Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Mark 12:29

Right belief and right doctrine, ultimately, are the same.  God is one.  He is not separate from Himself in any part, nor is there any shadow no matter which way you look at Him.  It could be said that to know any part of the Lord perfectly is to know all of God perfectly.

You see, while righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne, you cannot have true righteousness without true wrath.  You likewise, in the full scope of God’s character have true justice without true mercy, true punishment, true grace, and every other part of who God is.  God, in everything He does is perfect, in wisdom, depth, insight–every facet.

It may not follow directly in a rational sense, but it does in a spiritual way, that to have perfect faith, perfect love, and perfect peace in Christ is to have perfect doctrine, for you cannot have the former without the latter, nor the essence of the latter without the former as well.  Truly it is said, Christ is the Alpha and Omega, in every regard, the author and the finisher of our faith.

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

1 John 3:2

You see, we are being transformed into the image of His Son.  While God can use a rock or a tree to illustrate faith and His Kingdom, He chose to bring it through parables.  While many, throughout time, have demonstrated that it is not necessary to know and understand the parables of Jesus  to walk in great power, it is also likewise true that anyone who has walked in the Kingdom in a great capacity has known and lived by the principles Jesus taught.

There is a union of hearts and minds.  As Paul wrote, the Spirit searches the deep things, even the deep things of God.  As John said, we have an anointing from the Holy One and we know all things.  As Jesus said, when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth.

Right belief, right living, right power, right demonstration, and right spirit are all one in the same, in the end.  We may, in our finite minds, see how God builds, but since it is the Spirit that gives life, since it is the Lord that builds us together into His House, and since it is no longer our life, so long as we are submitted, yielding, and growing on the Holy Spirit, we are transformed more into His likeness, in deed, thought, action, and attitude.

We may not see the fullness of this in this life in anyone, yet, as John promised in the verse above, when we see Him, we will be like Him.

It is doubtful that one could walk in the power of God and live a lie for any length of time.  This is why right living is so essential.  As the soul is polluted by worldly things and attitudes, death and decay begin to set into the system, and affect the whole.  Though life may push it out for a time, God has ordained that unless what we are building upon is the rock, it will fall (Matthew 7:24).

Yet, when we fail, and we will fail, it can drive us to the source, to beg our Father for insight and instruction why He failed.  Like the publican who did not even lift his eyes to the Father, he beat his chest and cried out how unworthy he was.  Whereas, the Pharisee thanked God that he was not like that sinner, and his sin remained.

Ultimately, right demonstration of the power of the Gospel will be yielded through right hearts built entirely upon the Rock of Christ and His Spirit within.  Though the tempests rage, though the emotions may reel and swell, we are no longer built upon them or even our own selves.  But, rather, upon the solid Word of God, Christ Himself, through the trials and tests, we stand firm, because His Word is Eternal, and it is Real within us!

The difference between the man who stands and the man who falls is that the man who continues standing stands only upon the Holy Spirit within himself.  He does not trust his own mind, his own words, or his own logic to save himself.  But, as a completely dependent child, he trusts his Father above who sees all, knows all, and is perfectly equitable and just in every little thing.

While we are in this life, we will have tribulations.  But, His Word to us is to fear not.  Success does not have to look like a great parade for us.  For Jesus, his “parade” was not victory, but the countdown to it.  His victory came in His final mission, upon the cross.

Even in this, even in dying, right belief, and right heart, and right love all culminate into the will of the Father.  He loved His disciples, and yet, if He stayed with them, they would have died in their sins, with no Passover Lamb.  If He had remained as He was, He would have remained alone (John 12:24).

But, as right teaching and right belief combined, it led Him to Calvary’s hill, and to a cross, to shed His blood.  For, as He said,

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

Christ’s love was not a cheap love, nor was His salvation cheap.  He chose twelve that He let stay near Himself, and even then, He only took three.  Often times, even He would have to separate from them to be alone with just the Father.

He, who knew no sin, yet knew the hearts of all men, knew who to bring in and when.  He knew how to rightly appraise men in their standing, and knew when to stay apart.

Yet, He let the repentant sinner touch Him, while the self-righteous Pharisee’s couldn’t even get a hold when they wanted to kill Him.

Yet, in the midst of this great wisdom of God dwelling in the form of a man, He did love, and He did understand what it was like to be a man.  And, in His great humility, He died, that we might live.

Right belief, if it is really right, will always have with it right doctrine and a right Spirit with it.  Right living is the right by love, and the greater it is, the more it gives.  Right love always, ultimately, lays down its life, of a choice, because it is right.