Seven Dimensions of Human Endeavors: Quotes, Acronyms, and Words of Wisdom to Live by from a Christian Perspective

By Donald Wood Ph.D

Through quotes, acronyms, and words of wisdom, the seven dimensions of human endeavors addresses the key challenges that we all face on a daily basis. If we want to live wisely, we must learn to function successfully in each of the seven dimensions of human endeavors, which include the spiritual, physical, nutritional, social, emotional, intellectual, and the financial. Although these seven dimensions of human endeavors are listed separately, they function synergistically together. Each one is directly dependent and affects the other. This book is not only chockfull of inspiring quotes, acronyms, and words of wisdom from a Christian perspective but it also contains useful information and life lessons for anybody who aspires to maximize their efforts in each of the seven dimensions of human endeavors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644712801

Book preview

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Seven Dimensions of Human Endeavors

Quotes, Acronyms, and Words of Wisdom to Live by from a Christian Perspective

Donald H. Wood, Ph.D

Words of wisdom a Christian can live by in an ever-changing fallen world; a seven-dimensional challenge

ISBN 978-1-64471-278-8 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64471-279-5 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-64471-280-1 (Digital)

Copyright © 2019 Donald H. Wood, Ph.D

All rights reserved

First Edition

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations taken from the New International/The Message versions (NIV/The Message), Copyright 2004 by The Zondervan Corporation and King James Version/Amplified Bible Parallel Edition (KJV)/Amplified) copyright 1995 by Zondervan corporation used by permission all rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: The spiritual dimension of human endeavors: the dimension that connects us to eternity

Chapter Two: The physical dimension of human endeavors: the dimension that strengthens us to do the Lord’s work in the earthly realm

Chapter Three: The nutritional dimension of human endeavors: the dimension that sustains and fuels us to do the Lord’s work in the earthly realm

Chapter Four: The social dimension of human endeavors: the dimension that connects us socially to our fellow human beings

Chapter Five: The emotional dimension of human endeavors: the dimension that sustains us through life’s emotional storms

Chapter Six: The intellectual dimension of human endeavors: the dimension that enables us to increase our capacity to seek and share knowledge

Chapter Seven: The financial dimension of human endeavors: the dimension that allows us to sow into God’s kingdom, provide for ourselves and love ones

Conclusion

Bibliography

About the Author

In memory of my father and mother, James L. and Irene Wood, the beginning seeds of a family that has learned how to put God first and family always. It is my hope and prayer that this book will not only be instructional for the Wood family and all of its many branches but it will forever serve as a lasting legacy of inspiration for generations to come, a legacy that reveals God’s unfailing truth, wisdom, and understanding as seen through this author’s eyes and all of the brilliant spirit-filled minds quoted that have inspired me to write this book.

Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom (Proverbs 4:5–7, NIV).

Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding (Proverbs 4:1, NIV).

For my wife Lydia, my rock and constant companion through life’s ups and downs.

I was borne into poverty, shaped in iniquity, and found salvation in Christ.

Introduction

In this present world we live in, if we want to live wisely, we must learn to function successfully in the seven dimensions of human endeavors. The seven dimensions are as follows: the spiritual, the physical, the nutritional, the social, the emotional, the intellectual, and the financial. Although these seven dimensions of human endeavors are listed separately, they function synergistically together, and each one is directly dependent and affects the other.

The first dimension that will be discussed is the spiritual; the spiritual is listed first and can be considered the foundational dimension for the remaining six dimensions. Everything starts and ends with the way we perceive, believe, and honor the master of all human existence our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The evolutionary scientist argued that it all started with a big bang, but of course this only begs the question, what or who caused the big bang? The law of cause and effect dictates that for every effect, there is a cause. We can see the effect, so what about the cause? In addition, under the laws of thermodynamics, we find that matter cannot be totally destroyed—it only changes forms—and all matter is always decaying, not evolving (entropy). So from a purely scientific perspective, a wise person must admit that there must be a creator. This brings me to my first quote to live by: Denial is the prison of self-deception. If we live a life of constant denial especially when the truth is right there in front of us, we live a fool’s life and are destined to let our egos continue to ruin our chances for real peace, joy, and ultimately eternal life, which brings me to my next quote to live by: Ego stands for ‘edging God out.’ A person’s ego can be their worst enemy. Life should not be about satisfying the ego because the ego is grounded and founded in materials things. Material things, like an expensive car or house, are what the ego seeks in order to validate the fleeting emotion of happiness, which comes and goes like the wind.

Another way to look at this, when dealing with the issues of this life, is to learn not to take on a horizontal perspective but a vertical perspective. This brings me to another quote to live by: We should not seek happiness, but rather, we should seek effectiveness and fruitfulness. True peace and joy in life only comes from a life of service to Jesus Christ and, by extension, to others. To put it in the form of another quote to live by, J-O-Y = Jesus-others-you (self). If we take the time and look at all of the great religious beliefs, we will find only one that has a logical, historical, factual foundation and cannot be called a religion but rather a relationship between the creator and one’s self. A Christian is someone who has trust in Christ. They understand that we are possessors of nothing and stewards of everything and that the top priority Jesus set forth for His followers was to first seek the kingdom of God and His righteous, and all other things will be added to that. What sets Christianity apart from man-based faiths are the next two quotes to live by: Religion is humans trying to work their way to God through good works, but Christianity is God coming to men and women through Jesus Christ offering them a relationship with Himself. Religion has to do with the outward cultic practices of human beings. The Christian faith has to do with trusting God for our very lives. And because He endowed all of His human creations with free will, it is their choice to establish a relationship with the master and follow a path set forth by Him or choose another path set forth by man.

The spiritual is connected to the physical and the nutritional because if we don’t develop a strong spiritual foundation, the earthly physical body will be subject to the temptations of this world, temptations that will destroy us way before our appointed time. Of course I’m talking about temptations such as: excessive alcohol, fornication, drug abuse, gambling, overeating, and smoking just to name a few. Temptation, of course, is part of the three components that cause us to sin. When we couple temptation with desire and opportunity, we have the ingredients for sin. In fact, according to Episcopal pastor John A. Cherry, leader of the From the Heart Worldwide Church Ministries, sin follows a seven step path. The seven steps leading to sin are as follows: observation, toleration, admiration, experimentation, participation, justification, and consummation. This brings me to my next quote to live by: Anything taken to the extreme becomes error, and we are not free to do what is right in our eyes; rather we are called to do what is right in His eyes. It’s unfortunate, that the world is constantly trying to change scripture to satisfy its wants and desires whereas the world should be trying to conform to scripture that contains God’s commands, principles, and precepts to live by.

The spiritual is also connected to the social and the emotional because our emotional well-being is tied to the way we interact with our loved ones, which is guided by our spiritual foundation. This connection, or lack of connection, can be seen when we look at the fruit of a society that is moving further and further away from a spiritual connection with the master of all things to a society guided by whatever makes you feel good or moral relativism. A society based on moral relativism can best defined as you do your thing and I do my thing. In other words, there are no moral or ethical standards. The majority rules whether the issue is morally or ethically wrong. It’s all relative. We now live in a society whose guideposts is public opinion, not biblical principle. To illustrate the point, Dr. R. C. Sproul, on the subject of legalizing marijuana, used the following example. The argument goes something like this: since the use of marijuana is already so widely used illegally, doesn’t this indicate the laws against its use are flawed? In other words, don’t two wrongs make a right, or shouldn’t a law be determined by the level of civil disobedience? We are now living in a society that is driven by the cultural zeitgeist devoid of any godly principles. When we continue to let our free will and flesh take us on a path of hedonism and self-justification, then we can easily see why we are getting further and further away from the master of all creation.

Finally, the spiritual is connected to the intellectual and financial in that when we lose our spiritual direction, we become educated beyond our intelligence lacking in godly wisdom. In many cases, people lose sight of the fact that God is an infinite being and we are finite beings, and when we, the finite, think we are more intelligent than the infinite, we’re heading down a path of distortion and destruction. This brings me to two more quotes: When we question God’s word, we question God’s integrity and what we don’t understand we tend to be against.

It’s also unfortunate that those that accumulate large amounts of wealth lose sight of the fact that the love of money truly is the root of all sorts of evil. They develop a love of money that causes them to put their faith in the so-called almighty dollar, and not the integrity of God, and when we question God’s integrity, we are calling God’s word unreliable and questionable, which directly reflects on our faith. As stated in the Book of Hebrews, Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seem (Hebrews 11:1, KJV). Misunderstanding of God’s word is common in and out of the Christian community because we tend to want to understand only things that we are for, and not against, even though that which we are against may be founded in scripture. How often have we heard stated things like I don’t believe in hell just because that’s what I choose to believe; just because a person chooses to believe something does not make it so, nor does something become right just because the majority believes it. If we let our intellect or financial status dominate our earthly existence and ignore godly truths that are set forth right in front of us as found in the scriptures, we will be destined for eternal damnation. Truth should always be put in front of feelings or emotions.

Financially we need to earn money to live and to help God in kingdom building while we are in the earthly realm. However, wealth building should not be a means to an end. Peace and joy does not come from wealth and fame but rather from the knowledge that money is nothing more than a tool that is utilized to sustain us so that we can carry out God’s will for our lives, and as the old saying goes, We came into this world with nothing, and we will leave this world with nothing. And in the words of Dr. Charles Stanley, The only thing that will matter when your heart beats for the last time is your relationship with Jesus Christ. Not how much money you have in the bank.

Chapter One: The spiritual dimension of human endeavors: the dimension that connects us to eternity

For as the body without the spirit is dead.

—James 2:26, KJV

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Dimension 1: The Spiritual

To begin this discussion on the spiritual aspect of human endeavors, I think you must first address a fundamental question that all human beings must ask themselves, which is, am I a human being that sometimes has a spiritual experience, or am I a spiritual being having a human experience? If one subscribes to the former, then there isn’t much to look forward to after their human experience is over, just death. This, of course, is the plight of the atheist who doesn’t believe in the existence of God. To believe that a higher intelligence and infinite God does not exist is truly one definition of insanity, especially when all of the evidence to the contrary is right in front of your face. The other definition of insanity of course is the belief that we can do the same things the same way yet expect different results. By not believing in the existence of God, it opens up a hold new set of problems for an atheist, and in the words of Dr. R. C. Sproul in his book Surprised by Suffering, If there is no God, all things are permissible. In fact, Dr. Sproul goes on to state, If there is no God, then there is no guarantee of ultimate justice. If there is no guarantee of ultimate justice, why should anyone ever act out of moral obligation? Why not just act out of pure self-interest?

If however, you subscribe and believe in the latter, then growth in the spiritual dimension becomes of paramount importance. Important in that if you truly want to get in touch with