Oh yeah? Prove it!

I had a fantastic discussion with a bright young man this weekend that really gt me thinking about how I approach some parts of my life.  His answer to why he felt okay with doing something was that no one had been able to show him that the Bible told him not to.  I found the statement to be extremely profound on multiple levels.

Initially, I was put into a place where I was trying to rack my brain about places in the Bible that pertained to this young man's choice and how I could use these versus to give a hand.  I also was a bit disturbed to come to the realization that I probably did not have the full capability to give him enough versus to help him make a decision.  That brought on some feelings in me about how much Bible I am reading myself.

But, as I let the whole scenario sink in, the true revelation of the situation came to me.  That realization was that all people are inherently flawed.  I know this is not a new concept and I acknowledge that it has been covered many times, in many churches, across the country.  It was only when I allowed myself to go deeper that I came to know how that might be the answer in this situation.  If people are flawed, then why would we rely on them to solely give us God's intentions for our lives?  Is it their responsibility to give this information?  And, if so, how accurate will it be?  I do NOT contend that someone teaching the Word of God is going to be bad and/or wrong.  However, I will contend that the living, breathing Word of God is meant to be taught by the Spirit, ad well as human teachers.

In the end, I need to be seeking what God wants for me.  As much as I wanted to give him the answer, the more I was compelled to tell him to go find it for himself.

I think God is kind of funny that way.  Any revelation that I receive usually comes out of my mouth to someone else before it comes to me.  Almost as if God is putting the other person there for me and tricking me into believing that I am the one helping.  I think we as Christians can become a little lazy and dependent upon the teaching of others and we tend to lose our own natural skepticism and curiosity.  We should then rely more on what we find and what the Spirit reveals to us to help us make those tough decisions.

Objects in the Rear View Mirror

So many times I find myself driving in my car and noticing, for the first time, something plainly obvious.  My first instinct is to try and explain that house, or tree, or maybe that store by trying to convince myself that it must be new.  However, it very quickly becomes clear that whatever I have noticed has been there quite a while.  I very clearly remember hardly ever noticing any 2003 Toyota Camrys on the road before my wife and I purchased one.  From the day we purchased it though, every other car was a the same year, make, and model.  In fact, they were all the same color white as well.  Scientists would tell you that this is due to a brain function that causes us to become more aware of things in which we are familiar with. I would tend to agree with that.  But I would also add to that.  I would add that we tend to pay more attention to the things that are important to us in our lives.  Once something has made an impact or has become the object of our desire, we will pay more attention to it.  We will seek that thing out and constantly be on the look out for whatever it is.

 I say this because I notice that when I am not looking for Jesus, I hardly ever see Him.  He becomes that house that I tend to notice only when He is obvious, but mostly I have no clue that he is even there.  I drive along, oblivious to everything but what I care to notice.  It is only when Jesus becomes the object of my desire that I will then search for Him in whatever it is that is going on at the time.  Like the Ferrari that is close to the top of the world for anyone that knows anything about cars, I cannot help but notice Jesus if I covet him with just a fraction of what I covet that car with. 

The sad part is that I do not live my life this way enough.  I tend to foxhole Jesus and search relentlessly for Him when I need him instead of when I want Him.  The truth is that this world is set up to blind us to Him and it does it's best to keep us as occupied as possible and distract us with meaningless wants.  I fall victim to this constantly.  I wish I could say that I am always thinking about Jesus and that He is the focus of my entire life.  But, that would be a huge lie.  But my Christian walk has never been an easy one.  That's not to say it hasn't been good because it really has.  Easy, well easy is another story.  But, I do learn more each and every day.  God comes swooping in and cracks me across the head (no hard feelings, I require it) and shows me the next step to take.  My next step is to begin to change my focus.  To change what it is that I am constantly looking for.  I have to learn to take what my heart desires and put that as the what I am always in search of as I look around.  Who knows where I will find Him?