A lengthy muse on wisdom, dogs, exploiting that
which is good, and
defending
our intellectual possessions.
Here is a quote from a wise man:
“All the Bible schools and Seminaries can't make
up for one iota of Wisdom from above!!!!
Hey...Men studied the Bible and we STILL had the
dark ages!!”
I wanted to underscore this. And just add my odd
angle. Because you can read something full
of wisdom and glean only what you want from
it. You could read something when looking for
advice on a decision, wanting to get the
answer you prefer, and interpret things your
way. Even if they are saying the opposite.
The words are not corrupt, the receiver is
corrupt. You aren't looking for an objective
decision, you already know what you are
going to do, and just want justification
of your own opinion.
Approaching the bible in this way is about
equal to making up your own minds and
then looking for ammo to defend it. In this
case, all the wisest words in the universe
have been reduced to the smallness of your
own brain cells. But what kind of wisdom
is this? How could we satisfy ourselves
with a wisdom that we only use to our own
ends? How could we respect a God who only
tells us what we already know? Why would
we want to apply a wisdom that can be cut
and pasted to our own limited perspective of
ourselves and the world? We already have that.
We need something more. The wisdom contained in
our own minds has to be subjective, has to
be tainted by emotion and experience,
by desire and ambition. I would not want
it. I want the wisdom that exists outside
of myself, I want the wisdom that comes from
God's brain and not my own.
If I want this wisdom instead of men's,
or my own, I will have to accept it on
God's terms. God's terms are not my terms.
This not only about studying the bible, but also
about the music we like to define as “God's”
or “secular”, the differences of opinion,
the disagreements on doctrines.
IF I am searching for wisdom out of a desire to
attain prestige, or put myself above others,
or hammer out for myself a religion, or
defend my personal dogma's, I will not gain
it. Only when I step away from my own
small mind will I receive wisdom from
above. For no other reason other than
a desire to know God's heart. Nothing
in it for me. No documents to write,
no positions to secure, no doctrines to
defend. I just want the untainted truth
straight from the source.
I used to study and study and study the
bible, because I wanted to be
wise. I wanted people to listen to what
I had to say, and think "Wow, is she wise!"
Now somewhere in this cry, there was a
pure motive, a respect for the wisdom of
God, and a desire to aquire it for myself.
It's the last part of that sentence that
God has changed in me. You don't corral
God's wisdom in your back yard. You don't
buy it, sell it, own it, manage it, or use
it to your own ends. It is above you,
beyond you, it is clean. It exists
outside of you. Only by the Spirit
can you gain access. And something will
have to go first.
There is an order of wisdom. And the first
piece of wisdom you must give yourself up
to, is the humility, the servitude. The
lowering of yourself in your own estimation,
and the raising of others. The cry for a
mind and a wisdom beyond your own. The
admission of taintedness. This is the
first true piece of God's wisdom. People
who skip this one, and think
they can start elsewhere are moving over
into men's ways and wisdom, and
departing from God's.
Lord give me wisdom I would pray. So
I can be wise.
Then I began to notice little landmarks of
understanding certain things. It was like
when I had mastered some doctrine or
concept, that it was mine now, it was
like my territory of brain matter, or
my camp of smart figured out things. IF
anyone touched my sacred cows I
would get insecure and defensive. I felt
this response happening in my heart,
and I knew that it couldn't be the purpose
God had intended.
Sorry to be vulgar, but it's like my dogs.
They mark things, you know, to show the
world that they found them first. To add
them to their bag of prized possessions.
And Molly and Zak my dogs are always
competing to have the most things in
their collection. Once, they got in a
marking war over some kind of animal
vomit. I was watching them as they kept
on marking and then the other one marked
that mark, and then the other one marked the
mark that the other one marked. And
I thought, we are like this. And we get
so involved in the staking out of the
territory that we have forgotten the
embarrassing fact of whatever nasty thing
we are fighting for.
Even more disturbing to me, is the idea
that we could be fighting to claim rights
on a noble idea. To think that believers
in Christ would kill to claim their truth
as the first and only piece of truth.
As if they were the first to discover it.
And as if God needs truth police to
enforce His will.
I have noticed in Christian circles this
marking of territory. It's like acquiring
pieces of wisdom and then building a camp
on them. And then, it's *our* territory,
we tend to think of ourselves having
possessed it. And the next thing you know,
we are hashing it out, guarding and protecting
it, building walls around it, arguing about
it, forming denominations over it, inventing
new and improved important labels to
define it.
I feel that we are not to choose out camps
in this world and invest ourselves in them.
I think we are to be traveling light,
keeping our eyes on the prize, and helping
each other get there. This other stuff can be
very distracting, and cause double
mindedness, and of course, a zillion
factions.
If we are defending some piece of
truth or wisdom, we do not get it, and
we have not understood it. If I am threatened by
someone challenging my beliefs or my wisdom,
than I am not convinced myself that I believe it. I
haven't had the experience of being arrested
by it, I have just acquired it like a
posie, and used it for my own purposes.
Remo, this bizarre comedian back in the 80's told
this joke, maybe you've heard it.
A guy is jumping off a bridge. Another man runs
up to stop him. Don't do it! He says. You must
have something to live for!
And the man backs up from the edge.
There must be something I can tell you to help
you want to live. What about your faith in GOd?
Do you believe in God?
Yes! I do!
Great! I do too. I'm a Christian!
ME TOO!
Wow! Catholic or Protestant?
Protestant.
ME TOO!
Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian,
C.O.G.?
Lutheran!
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT ME TOO!
German Lutheran or American Lutheran?
American
ME TOO! We are going to be friends!
Wisconsin Synod or Missouri?
Wisconsin! Says the man on the edge of the
bridge.
"Die heretic!" says the other guy and pushes him
off.
Stupid joke, but poignant in it's own way.
The irony? People are only valued if they believe
the same list of doctrines as me?
Back to my first idea. Wisdom. We can have our own,
or we can borrow God's. That's what
I believe. We can't have it both ways.
You can't have two different kinds of
wisdom in the same hand and play them both
when you want them. They are opposing wisdom's,
they do not work together in the same
mind. One or the other. The one you get to
own and build your empire on, the other
you give up everything and live in it but
it's never yours and it doesn't let you
use it to your own ends. It builds God's
Kingdom and not yours. The reward? A deeper
communion with God. A greater understanding
of His heart.
Jesus walked this planet without anything, owning
nothing, although He was the master of all things.
This place is not the Kingdom we are pressing
to inherit. We don't take God's truth and use them
to build ourselves the ideal Christian set up.
We hand over our ideal Christian set up in order
To receive God's wisdom without corrupting it.
Kind of like the Indians about white men buying
land. They just couldn't Believe that arrogance.
You don't own the land and exploit it, you bow
to her and handle her with utmost care and respect.
Or, what? Or you'll corrupt her and ruin her
and live in a polluted mess. Truth is no different.
You can't own the things in the bible, the
doctrines, the things God graciously shows you.
You go to Him, and ask Him for His mind, his
wisdom on the matter, and you get to borrow
HIS wisdom for the need. Then, you don't
get to form a religion over it, you move on and ask
Him for the next thing. It was never your
wisdom to begin with, it was His. He shared
it with you. You got to be in on it. What
a thrill! But you don't own it. You don't
possess it. Like the wind, it blows through and
could be gone tomorrow.
The only person who can receive God's truth with a
clean objective mind, is the person who has
given up everything that has a hold on them. A
person who would rather have nothing with God, than
possess anything without Him. I don't think
it's possible to keep our human heart's in
this position constantly. We drift and
meander and get caught in our nets and desires
and self interests by nature. But it's only one step
back to His heart. Always, anytime, one prayer away.
When we can see and hear God's voice all around us,
and receive it as a treasure, and walk in it,
and share it, and enjoy it, without having to
possess it, then we are walking like our Lord.
Sharing all things with our Father, without
getting ourselves tangled up in ownership issues.
It's all His.
So, I don't ask Him anymore to make me super wise
so people will be impressed. I don't concern
myself with defending my corner of the truth, or
whipping others into my way of thinking. I ask Him
to let me in on the next wondrous thing He has
up His sleeve, and help me to be generous and free
with anything He shares with me, so that I can
bless others the way I like Him to bless me.
We know what the bible says about the wisdom that
comes from above. Gentle, tender hearted,
slow to anger, peace loving, full of mercy and
good fruits. We don't always want this. Just look
around at the many factions and quarrels in the
Christian church. That is not God's way, or
His wisdom. Sometimes we want our own trip instead.
Flex our fancy brain muscles and feel like a big
shot. Show everyone how much we know. As if
it was ours to pin on our collar. As if we had the
bright idea of setting the foundations of the
earth in place, or saving ourselves from the muck we
were in, which largely consists of our own brain matter.
As if we made our own brain cells. Or caused
the electric impulses to flow.
Don't think of yourself as owning anything,
possessing anything, or having any kind of
territory here. These are the boundaries that
you will find yourself fighting with other
Christians over.
We can't tell others what to believe, or what to
observe. This is strapping on dead weight to
their backs. We know the truth, we speak it whenever
we can, and they have to either take it or leave it.
Even if it's something so obviously Godly, they
will have to have this revelation and make the
commitment to it within their own hearts. You don't
get God's wisdom handed to you in a silver cup.
You get it in proportion to your ability to
Handle it and rightly divide it. If you have divided
interests, you will not handle it wisely, not
will you be able to discern it with
any clarity.
The Kingdom of God is not built with our hands or
our doctrines or distinctions. The Kingdom of God
is built in the hearts of men and women.
The Kingdom of God is near, still to come, here
already. At whatever point we come onto that
construction sight, we can pick up a hammer and swing,
or we can mark off some little corner for ourselves
and spend our time expounding it, marking it,
and keeping others from taking it away from
us.
But if we posses nothing then we are free.
This is so long, but I have more.
I was in the nursery one day looking for flowers, I
only had 15 bucks to spend, things were tight for us.
I love flowers, so I was feeling kind of
bitter. So many flowers that I wanted to bring home
and plant in my yard.
Roses, geraniums, daisies, pansies, I couldn't
decide. I felt more nasty
inside my heart as I walked through there. I felt
the tighness..the grip of greed. I want it for
myself. I noticed my heart hardening, more like
tightening. SO I asked the Lord to show me what was
happening to me, feeling
uglier by the minute, when I love flowers so much.
This is what I feel He showed me. I wouldn't
receive His love for me that day from all of
those beautiful flowers because I wanted to possess them
for myself. But, they were all created for me. (Not
just me but you too) Each flower is an expression of
wonder, creativity, love, blessing, and joy
from God's heart to his children. It's all ours, but we
may not possess it in the hard copy. When we try,
our hearts get tight. Greedy. Protective. Then,
there are things to guard, things that people might
steal, things that might die or break or rust.
We make the wrong choice we exploit beautiful
Things rather than existing beside them in wonder.
It's all for you, He said, now, walk through here
again, looking at every flower, and this time,
know that it's all for you. The beauty in my
heart, my heart of love for you.
I walked through and had the most wonderful time. I
didn't buy a thing. Every flower was for me.
A gazillion expressions of beauty and love, I
Was seeing into God's heart, each flower I saw. He
loved me, and made this all for me. (For you too)
I guess I had a worship there in the green house.
At last I had nothing clutched in my hand and I
could touch the softness of a petal as I once
did, as a pure child, full of wonder and smells, and
colors, and dew drops, just a clean, clear receiving of beauty.
Then, on the way home, I received God's love for me
through all the flowers in my neighbors yards too!
And the trees! And grass! Mine used to be
Better than theirs. But now, everything was mine, and
everything was there's and everything was really
God's gift to all of us. Ownership had no meaning.
Then, a guy with a new corvette looked at me in my
junker car, and I could see by His face that He
felt sorry for me. I guess because I wasn't
driving a pile of debt on wheels. It was so amusing and
ironic to me. Me, savoring every blade of grass and
clump of dirt and weed as if it was all mine,
and I was set free from the bondage of possession. And
him, feeling sorry for me because my car is ugly!
(And me feeling sorry for him because he has
that hunk of metal obstructing his view of the flowers)
This is what I'm talking about. Everything will be
flip flopped, things that mattered here wont matter
there, things that are important to people are
not important to God. This is my great hope.
We can receive His love anytime in anyplace. And
feel rich.
Without owning a thing.
I'm not saying that owning things is wrong of
course it's not.
It's a heart condition I'm talking about. It says
MY CHURCH MY DOCTRINE MY WISDOM MY GREAT BRAIN
MY HOUSE MY WIFE MY KIDS and it is kind of
greedy. Or at least self focused and self contained. It
reveals a lack of understanding about what you
REALLY have, and what you DON'T really have. It's not
About what we have, it's about what we will receive of