I was helping to move a heavy grill over the weekend for a friend who was moving from their old house to their new one when there was a huge breakdown in communication. He told us to put it on the porch, which I assumed was the outdoor upstairs covered area off the kitchen. Half way up, we found out he meant downstairs - what I considered a patio. Same words, different meanings - and a lot of grill moving. Well...it's important that we define out terms or it can lead to serious problems spiritually. Words like love, truth, or faith can often be defined falsely by others instead of how the Bible speaks of them. We could be using the same words, but mean very different things. Let's allow God to define our terms and let us honor them.
#SetYourMindAbovePodcast
I was helping to move a heavy grill over the weekend for a friend who was moving from their old house to their new one when there was a huge breakdown in communication. He told us to put it on the porch, which I assumed was the outdoor upstairs covered area off the kitchen. Half way up, we found out he meant downstairs - what I considered a patio. Same words, different meanings - and a lot of grill moving. Well...it's important that we define out terms or it can lead to serious problems spiritually. Words like love, truth, or faith can often be defined falsely by others instead of how the Bible speaks of them. We could be using the same words, but mean very different things. Let's allow God to define our terms and let us honor them.
#SetYourMindAbovePodcast
Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way.
Well, we’re on day 3 of sick kids at the Sipe house – but hopefully we are making some headway with things. To make a long story short, our daughter went to the pediatrician today and her tonsils are absolutely enormous. The working theory is that Ava is perhaps a carrier for strep, and that is why it kept reemerging before and possibly why they are so sick again – but the test just isn’t picking it up. So, after we get results back from her throat culture, the plan is likely to have her get her tonsils removed. I’ll keep you all posted, and again thank you every single one of you for your kind thoughts and prayers. Naturally I have been home helping with the kids and getting work done as I can over the past few days, but one of the things I am most bummed about is that I have not been available to help one of our families move. The Lebers went through weeks of serious Covid infections, putting them behind on finishing their new home and getting out of their old one, so they’ve needed some assistance from the church family here. I was all set to help yesterday and today, but of course I had to back out due to our own illnesses, which was a huge bummer. At least I got to help for a little bit this past Saturday morning. I want to share a story with you about an interaction that Ronnie Moffitt, Jonathan Leber & I had on that day. As we started unloading things at their new house, one of the first things on the back of the trailer was a very nice but very heavy outdoor grill. Ronnie and I paired up to move the heavy sucker when I asked Jonathan, “Hey, do you want this grill on the back porch?” “Sure that’s perfect, if you’re willing” responded Jonathan. Ronnie and I looked at each other and smiled because we knew the task that was ahead of us. Their house has two levels – including a large covered area for outdoor entertaining off the kitchen on the top floor and then a concrete patio area off the bonus family room on the bottom floor. Ronnie and I took a deep breath, lifted the grill, and started making our way over to the stairs to take the grill up onto the back porch. Moving a grill is one of the hardest things because you never have a good place to grip. You either get your hands cut because you’re lifting on a thin edge or where you are lifting is too flimsy to lift the grill. We finally got a handle on it and started up the stairs, me going backwards. It was heavy & awkward, but we made it almost all the way up the stairs. That’s when to our surprise Jonathan called out and said, “Where are you guys taking that?” “Um…the back porch?” I yelled back, breathing heavily. “That’s the deck. The bottom level is the back porch,” he yelled back. “I thought that was a patio, since it’s concrete?” Ronnie asked. We laughed and shrugged, and we started making our way back down while Jonathan tried to tell us not to worry about it, but we were going to put it where he needed it. I guess we just assumed that he would want it off the kitchen, so that was problem number one. But the biggest issue is that we all were talking about the same things but had different understandings of the terms we were using. A deck to him was not how I thought of a deck. A porch to me was not his idea of a porch. We were using the same words, but to each of us they had very different meanings which resulted in confusion. Well, we finally got the grill on the back porch/patio – whatever you want to call it, and then all had a good laugh about it over some pizza on the back deck – or whatever you want to call it.
Defining our terms is important, isn’t it? Not doing so can lead to all kinds of confusion, miscommunication, and even be dangerous in certain contexts. But where I have found defining our terms to be the most important is when it comes to spiritual matters. We use words like love, truth, and faith; and while two people might be using the same words, they are often referring to very different things. Let’s just examine each of these for a moment. If I were to ask you what love means, what would you say? Many might say that love is simply a strong emotion that you cannot control, that you love who you love & you can’t help it. Therefore if you “fall out of love” it’s not your fault, because love does what love does. However, if we allowed the Bible to define our terms, we would find a very different definition for love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 reads, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” Taking a deeper look at love, we see that love is not something outside of our control, but that love is a choice. We have complete control over whether we chose to love someone or not, because it is the decision to put the needs of others ahead of your own, to be selfless. The text also said that love rejoices with the truth, but what is truth? Some would suggest that truth is subjective, that what’s true for you is true for you & and what’s true for me is true for me. As such, there is not one way to God, but many pathways to God. However, if we allowed the Bible to define our terms, we would find a very different definition of truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Truth is not subjective, but objective by definition – every person to have ever lived is bound by it. There are not many truths, but one truth – and that truth is found only in Jesus. As such, there are not many paths and many truths that lead to God, but only one to those who have faith in Jesus. But what is faith? As some would define it, faith is merely believing that Jesus is the Son of God – because after all, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” But is the biblical definition of faith merely intellectual assent? Or is it something more? James addresses this himself when he wrote, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17) You see, a saving faith is not one that is merely professed by mouth, but is lived out. True saving faith is a faith that acts, that strives to obey Jesus. We cannot be saved by our works, we are saved by grace through faith, but that faith is an active & living faith. These are just three examples, but I think you can understand just how important it is for us to define our terms. Not doing so has resulted in much confusion, frustration, and danger in many people’s spiritual lives. Just because we’re using the same words doesn’t mean we are understanding the same thing. And ultimately, we need to remember that it’s not up to us how we want to understand things, it’s up to God. He defines our terms, and it’s up to us to understand them and apply them in our lives.
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.