Our world is full of advice. We are
constantly being told what to do, what to think, all in our best
interest, of course. Everybody has an answer. Going all the way
back to the beginning, even a snake had an answer. What is
interesting is that he also asked the question! A formal tournament
debate is always set up in two parts: first, is there a need for
change? Second, does the proposed answer fill that need better
than the present situation?
Underneath the flood of advice we are
swept up in is the assumption that somebody knows better than we do
what we need and what we should do about it. However, we all want to
think we know what we're doing! I've been dealing with a lot of change
in my life in the past ten years, and I thought I knew what I was
doing. It's one thing to recognize that some things aren't working,
and something else altogether to deal with it. It's not easy to
recognize what should be saved, and what should be let go—especially
for a congenital packrat.
Jesus asked people to do one thing:
Follow Him! One of my favorite glimpses of Jesus is right at the
beginning of His ministry, at the end of John 2. As the crowds began
to gather, He would not entrust Himself to people like us, for He
knew what is inside of us. His original disciples struggled with this
for the three years they were with Him, and then the rest of their
lives. The advice He gave them as He was preparing to launch them
into showing the world His answers for life boils down to two things:
love and obedience. The world offers gives us all kinds of advice as
to how to love and what to obey, and all kinds of people to follow.
Our job is to put these in the context of what we know about God's
love, and obeying God. How do we need to change, and what does He
need to do in our lives? And how do we recognize others on the same
journey, and whose advice we should be willing to entrust ourselves
to? And how can we build each other up into His image? That is what
we as His followers are seeking to do through doing His life
together!
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