THE BEST POSITIONING

(2 Timothy 1:3) Paul served God “...from [his] forefathers...”  The tradition of serving God came to him from his family.  His father served God, his Grandfather served God, his nation served God.  Paul grew up in a family that served God.  (v5) Timothy also had a line of faith starting with his Grandmother Lois.

God has a plan for us, a calling according to his own purpose which may, or may not, coincide with our works.  God has had a plan for us which was in place before we ever started to plot out our own lives.  It was in place “... before the world began.”  Paul was called to be a preacher, apostle, and teacher (of the Gentiles) (v11).  Timothy had “... that good thing ...” (v3).

I believe God's plan for each of us in general in nature.  He wants all of us to live according to his instructions.  But he positions individuals with certain specific intellectual and skill tendencies and leaves the development of them to each of us, as he did with Paul and Timothy.  The more we try to be sensitive toward God, the more likely we will not disturb the positioning God has made for us.  The more self-centered and worldly we are, the more likely we are to make the position less effective, or perhaps destroy the positioning altogether.

How do we know what God's plan is for us personally?
- Word of God (Bible)
- Circumstances
- Observation
- Opportunities
- Other people as in:
    – Family
    – Friends
    – Books
    – Seminars
    – Test instruments

THE DOCTRINE OF DOCTRINE

Doctrine is principle or body of principles. A doctrine is a systematic attempt by men to describe what the Word of God says about a certain topic. There are elements within the Word of God that can be taken and used as building blocks for doctrines. Some doctrines can use one or more elements of other doctrines. Each doctrine is represented by a window through which we look at a portion of the Word of God. Each window looks at a different area; some windows cover only one area while other windows overlap each other.

Doctrines, taken individually, can not represent all of what the Word says to us. It may be that many doctrines linked together can approximate much of what the Word says.

Doctrines can be wrong, either partially or wholly. Sometimes doctrines take what God said simply and make it so complex that men go wrong or become discouraged. Conversely, some doctrines take a complex communication from God and so simplify that it looses it's intended meaning.

The Word is always larger than the efforts of man to classify or explain it. Given the limitations of our flesh, God has told us (mankind) more than we can comprehend, understand, or explain.

Similarly, no single man can comprehend fully all the knowledge wrapped up in a microchip. It took thousands of men hundreds of years to discover electricity and the technology to harness it to produce power and to manipulate knowledge. There are geniuses, but no one man can comprehend it all.

So don't feel bad about not knowing everything; you can't; no man can.