What do you mean by that?

It didn’t take very long to realize that although we were using the same words, our understanding of those terms was completely different. We had agreed that we would meet at ‘exactly’ 8:30 am and then head out for the day. For me, this meant that by 8:20 am I was at the prearranged spot waiting and ready to go, but by 10:25 am I could tell that it didn’t mean the same thing to my friend. This revelation was only reinforced when at 11:00 my friend showed up and, without a word of apology or explanation, asked if I was ready to go. It became abundantly clear that the real issue was not the terms, or words, we had used, but rather the understanding we carried for those terms. The culture I have been raised in understood that, ‘exactly on time’ meant at least 10 minutes early, but in the culture of my friend ‘exactly on time’ meant it would happen sometime that day. Our different backgrounds meant that for many of our common terms we carried very different understandings. When we took the time to come to a place of mutual understanding we minimized our frustrations and mishaps, but where we assumed we had a correct understanding of what had been said only produced frustration and tension.
I am learning that this same issue extends beyond our interpersonal relationships into our understanding of, and participation in, the Kingdom. When we begin to talk about life in the Kingdom, and living as citizens of the Kingdom, we quickly run into terms, and ideals, which can carry a variety of understandings. The culture that someone has been raised in has a significant influence on the understanding that they bring to these terms and ideals. For example, when you think of the terms; submission, tithe, honour, or father, what thoughts run through your mind? If you have been raised in the culture of the world the chances are very good that your understanding of these terms carries with it; apprehension, resistance, control, law, and abandonment. While these may be the natural understanding for someone raised in the culture of the world, we must understand that these are not the correct understanding in the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom these terms all carry the understanding of; life, release, protection, blessing and care.
It is so important for each of us to have the correct, and thereby same (Philippians 2:2), understanding of Kingdom concepts so that we can all freely participate in Kingdom life. There must be a willingness in all of us to let go of our cultural, or traditional, understandings of terms and embrace the true Kingdom definition. When we are able to do this we will discover less frustrations, fear, apprehensions and resistance in all of our relationships – with man and with God. In North America we refer to the Webster’s, or Oxford, dictionary to define our terms, but as citizens of the Kingdom we must turn instead to our Kingdom dictionary – God’s Word – to define the terms.
A good test of whether we have the correct understanding or not is, if we feel at all apprehensive, hesitant or fearful of embracing Kingdom realities. The Bible is clear that these responses are not from God so we must be defining His realities with our own understanding instead of His. So let’s go back to our dictionary – God’s Word – and find the proper understanding and then enjoy the peace and life that comes with it.