VOL. III, #067, 6/10/13 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF 7’s “Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you 7 men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business … ,” (Acts 6: 3, NKJV). My friend said, “I believe there are 7 levels of Christianity. What do you think?” I replied, “Well, I’ve never heard of that. What are the 7 levels?” “Well, first there are the novice Christians. They are just beginning to grow in the faith. Second are the advanced beginner Christians. They want to be involved in everything, but know just enough to be dangerous. Third, there are the believers, but not doers. They keep their beliefs to themselves and evidence little to others. Fourth, come the T.V. worshipers. They watch Christian shows and send in money. Fifth, are your ‘Sunday-go-to meetin’ Christians. They go to church on Sunday, then do what they want the rest of the week. Sixth, come the lay Christians who faithfully practice their faith, and seventh are the professional Christians like preachers, and the Pope and such. So, what do you think?” “Well, I try to keep an open mind, but I’ve never heard a theory posed quite like that. Where did you get your information?” He replied, “I’ve heard bits and pieces of it here and there, but mostly I made it up myself.” “I see.” I said. “Well, if you want to play the game of seven’s, there is plenty of significance to the number seven in the representation of religious events, even in the Bible. In the Zoroastrian religion, there were 7 creations, 7 regions of the world, 7 archangels of Judaism, and so on. In the Bible, the creation story has 7 days, Noah took every clean beast and every bird by 7’s, and then in 7 days it rained. Jacob served 7 years for Leah and 7 more for Rachel. Egypt had 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine. Luke’s gospel illustrates the birth of great men in terms of generational increments of 7: Starting from Adam came Enoch at 7, Abraham at 21, David at 35, and Jesus at 77. In the book of Matthew, There were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to Josiah, and 14 generations from Josiah to Jesus (14 being 2 times 7). There were 7 heavens, and the aprocryphal Ascension of Isaiah had the Son descend into the lower world and then re-ascend to the 7th heaven. And, if you want more 7’s, read the book of Revelation. But 7 formal levels of Christianity? … I don’t think I’m buying that. If a Christian is in for a penny, s/he’s in for a pound. Admittedly, sometimes we take two steps forward, and, at other times, slide two steps back, but the fact that we might be formally categorized … of that I have no proof.” My younger brother was a professional golfer before he voluntarily relinquished his PGA pro card some years back. He always said that there exists a 7- stroke difference between the very best amateur and the very worst professional. And there was nothing the amateur could do to bridge that gap, because the gap was created by God given, natural ability. It seems more reasonable to me to view Christianity as a swimming pool with a shallow end and a deep end. We begin in the shallow end because we are just learning how to swim. But once we accomplish that goal, we move into the deeper end of the pool where there are many more opportunities to experience the fun and frivolity that comes from the swimming experience. Many years ago, as a lifeguard, I was asked to judge diving competitions. The divers would perform a dive, then we would give them a score from 1 to 10. 10, obviously, was perfect, but 7 was a dad-gum good score. If God were, in fact, scoring our Christian performance, there’s no way I’d ever score a 10. But I’d take a 7 walkin’ away any day of the week (even on the 7th day), and be perfectly pleased to get it. Building the Kingdom and Blessings, Brother Jim.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:26:13 +0000
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