“I remember a McDonald’s commercial where a little boy was sitting with his dad. He had a pencil in his hand and was filling out a little card. He looked up and said, “Dad, what’s sex?”
I remember a McDonald’s commercial where a little boy was sitting with his dad. He had a pencil in his hand and was filling out a little card. He looked up and said, “Dad, what’s sex?” The dad takes a deep breath and we don’t hear the words but we can see him explaining for a long time and the little boy looks confused. At the end of the dad’s speech, we find out the little boy was only asking about sex because the card he was filling out asked him about his “sex,” meaning whether he was male or female.
Sometimes, I think that’s what we do. We misunderstand questions and we try to have all the answers. In reality, people need us to keep it simple.
“I have read books by scholars who try to tell me I can only understand God if I understand the real meaning of Hebrew, Greek, and the culture the people lived in.”
I have read books by scholars who try to tell me I can only understand God if I understand the real meaning of Hebrew, Greek, and the culture the people lived in. I am not denying those things greatly help us all, but I don’t think I have enough time left on the planet to catch up on all the things I don’t know. Those books overwhelm, discourage, and bore me to tears.
“Give me a biography of someone like Corrie ten Boom, who was one of the most childlike humans on the planet, and I can’t stop reading.”
Give me a biography of someone like Corrie ten Boom, who was one of the most childlike humans on the planet, and I can’t stop reading. Why? The Bible tells us exactly why. He hides things from people who think they know it all and reveals things to people who understand they know nothing.
At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way!
Matthew 11:25-26
“There is one reason God hides Himself from know-it-alls. It brings Him pleasure to do it that way.”
There is one reason God hides Himself from know-it-alls. It brings Him pleasure to do it that way. Over and over again the teachers of the law put people down and made them feel less than. They lorded their power and position over the common people. They represented God (they were the experts of God’s Word) and totally misrepresented who He actually was. In fact, they didn’t even know Him; they only thought they did. Arrogance and the Holy Spirit can never peacefully coexist. Jesus was never arrogant. He just was who He was. He lived a life completely in step with God’s Spirit and did not hinder Him in any way. He walked through life without stress or worry, with nothing to prove.
So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.
John 5:19
He confessed freely that He wasn’t capable of living His life by His own wits or power. He said He could do nothing (no thing) on His own. In Him, we see what a fully human person was meant to be.
“When the experts got together with unanswerable questions in order to trap Jesus, He made fools of them in front of everyone.”
When the experts got together with unanswerable questions in order to trap Jesus, He made fools of them in front of everyone. They were jealous of Jesus. They had always been the power brokers in town and everyone lived in their shadows. They were the smart ones and no one could argue with them. They would destroy people with their great learning and make fools of anyone who dared question them.
Never underestimate the power of the words, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7).
I don’t think those words are even about payback, they are an eternal law of God. Reaping and sowing should both thrill us and chill us to the bone. I looked up how many kernels of corn could potentially come from a single one that was planted. The answer is 3,200. Think of a single acorn and an oak tree over the span of its life. Oh may God open our eyes to the fact that whatever we sow, we will reap. We all have the ability every single day to sow love and kindness or arrogance and hatred.
“The teachers of the law wanted to be deep and profound. They stepped on the little people and made them feel stupid.”
The teachers of the law wanted to be deep and profound. They stepped on the little people and made them feel stupid. Jesus didn’t have to go search for them and pay them back; their arrogance and pride naturally worked the way God said sowing and reaping would. They planted and watered their pride and arrogance daily. When they reaped the consequences, it was much bigger than they ever could have imagined.
They were humiliated and exposed by Jesus over and over again. They brought a woman caught in the act of adultery to Him. They knew He wouldn’t break God’s law by forbidding what the law required (they knew the law up one side and down the other). He couldn’t remain righteous and not let them stone her. They made sure there were many witnesses so Jesus would be publicly humiliated and have to admit they were right. He only said a few words and every single one of them reaped what they had sown in a massive way.
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
John 8:7
Jesus said nothing until He said everything. They were throwing the law at Him with questions they knew would make a fool of Him. He opened His holy lips and uttered words that knocked the breath out of each one of them. In a public way, He exposed them for what they were (their worst fear) and gave a woman caught in adultery her dignity.
The love of God expressed through Jesus as He walked this planet takes my breath away over and over again. Who is this God that we so often misrepresent to people? To name the name of Christ and use our words to make others feel small should scare us. If that is the way we operate, we too will reap what we sow.
“If we have a husband who struggles with sin and we make him feel as if God hates him, we are not full of God ourselves.”
If we have a husband who struggles with sin and we make him feel as if God hates him, we are not full of God ourselves. If we have children that watch porn, get drunk, have sex, or embarrass us because of their behavior and we make them feel as if God hates them, we are not full of God ourselves. We are self-righteous, not God righteous (which is the only real righteousness). People already feel like God hates them because of their sin nature. When Adam and Eve sinned, no one had to tell them to run from God; it was natural.
When we shame and guilt people, we not only misrepresent the God of heaven, we help them go straight to hell.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
Matthew 23:15
“If you are a person who makes everyone uncomfortable because you are so “good,” beware. You might be a hypocrite.”
If you are a person who makes everyone uncomfortable because you are so “good,” beware. You might be a hypocrite. People who are full of the God of heaven are approachable because they know who they are. They are only full because they are empty. At best, we are a bunch of hoes and humpers down here. That may be offensive, but statistics show 68% of church-going men and over 50% of pastors view porn on a regular basis. The world needs us to quit pretending to be holy and get honest.
“Only people who are full of shame, shame others.”
Only people who are full of shame, shame others. Only people who are full of condemnation and hiding their real selves condemn others.
We are not profound, we are depraved and clueless; all of us. Think of the smartest person you either know or know of; this is what God says of them:
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.
1 Corinthians 3:19a
All our profundity is foolishness to God. The greatest mind in the world knows absolutely nothing compared to God. Yet, He hides things from those “deep” people and reveals them to the ones who come as a little child.
He can take the simplest of us, and make us able to stand in the presence of anyone and be profound because He is profound and we have His mind.
“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16
God offers us something more amazing than anything we could fathom; His mind. He wants to tell us great and hidden things. He wants to make us profound people. He can only do that in people who are determined to take no one seriously but God (Oswald Chambers).
“The free person is only free because he or she is connected to the only free Being in the universe; God.”
The free person is only free because he or she is connected to the only free Being in the universe; God. When we are connected to Him, we will live the life of a happy and carefree child. When we choose to fall to the ground and die to ourselves, the carefree life of God will spring up and produce the fruit of the Spirit. It is the law of sowing and reaping.
Choose to be simple so God can make you profound.
