Enlightenment
Enlightenment frees us from the bondage of any false interpretation of the Scriptures. It leads us to attain the spiritual knowledge and understanding of the Almighty God, who He is, what He wants from us, and why we are here and will be gone tomorrow. Are we here on a mission, or have we just existed by chance, created, or evolved?
Some anointed Thinkers of the past lost their lives seeking answers to human existence, expressing human potential and life form. Some early church fathers supported these great thinkers’ theories as the generation progressed. Augustine or St. Augustine adopted some of Socrates’ teachings, and St. Thomas Aquinas was Plato’s immortal soul theory. Is there any connection between Paul and St. Paul’s treatment of women and Aristotle’s treatment of women? Do we have an accurate or definite answer? We don’t! Do we have an opinion on how Paul’s ministerial mind worked at that time? Possible! Was he under stress to work for his forgiveness? We do not know this either.
When we seek enlightenment, we do ourselves a favor; we help unveil what is dormant within us. We start to think, and for all you know, our belief system begins to function to the fullest and reach the apex of our thought until we cannot believe any further and still fall short of an answer. Habakkuk, during his time, kept questioning God why his requests were not being answered. He did not realize that the response had already been given. Sometimes our emotion dictates to take a quick action only to be shaken when wrongdoing superseded the remarkable thing.
From childhood to adulthood, fear is our greatest enemy to move on. Its existence is a burden and overshadows our opportunity to use the powerful built-in body, the power to think, our capacity to ask, our choice, our will of self-control; and using all these powers, Fear will depart, and the truth will surface and set us free. Although the Bible says, “Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom,” some people use the word “fear” as respect. If that is so, we do not need to talk about it, but it is not how some feel about it. Every time we do something wrong, we are shaken, cannot think right, feel self-pity, and are convicted by our conscience. In this situation, we must remind ourselves to fear no evil, for he cannot destroy the body and soul.
There are many kinds of fears that clutter the human mind. We will discuss the two types of fears: fear of God and Fear of ourselves. We fear God. We are concerned that we might offend Him because we love Him and respect Him. He is our provider of all the things we need to survive, like the air we breathe, the water that sustains our life, and the sun’s heat that gives us strength and energy. We could ask for a luxurious living, but it doesn’t mean it will be given to us without working. Money doesn’t grow on a tree, but if we ask for our needs, that is a different story.
The second Fear is that God may harm us, punish us, or make our life miserable. That is not the way we want to know Him, not the way we want to pass on to our children, grandchildren, and others who don’t know Him; why will He do that? God is a loving, sound, and the most incredible Father of all. We can always lean on Him in times of need. When we go back to ancient times, He punished those people because of disobedience to His will, but they were God’s servants who needed to follow specific laws during those times. We are no longer under the laws of Moses; through the redemptive blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, that graces us to be the children of God.
Fear is like the shadow that follows us everywhere we go, whatever we do, so keep focus and trust that He, our Lord God Almighty, will never leave us nor forsake us, and that is a promise.