Today I spoke to my chemistry students about the laws governing the behavior of gases. We reviewed that some factors are connected in a directly proportional relationship, while other factors are inversely proportional to each other. For instance, when a syringe plunger is pressed down, we expect something to come out of the syringe. This we gather from our experience - but the simple science behind it is Boyle's law: With constant temperature and number of moles of matter, a decrease in volume (depressing the plunger) results in an increase in pressure (the reason why what is in the syringe will be expelled).
What kind of inversely proportional relationships do we see in our daily lives? Maybe for every hour we spend working, there is less time to be with our family. For an increase in spending, we see an inversely proportional decrease in the contents of our wallets (ha!).
Directly proportional relationships such as that seen in Charles' Law identify factors that rise and fall together. When it is cold outside (a drop in temperature), a helium balloon can be seen to shrink and shrivel like the one pictured above (a result of a drop in volume).
Both inversely proportional and directly proportional relationships are found in the Body of Christ - in the local church. Look at the following verses and consider what kind of relationship is found in each:
"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."
Romans 12:15
"And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved."II Corinthians 12:15
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
James 4:10
I am so thankful that when I was dead, utterly distant from God's perfection, He made a decision to provide a way of escape. It was in the death of Christ that I received life. In exchange for my rotten hard heart, I received a new "heart of flesh". This kind of proportionality doesn't seem fair - but it is the perfect plan of God. Paul writes to those at Colosse:
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;"
Colossians 2:13-14
What kind of inversely proportional relationships do we see in our daily lives? Maybe for every hour we spend working, there is less time to be with our family. For an increase in spending, we see an inversely proportional decrease in the contents of our wallets (ha!).
Directly proportional relationships such as that seen in Charles' Law identify factors that rise and fall together. When it is cold outside (a drop in temperature), a helium balloon can be seen to shrink and shrivel like the one pictured above (a result of a drop in volume).
Both inversely proportional and directly proportional relationships are found in the Body of Christ - in the local church. Look at the following verses and consider what kind of relationship is found in each:
"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."
Romans 12:15
"And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved."II Corinthians 12:15
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
James 4:10
I am so thankful that when I was dead, utterly distant from God's perfection, He made a decision to provide a way of escape. It was in the death of Christ that I received life. In exchange for my rotten hard heart, I received a new "heart of flesh". This kind of proportionality doesn't seem fair - but it is the perfect plan of God. Paul writes to those at Colosse:
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;"
Colossians 2:13-14