s take a look at Timothy, a co-worker of the Apostle Paul, the son he bore through the gospel, and Elisha, a disciple of the prophet Elijah.
Throughout the Bible, we can see how much Paul loved, cared for, and trusted and trusted Timothy, and we can see that he had to continue to encourage and strengthen him through his letters to Timothy (1 Timothy 6:11-21, 2 Timothy 2) :One).
Based on the contents of these letters, many speculate that Timothy’s personality may have been somewhat introverted. Of course, he was imprisoned while preaching the gospel with the apostle Paul, and according to tradition, he was martyred later. That is why it is difficult to find records of Timothy’s powers in the Bible.
On the other hand, Elisha, who was a disciple of the prophet Elijah, was bold enough to follow Elijah, who was about to ascend to heaven, to the end and confess, “I hope that I have double your inspiration.”
Therefore, in the truth, it can be said that positive and courageous people are spiritually more advantageous, and in this sense, personality itself can sometimes act as a frame that blocks opportunities for spiritual enlightenment and greater spiritual growth.
However, one thing to keep in mind is that if we want to be bright, positive, bold and active in everything we do, we should never come out as unrestrained or break the peace by bumping into others. Rather, we need to know that we can act positively and boldly at the moment we really need it when we have the spiritual meekness that can embrace all people with virtue and love.
2. A frame created by lines in one’s view
In some cases, even though he is a good-hearted person compared to others, he sees goodness in his own eyes, and this becomes a surprisingly strong frame. He does not hesitate to sacrifice himself for others, does not behave rudely or make it difficult, and even though he has a heart to understand and embrace anyone, conflicts and disobedience occur before he thinks of God’s will. It’s because
If God says ‘A’, you can just say ‘Ah’, but as you follow the good in your own way, it comes out as ‘Yah’. However, the two letters ‘ah’ and ‘ya’ are only one dot difference, but the result is obedience and disobedience, which are opposites.
For example, if you have a meeting or meeting during the all-night prayer hours set by the church. Since there is not much time for everyone to gather, and God’s work is urgent, they may think that they chose the good side for each other, but the result is disobedience to God’s will. Also, there is a given order in the church, and if you break this order, no matter how good it is, it will eventually lead to disobedience, which God turns away from.
Therefore, although they did it with good intentions, they should realize that the results are out of God’s will and break the mold that arises from good in their own eyes by doing what is good in God’s sight.
3. To receive answers and blessings, you must break your mold with the Word and prayer.
As soon as some people hear the word of God, they definitely feel like ‘I have to do this from now on, I can do it.’ This is because, when we hear the Word, we must be moved by the deep feeling of the Father’s love in our hearts, so that we can cast away untruth and be transformed into the truth. Only when grace is touched by inspiration, we enter the level of obedience, works, and power, and God’s answers and works follow.
However, there are cases where, even after hearing the word of truth for a long time and feeling that you are receiving grace from the word, your appearance hardly changes or changes are slow. They have knowledge of faith, so they can teach others, and there is no particular appearance of evil, but even after a long time, the power and power of the word do not follow, and the deeper spiritual words cannot be understood. At this time, if we pray with power, we can discover ourselves and receive power from above. In this case, we see that prayer is also spiritually blocked.
So, I spend a lot of time and pray hard, but the amount of prayer that comes up to God is only a small amount. No matter how much we pray, we do it with our thoughts within our own frame, and unless it is a prayer with the heart like Jesus, who showed the example of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, that prayer will break through the camp of the enemy devil and Satan who has taken over the power of the air and break through the camp of the Father’s throne. It becomes difficult to reach the front.
In 1 Timothy 4:5, it is said, “We are sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” If the way of the Word and prayer is blocked by your own framework, you will not be able to grow spiritually any more.
So, what should we do to discover and break these frameworks?
First, you should not blame others for anything, but consider everything as your own refinement and examine yourself. And if we collide with someone and our peace is broken, we must examine ourselves in the light of the truth whether it is really because of ourselves from the center, and we must keep in mind that only then can we discover and break our own frame.
Through today’s Word, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become blessed saints who break the thoughts and molds of the flesh and become grains of wheat that die in your field and make the kingdom of God beautiful.
