No Second Opinion


 “I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” John 5:41-44

If you are a parent of a child over the age of four, then it is my guess that you’ve had this experience.  Your child tells you all about his calamity. You offer sage wisdom and sound advice. You offer it in the face of explanations and sputtering that give a pretty fair indication that no one is hearing your words except you. Now, flash forward a few days, a week or maybe a bit more, to the next phase of the conversation when your darling comes to you so excited because he now has a solution to his problem. He’s garnered said solution by listening to the learned perception of; choose one or more of these, his friends, the parent of his friend or some celebrity on the internet. AUGH! At this point you’re thinking, “Seriously? That’s exactly what I said a week ago and you acted as if I were a moron!” Wisely, you don’t say quite that but most likely some version of it comes out of your mouth.

          I’m very guilty of the passive aggressive, “Well, that sounds familiar.” It’s a not so nicely veiled version of, “that’s exactly what I said!” For my part I’ve gotten a blank stare, as in my child has no recollection of me ever saying anything remotely similar. Or I get the “yeah, but Mrs. Authority Because She Is Not You, said it in better words.” To quote that same precious brat… Whatever! I walk away wondering why I waste my time and breath.

          Read the verses from John again. This is Jesus talking, Jesus Christ, the One who died to save us, the One who told as clearly as possible that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no one gets to the Father if not through Him. Here He is explaining that perhaps His words should carry a bit more weight than those of mere mortals. He is saying that heavenly wisdom far outweighs current understandings, beliefs or trends.

          How often do we respond the way Jesus’ disciples responded? How often do we respond the way the child I described responds. “Well sure God said it and it sounded okay but then I read it online and saw it on a magazine and then I believed it.” Yipes! That may sound contrived but if you’re honest with yourself, how often do you pray but then seek worldly wisdom instead of listening to God? Or worse, how often do you seek worldly wisdom and ignore God?

          Jesus said it; He is the Way and the Truth. We may need confirmation that we’re hearing Him correctly but we never need a second opinion.

 

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