Mirror, Mirror

-

Who do you listen to?

There have never been more voices vying for your attention and allegiance, and the number increases every day. 

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  2 Timothy 4:3

I think about this verse ALL. THE. TIME. 

This is our present reality. We can hit up the interwebs at any moment to find support for nearly any idea we might have. We can find "experts" who agree with or refute any view. We leave this experience feeling justified and bolstered by the congruent opinions and feeling justifiably superior to and irked by incongruent ones. 

I think it would be very easy for any Christian (young, old, conservative, progressive, mainline, evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, you name it) to use 2 Timothy 4:3 to condemn another. Surely we all believe our doctrine is sound, but how do we know? Are we just seeking out teachers who say what we want to hear?

Are we searching for sound doctrine, or simply settling for synthetic calamine to sooth our itching ears?

We need to be asking ourselves this question. We need to get real with ourselves. We need to cast aside judgment in favor of discernment. And then, with humble hearts before a mighty God, all we can do is trust. 

Thus, it becomes exceedingly important we continually check what/whom we are putting our trust in. 

Someone else's interpretation of scripture is always just that, an interpretation. 

Even the most learned, studied, Bible scholar will have his own prejudices or cultural lens. And the more studied a person is in theology, the more he has consumed the perspectives of the theologians who came before him, and thus the more influenced he may be by human interpretation. 

Now, just to be clear, I think we SHOULD be consumers of perspectives--as many as possible! But I think the important thing is that we always chew on them thoroughly. They need to be broken down and digested properly, not just swallowed whole. 

This means that whether a spiritual meme pats us on the back or rubs us the wrong way, we need to hold it up to the Word. We should be in a constant state of synthesis--not picking and choosing what we like from different religions and mashing them up into something more palatable, but processing perspectives from different Christians and sifting out the kernels of truth by holding them up to the God we know. 

And while we can learn about Him from other people (just like I can learn about you from spending time with your friends), the only way we can KNOW Him is by spending time with HIM: in scripture, in prayer, in communion, in dialog--ASKING Him our questions; LISTENING for His answers; returning to the scriptures for clarity; comparing what we think we know to what He is showing us. 

Questioning our doctrine does not mean that we're doubting God--only that we're doubting the things we've been told about Him. Sometimes I think we need to be more concerned with getting His side of the story.

Ultimately, regardless of how much we think we (or others) know, there are things NONE of us will understand until we see Him face to face. Until then, we need to try to understand His character so that we can discern which perspectives are truly in line with His.

He is the true balm to soothe our itching ears; if it's not from Him, it's just noise. 

For we know in part, and we prophecy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. FOR NOW WE SEE ONLY A REFLECTION, AS IN A MIRROR; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:9-12, emphasis added



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pigs and Pearls

-
Image
Have you ever heard someone say that doing a certain thing would be like putting lipstick on a pig? It's a phrase we Southerners use to describe an action that is of little significance. You can put lipstick on a pig all day long, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a pig. At the end of the day, that lipstick's gonna be all smudged off in the slop.  Matthew 7:6 conjures similar imagery: Do not give dogs what is sacred, do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. (NIV) Reading this verse, I often imagine the comical irony of a big 'ole potbelly pig sloshing and slurping up slop in lipstick, pearls, and sparkly stilettos.  However, while the imagery of the verse has always been good for a chuckle, wrestling with its meaning used to make my mind feel as messy as a pig sty, too.   In its context, the verse can read a little like an awkward and caustic non sequitur summing up a convicting...
Read more

Of Details and Dream Homes

-
Image
I've been crying a lot lately.  Not like all-day sob-fests, but a minute here, a minute there--just enough to wet the steering wheel when my new favorite song, Counting My Blessings by Seph Schlueter, comes on the radio in the school carline. By the time the kids are in the car, the evidence is all dried up, but the crossing guard might have gotten a show. This song has been hitting me hard.  The more that I look in the details, the more of Your goodness I find.--SS To explain my delicate emotions, let me fill you in on a few of my details .  The first detail is that I'm house-hunting. Well, sort of. We're intending to move when school gets out, so we're basically voyeuring on Zillow without any actual buying power until we can list and sell our current home.  The second detail is that the other day I found my dream home.  Technically my husband found it. He had this wild look in his eye as he began to turn his phone screen in my direction. "If we really wante...
Read more

Because I Said So

-
Because. I. Said. So.  Four words so familiar and iconic they titled a movie starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore.  We all heard those four words growing up, and many of us swore we'd never use them on our own kids. But let's be real: most of us have.  When I first became a parent, I looked at because I said so as a total copout--the phrase parents use when they don't feel like dignifying their kids with a real response.  And I suppose, at times, this may be true.  But 12 years and five kids into my parenting journey, I have found that  sometimes , those are the four most appropriate words to say.  My nine-year-old is incredibly literal and fact-driven. He needs to understand everything . I always try to make sure I explain my reasons and rationale for rules and reprimands very clearly to him, and most of the time he is very obedient. He likes to stay out of trouble, and he genuinely values doing the right thing. Sometimes, however, he perceives some...
Read more