I know nothing about nuclear fission! (The truth be known, thought the word was fusion.) So I went to Wikipedia for a bit of help in this blog pondering. Here is what Wiki said about Critical Mass:
“Critical mass refers to the minimum amount of fissile material needed to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. In nuclear physics, it is the amount of material required to maintain a fission reaction once it has begun. The critical mass varies depending on the type of fissile material used, its concentration, purity, and the surrounding conditions. For example, the critical mass of uranium-235 is approximately 52 kilograms (115 pounds), while for uranium-233, it is about 35 pounds (15 kg). Achieving critical mass is crucial for the design and operation of nuclear reactors and weapons, as it ensures that the reaction remains self-sustaining without increasing power or temperature.”
The goal of nuclear fission is to produce heat that can be directed to produce electricity. I am sure that is an oversimplification, but it also has an application for my spiritual life. Maybe yours too.
Just as in critical mass it matters what type of fissile material is used, its concentration, purity, and the surrounding conditions. All this is at the mercy of our God-given responsibility to choose what we want as the core desire of our hearts.
The goal of faith is to foster a Divine relationship that generates the energy necessary for the coming of God’s Kingdom. God created me to live a life of dependence on Him. The antithesis of faith is self-assurance; with God’s assistance, I can live a blessed life. That assurance can be echoed in the familiar hyper-affirmation, “I know that I know that I know!” (I’ve drawn a blank as to how that should be punctuated.)
Do I want God to “bless” me, or do I want to bless Him?
Faith does not eliminate the ambiguity of life; it is the courage to continue, despite having only a partial understanding of the visible facts and a vision of what could be. Faith is not knowing what the future is, but the unreasonable confidence that I am not alone, nor will I be alone, in that future. Faith is not assurance that I will be successful in my pursuit, but that God is already successful in His pursuit.
Remember your church History! Many followers of Jesus have been exterminated because of their faith. Faith does not change the condition of our living, but it does change our condition in living our life.
All humans want a house to hide in during the storms. All humans are busy building such a house. It is the location upon which we build that makes all the difference.
I really do not know what will become of me after I die. I know what the Bible says, and I believe what it says. But that’s because I trust the Bible, not because I have some experience, insight, or intrinsic knowledge into what will happen. I know by faith. If I knew that I knew, I would no longer have need of faith. I do not trust my knowing, but I trust God’s knowing.
Faith is knowledge-based and experience-tested.
If a person is not challenged by their current circumstances, they do not truly understand the circumstances in which they find themselves. There is no situation I can enter where I have sufficient light to walk boldly for God. On my best day, my light is darkness. God does not give us His light. He passes His light through us more than upon us.
If Jesus is the light of the world, then I should assume that I have no light to claim as my own. Only as I get to know Jesus and adapt to His teachings can I experience the power of the Father working through me.
When God said, “…you will surely die,” He did not just mean that our hearts would stop beating at some point in the future. I believe He meant that everything you choose to do, every thought you have, will disintegrate into non-life. Any organic thought we might have comes out of us deficient and destructive. The only thoughts we might have that are life-giving are those that originate in and flow from Him.
You may be confident that your thoughts are all correct evaluations of our culture. But you’re wrong. If humans have not found a way to get along by now, there is a mighty good reason. If thinkers, who are far better thinkers than you or I am, have not proposed workable solutions to the plights of humanity, there is a reason!
Yesterday’s faith cannot empower me to face today’s energy needs.
The principle of faith originates absolutely from the Creator, who chose to reveal Himself. Faith that changes the construct and direction of living on this planet must, MUST, originate in the voice of the One who spoke it into being. The power of our faith can be no stronger than our accumulation of, reliance on, and obedience to the Biblical knowledge AND the extent to which we specifically obey what we have specifically heard Him say in His Word.
All knowledge passes through “the valley of the shadow of death” to become faith. Be wary of anyone who claims to have faith but has no scars from the battle.
No Word = no faith – hungrily consumed in the fellowship of like-minded Truth desperados.
No obedience = no faith – radical activation of that knowledge in the womb of a faith-nurturing body of believers.
Daily Bible reading and study are good. But they are also useless if not accompanied by appropriate action, obedience. As James said, “Anyone who says he loves God and does not love his brother is a liar.”
Anyone who says they believe in God but adjusts their theology to adapt to their worldview is a fool, worse than a fool!
Our faith is our contentment to allow God to unfold His kingdom on earth. It is not what we believe about God. It is not what we think God can do. Or what we think God should do.
Our faith is not lessened/weakened by what we do not understand about God, but by what we refuse to accept as from God.
1 John 5:4 For whatever (notice that he did not say “whoever”) is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.
John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. (For me, that means my identity, my personhood.)
Photo – One of my favorites from driving Little Shepherd Trail in Kingdom Come State Park near Cumberland, Kentucky, in October of this year.
Baldwin Heirlooms 