Making The Abstract Practical

One of my philosophy professors hates the word freedom.  He says he doesn't know what it means.  He only knows that people talk about it a lot and are willing to die for it.

Sometimes I feel the same way about words that get thrown around the Christian community like freedom and love.  We like to talk about how God has set us free.  Free from what?  What does this freedom look like?  How does it affect our everyday lives?  Is Christ setting us free a one time event or a process?  We throw around the word free and people feel good because they're free in Christ and freedom is something to be valued.  But if we never or rarely expand on what the Bible means by that, how many people will actually experience that freedom and not just a warm fuzzy feeling.

We talk about God loving us and us loving Him and others.  What is love?  Baby don' hurt me, no more.  Seriously, though, everyone comes into a sermon, article, eye. with their own concept of what love means and unless they learn otherwise, that is the definition of love they will apply.  How can we expect people to better comprehend God's love for them and to love God and others the way He commands us too if we don't also teach people the Biblical portrayal of love?  It manifests itself in visible, practical ways.  It's patient.  It's kind.  You can find a longer list in 1 Corinthians 13.  We may need to expand on some of these things from time to time, too.  

I think that if we want to see people's lives really being changed the way Gid meant for them to be, we need to move from the abstract to the practical.  I'm a philosophy major and LOVE thinking about the abstract.  But I also think there's equal value in learning how the abstract can be practical.  The freedom and love and other things God wantsto give to us are not just great ideas.  They are realities that are meant to be realized here and now in tangible ways bearing fruit.