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I think it’s a fair assessment to say that not too many people like absolutes. And that’s because absolutes have been seen as limiting. But absolutes are not necessarily as negative as they may first seem.
Let’s first look at our good ol’ friend Webster’s Dictionary for the definition of the word absolute. To start with it’s an adjective meaning it provides a description of something or someone giving us information about our subject. As a descriptor it tells us that something is unrestricted, outright, unmitigated, relatively free from mixture or pure, free from imperfection, and also unquestionable.
While there are more definitions in the list I think this gives us a good idea of what the word means. An absolute means something that is free from being questioned and is free from imperfection. Such as having absolute standards for production quality. Before an item can be sent out to a customer it cannot be anything less than that standard. While it is in some ways restrictive it is also good because it prevents you from receiving something that is of poor quality. Think of brakes on a car or a bike. If those brakes don’t fit a specific standard it will not be able to slow down or stop your car or bike. This can lead to accidents which result in medical expenses or even death of yourself and others because you couldn’t prevent the accident.
In things like manufacturing this is easy to understand but we can also understand it in food handling. If certain foods are not kept at certain temperatures or are not gotten rid of at a certain time then they will go bad. This can cause sickness of a person which, again, results in them having medical expenses and depending on the severity it leads to death.
I’m not trying to scare you here but I needed to use those examples to make my point. Absolutes help provide us with a structure that we can rely on. If you want to draw a picture accurately you rely on absolutes in our world such as how a building looks. If you are looking at something from one perspective then the lines will be not so much right angles but diagonal and you’ll have tilting and leaning parallelograms for the windows and doors.
For these types of things people don’t really mind because yeah they like things being accurate and they don’t want to get sick or have an accident. But when it comes to subjects like truth and right and wrong we find more push back because it impacts how they live their life. People are sinful and have inherited a sinful nature from Adam for as it is written in Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
This verse combined with Romans 6:23 which states “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Informs us that we have a choice to make in how we live our life. We can live it sinfully or righteously.
For non-Christians the choice is will they accept Jesus as their savior and the King of their life. A lot of people don’t like the idea of surrendering control over their lives like that. This comes from pride which believes that we know best and fear that things will fail or go wrong if we let go of that control. It manifests differently and can enter into our minds through many means and methods but pride and fear work hand in hand in this situation. Scripture warns us against using our own worldly wisdom. Both in Proverbs 3:4-7 and in 1st Corinthians 3:19-20 where Paul is writing a letter of instruction to the church in Corinth.
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness’, and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (1st Corinthians 3:19-20 NKJV)
Once a person has chosen to be a Christian they then have a follow up choice about if they will live a godly life or remain in their worldliness. Scripture has many passages that compare the two options of godliness and worldliness sometimes called the ways of man. Psalms 1 and 4, along with Jeremiah 17:5-8 to just name a couple. I choose these three sections specifically because they all compare the contrasting lifestyles to each other.
I like these passages because they don’t deny times of trouble. It’s less hard to see it in Psalms 1 than the other two passages I have mentioned but should you look for it it is there. Troubles are not denied but a promise is put forth that we are not alone in them. Verse 1 of Psalms 4 speaks about God saying “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.” (NKJV) In that verse God is called the source of the Psalmist’s righteousness and immediately follows it up with a declaration that he was saved by God. Verse 2 then asks how long people will love what is worthless and follows it up by declaring in verse 3 the reason why they were heard by God. “But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The Lord will hear when I call to Him.” (Psalms 4:3 NKJV) Continuing on this thought it gives us instructions on guarding our minds and what we meditate on for the sake of maintaining righteousness. David, who wrote this Psalm, finishes by stating that God will be faithful and because of that we can rest in peace knowing He will care for us.
Jeremiah is a bit more definitive and cuts deeper because he was writing the words of God to the kingdom of Judah who was in rebellion to Him. Calling those who trust in man and make man their source of strength and depart from the Lord to be cursed. Using analogies about a plant withering in the desert to make His point to them. Calling the places that they will inhabit parched and without the water they need for life to prosper. While on the other hand God through Jeremiah follows this up with a segment about those who haven’t forsaken Him. Saying; “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8 NKJV)
Scripture doesn’t deny pain and suffering but rather it is about not letting us be filled with despair over them. Sorrow is not the same as despair for despair is a state of being hopeless while sorrow is simply an emotion that you feel as a result of bad things that we experience. The reason we are not without hope is because of who we have as our source. Jesus Christ is described as our living hope in 1st Peter 1:3-6 because Jesus was resurrected to make us able to receive the inheritance which will not fade away or be corrupted. That inheritance is, of course, the eternity which shall be spent in heaven with Him.
All of these things that I’ve mentioned about scripture and what God says are absolutes. People don’t like them because they can see them as being limiting to how they live because they don’t have the understanding of God. To some degree they might understand but not in the entirety. The absolutes of scripture are sound and don’t change making them a solid foundation for our lives. When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth he spoke about how the wisdom of God will many times look like foolishness to man. “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1st Corinthians 1:25 NKJV)
In our hedonistic culture which pursues only self pleasure, choosing to restrain yourself in any way seems dumb when everything is being freely offered. While the Bible spoke warnings about such ways through the guidance of his Holy Spirit being given to the authors, science is only now starting to catch up.
Hedonistic debauchery such as excessive drinking leads to damage to our liver and minds and hinders our inhibitions from protecting us. Hookup culture and the idea of “casual sex” has been shown to lead to an increase in depression but especially for women. Should they get pregnant and have an abortion they are far more likely to have clinical depression, form substance abuse problems and commit suicide. Addiction is something that I don’t feel needs to be expanded on other than to say it reaches far beyond the individual addict. Families and friends are impacted by it as well. Neglect is often a result of the addiction as everything else fades away from importance in the addict’s life.
The rivers of flowing water that nourished them dry up. But it doesn’t require a hedonistic lifestyle to do this. Being unforgiving does the same thing to a person. It causes hearts to become callus to others. Grumpiness and irritability along with other physical issues have been shown to be tied to unforgiveness. Harboring anger, something that I did for a while, also makes it harder to do the things God wants us to do. Harder to love others and to forgive. I wrestled with it for the longest time since I was young and it is only due to surrendering it to God that I was finally made free, able to live in a better emotional state. Yet it all came down to a choice. Let pride and fear control me or allow myself to let go and for healing to begin.
In the months following my emotional surrender I began to be replanted by the streams of water. Before then I was like a potted plant that received things via a watering can but now I was being transplanted to a place where I was going to be able to stretch deep. I had trials that tested me and if I would stay the new course of forgiveness. But I simply pushed through and continued clinging to God knowing that His word is true. Each step forward on an unchanging foundation which allowed me to grow exponentially.
Absolutes aren’t something to be seen as hindrances but rather as gifts from God to help us navigate tough situations. They are like knobs and lenses for a microscope that enable a clear image to be brought forth once put into proper order. Especially when we look at our fears. As the Holy Spirit provides us with insight about them we are able to see what God says and take our first step forward into trusting Him more. There will be winds that try to dry us up but we only survive by digging our roots deep into the soil that we’ve been planted in. Soil that is beside the river of God’s word which provides us nourishment and strength to continue.
Until next time, pursue a deeper relationship with God seeking to become sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit as He seeks to guide and speak to you. Take courage in struggles and may God be with you.