An Unfolding Future<\/strong><\/a>\nTuesday, February 27, 2018<\/strong>\n<\/iframe><br \/>\nTo fight the concept of evolution is to fight the core meaning of biblical faith, which is a <em>generous balancing act between knowing and not knowing<\/em>. Unbelief is to insist on total knowing now\u2014by myself! As people of faith, we believe that God is guiding this mysterious universe, although much is hidden from us, both in the past and the future. \u201cEye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and the human heart has not conceived, what God has prepared for those who love God\u201d (1 Corinthians 2:9). Judeo-Christian believers, in particular, should have been the first to understand and promote a philosophy of progress because they had an Absolute Source and Goal to ground the trajectory.<\/p>\n<p>In 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) published his findings that revealed the universe was expanding. Many began to imagine that if the biggest frame of reference\u2014the cosmos\u2014was still unfolding, then maybe that is the pattern of everything. The latest evidence shows that this expansion is even happening at an ever-increasing rate! It seems to mirror the increasing rate of change with each new technological and scientific breakthrough. This rapid change is scary and unsettling. I can see why people are panicking and trying to find some solid ground, a fixed point to the turning world. Fundamentalist religion and identity politics seem to be running the show now, and I can even understand that. But God has never \u201ccircled the wagons\u201d to regain control and stability. God only moves in every larger spheres and orbits, which is what we mean by calling God infinite, eternal, or almighty.<\/p>\n<p>I have no knowledge of where the universe story might be fully or finally heading, but I can see what it has already revealed with great clarity\u2014that knowledge builds on itself, is cumulative, and is always moving outward toward ever-greater discovery. People who cling to the past and resist change have a hard time participating in God\u2019s and their own future. Perhaps this is an appropriate application of Jesus\u2019 somewhat problematic words, \u201cAnyone who <em>has<\/em> will be given more . . . but anyone who has not, will lose what little he has\u201d (see Matthew 25:29). This is only true in the realm of spirit and wisdom which increase and evolve with use. Material reality decreases with usage, which is why our consumer worldview is unsustainable.<\/p>\n<p>In the words of Thomas Keating,<\/p>\n<p>There seems to be an intent or a plan in creation to bring into manifestations revelations of the Unknowable One that awaken in us the greater and greater capacity to love. . . . Evolutionary consciousness is extremely important . . . and science has vastly increased the understanding of how the immensity of the universe continues to expand and how its infinitesimal quality continues to unfold.<\/p>\n<p>God is more and more trying to move the human race to the next stage of consciousness beyond the rational, technological, dominating worldview . . . recognizing the truth that there is only one self ultimately and this is God manifesting in us. [1]<\/p>\n<p>______________________________________________<\/p>\n<div class=\"row title-row\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"utmost-devo-title col col-sm-12 col-xs-12\">\n<h2 class=\"entry-title\">The Impoverished Ministry of Jesus<\/h2>\n<h4>By <a href=\"https:\/\/utmost.org\/oswald-chambers-bio\">Oswald Chambers<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">Where then do You get that living water? \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&search=John+4%3A11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John 4:11<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"row entry-meta\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"top-sharing\">\u201cThe well is deep\u201d \u2014 and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+4:11\">John 4:11<\/a>). Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the \u201cwells\u201d in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life? Suppose that you have a deep \u201cwell\u201d of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, \u201cLet not your heart be troubled\u2026\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+14:1\">John 14:1<\/a>). Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, \u201cBut, Lord, the well is too deep, and even You can\u2019t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.\u201d Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn\u2019t bring anything up from the wells of human nature\u2014 He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by saying, \u201cOf course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.\u201d The thing that approaches the very limits of His power is the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, \u201cOf course, He can\u2019t do anything about this.\u201d We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, \u201cIt can\u2019t be done.\u201d You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"bottom-rule\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-6 col-sm-offset-3\">\n<div class=\" bottom-sharing\">\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\">\n<div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\">\n<div class=\"sd-content\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Evolution An Unfolding Future Tuesday, February 27, 2018 To fight the concept of evolution is to fight the core meaning of biblical faith, which is a generous balancing act between knowing and not knowing. Unbelief is to insist on total knowing now\u2014by myself! As people of faith, we believe that God is guiding this mysterious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16480"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16480"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16484,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16480\/revisions\/16484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}