06-07-2022, 08:09 AM
That fancy word "propinquity" means nearness of time and place; it's roughly equivalent to "proximity" in some ways. However, propinquity takes on significance in faith teaching. It has implications for faith that other words don't carry.
For example, if you are around someone all the time, your passion for that person will grow. You will either hate them or love them, but their significance will tend to grow one way or another. You'll become sensitive to them. Sometimes you need to discern how this will carry huge problems if that person is not a godly influence in your life. If you aren't in a position to move away physically, then you'll need to construct barriers internally to avoid defiling attachments.
Another example is how God uses proximate goals to move us somewhere. We often stand before the Lord completely befuddled about some parts of His divine moral character. In order to give us guidance, He often has to move us to another perspective, a place in our hearts where we can see something that is currently out of view. So He gets our attention to one thing on the way to another thing far more important.
Our problem is that we get confused. We get all enthusiastic about the that proximate goal, locking in on how that thing is God's will. And it is, but it's not the end of the process. We get mistaken in thinking that it is, and it keeps us from moving on to the real goal.
I run into this a lot. It's a feature of my faith life. I've passed through a great many proximate goals along the way to much greater things, but was hindered for a while because of my confusion about where God was taking me. So, I'll try a lot of things that aren't the real end, just a proximate goal that changes my perspective. Once I figure it out, I'll drop something for which my initial enthusiasm had been high.
You have to learn not to be embarrassed about that. People who don't understand spiritual growth will think we are flighty and given to impulse. That's what they see, because they don't have a heart vision at all.
For example, if you are around someone all the time, your passion for that person will grow. You will either hate them or love them, but their significance will tend to grow one way or another. You'll become sensitive to them. Sometimes you need to discern how this will carry huge problems if that person is not a godly influence in your life. If you aren't in a position to move away physically, then you'll need to construct barriers internally to avoid defiling attachments.
Another example is how God uses proximate goals to move us somewhere. We often stand before the Lord completely befuddled about some parts of His divine moral character. In order to give us guidance, He often has to move us to another perspective, a place in our hearts where we can see something that is currently out of view. So He gets our attention to one thing on the way to another thing far more important.
Our problem is that we get confused. We get all enthusiastic about the that proximate goal, locking in on how that thing is God's will. And it is, but it's not the end of the process. We get mistaken in thinking that it is, and it keeps us from moving on to the real goal.
I run into this a lot. It's a feature of my faith life. I've passed through a great many proximate goals along the way to much greater things, but was hindered for a while because of my confusion about where God was taking me. So, I'll try a lot of things that aren't the real end, just a proximate goal that changes my perspective. Once I figure it out, I'll drop something for which my initial enthusiasm had been high.
You have to learn not to be embarrassed about that. People who don't understand spiritual growth will think we are flighty and given to impulse. That's what they see, because they don't have a heart vision at all.