Wisdom 4 The Dimensions of Wisdom

[HKHaugan]

Wisdom 4 The Dimensions of Wisdom

 Do you know you’re IPFL?

 If Jesus is the summary picture of wisdom in the flesh, it is with a purpose. That purpose is to allow us to see Heaven and the world as He sees them and live accordingly. He gives us the Spirit of wisdom, the Holy Spirit, to widen our spiritual horizon, our local vision, our spiritual witness and our spiritual application as relational witnesses within them. The Lord God is a relational God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in a perfectly balanced unity. We are His images; mind, heart and spirit designed to be a unity within. But they are not in balance because of sin. So, Jesus came to restore that balance through forgiveness and the gift of faith to follow Him. That is the beginning of experiencing God’s wisdom.

 We can see God’s wisdom exercised in four spiritual dimensions; who we are, why we are, what we are and where we are. It comes down to our identity, our purpose, our function and our location.  To have a wise understanding of these dimensions is the beginning of putting ourselves in the framework of spiritual reality which is an eternal functional reality. “So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2Cor.4:18).”

 God’s Wisdom leads us to the pure fact that everything we do is motivated by what we can’t see. That’s why these dimensions are so important and why our identity, our purpose, our function and our location take priority. These are the spiritual realities that specify and solidify our place in this world.

 But there is a fifth dimension which is the context for the first four. The one the Lord taught us to pray will come on earth as it already exists, God’s Heavenly Kingdom. It’s the dimension that feeds and nurtures the first four. It is the ultimate spiritual reality He prepares us for. It arrives through the Spirit of wisdom so that we witness “on earth as it is in Heaven.”

 If we stay spiritually alert, the eyes His wisdom gives us will see Him working His dimensional will while we’re on our way from one person to the next.   We carry these dimensions with us. They are our IPFL:

 Identity. Who are we? We are images of God by birth and children of God by faith.

Purpose. Why are we? To reflect our Creator God by loving and serving Him.

Function. What are we? Disciples, witnesses, sharing Jesus, being spiritual in the secular world.

Location. Where are we? We are in physical bodies to be spiritually relational wherever we are.

 

We have a focus. It is Our Spiritual Horizon, the Kingdom of God

There is no limitation to the experience of the Kingdom of God. In this world it is seen in the broad expanse of the Body of Christ in all its diversity. There is a worldwide spiritual family of those who have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. They are those Paul calls saints (literally, holy ones) because they recognize they are images of God who have chosen to follow Him, thus set apart to serve Him (e.g.Rom.1:7). The eternal Kingdom, the one which awaits us when we die, is filled with the former saints who surround us as the Lord’s witnesses (Heb.12:1).

Our Spiritual Horizon Gives Us Our Local Vision

Where we live and spend 90% of our time and energy is among people of all kinds but with a common spiritual identity, they are images of God. And they, like us, have a common spiritual malady, we are all sinners. There are forgiven believers in Jesus and unforgiven non-believers. Our local vision is to serve both by being a spiritual witness serving non-believers and a spiritual support in the family of other believers.

Our Vision Give Us Our Spiritual Witness

Jesus said He is the Light of the World and in turn says we, because we believe in Him, are also His lights in the world.    We are the lamps through which He shines. We are spiritual fruit bearers as well. That is, we bear the spiritual qualities of Jesus through the presence of the Holy Spirit, His Spirit, in us (Gal.5:22-23).

Our Spiritual Witness Gives Us Our Application

Cognizant of the two divisions of people in the world, those who accept Jesus and those who don’t, we minister to both. For the believer, the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to minister within the spiritual family (Rom.12, 1Cor.12, Eph.4). For those outside the family the Holy Spirit provides us with spiritual fruit to bring their attention to Jesus their source (Gal.5:22-23).

So, the question we need to carry with us, the question keeping us on track, the question we need to put on our door and on a card to carry with us while we are on our way, a wisdom card that asks,

What is Our IPFL?

Cut this out for wallet or purse,

                                               to work and recall it and then rehearse:

 

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What Is My Spiritual IPFL?

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