Nuggets 67: The Foolishness of Heaven

  • B. Shelburne
  • Apr 28, 2007
  • Series: Nuggets

"I can't get him to talk!"  "She won't listen to me!"  We fallen creatures approach conflict in the natural, worldly way rather than God's way.  His ways are not our ways.  They look foolish to us.  What can you get by turning the other cheek?  How can you find by losing, go higher by becoming a servant?  How are we strongest when we are weak?  How could Jesus' submission to death on a cross help anyone?  Yet the Bible says (and we keep finding out) that even the foolishness of God is wiser than men.

Long ago Ruth and I heard a rumor about the dating behavior of a teenager in the church.  The worldly nature loves to pass on gossip.  We knew that would be wrong.  But should we tell someone?  If it were our daughter, we would want to know.  Should we risk losing these friends?  Seeking God's wisdom, we asked the girl herself to talk with us.  "We know it was hard for you to come here.  We love you and we are not against you.  But we have heard something.  If it is not true, we need to know that so we will not believe bad about you.  If it is true, we care about you too much ignore it."  People know when we love them.  Out of that conversation came not alienation but a closer relationship than before.

When people won't listen, do we have ourselves to thank?  When I am upset the natural thing is to attack and accuse.  We all know what we ourselves do when someone attacks us.  We close up and become defensive.  Our focus is not on listening.  Christ commands us to confront sin.  But when I began to pray more for God's Spirit, I began to see that the how is as important as the what.  If nothing matters but dumping on people, any approach will do.  Not so if we are sons and daughters of a redemptive God.

Wise parents know that apologizing to their children when appropriate makes their children respect them more, not less.  The Bible shows us how to get through to people.  Things like humility, true concern for the relationship, thankfulness for the other person, using "I" statements rather than "you" statements, asking them to tell us what we contribute to the problem, and learning to "speak the truth in love."  God's foolish way beats the worldly way any time.

Isaiah 55:8,9;  Matthew 5:39;  16:24,25;  2 Corinthians 12:7-10;  1 Corinthians 1:22-25;  Matthew 18:15;  Leviticus 19:6;  Proverbs 11:13;  16:28;  1 Peter 2:1;  Luke 11:13;  Galatians 5:19-23;  6:1,2;  2 Timothy 2:24-26;  Ephesians 4:2,3;  Colossians 3:12;  1 Corinthians 1:4;  James 3:17,18;  Ephesians 4:15

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Copyright 2007 by G.B. Shelburne, III.  May be freely reproduced or forwarded for non-commercial purposes provided content is unchanged and this copyright notice is included.  These shepherding messages are sent to members and friends of New Beginnings Church (www.nbchurch.com), to students and alumni of South Houston Bible Institute (www.shbi.org), and to other interested persons.

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