Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Why The Answer Key Is Wrong

…let us run with patience the race that is set before us
(Hebrews 12:1)

One of the effects of the fall of man into sin is a manifest lack of patience. This has played itself out in every life ever lived since Adam and Eve. We want what we want, and we want it now. The secular media, advertising agencies, marketers, magazines, moviemakers, and just about everybody is guilty of making this the dominant trend in our thinking. The voices are endless. “Time is wasting, what are you waiting for?” “We have got what you’re looking for.” “No need to struggle, we’ve got the solution!” We are all willing victims. No one, it seems, is innocent or invulnerable to the onslaught of “now”.

This helps to explain the explosion of the get rich quick schemes, the lottery, the parade of late night infomercials, and so forth. It also helps explain the lure of cheating in the classroom, the bedroom, the boardroom, and the ball field. It has lead to the proliferation of self-help books, wellness seminars, and New Age mysticism. People are willing to try anything, as long as it’s not the same old, tried and true method of working hard. Everybody is looking for a quick fix, or at least the way to get what we want with the least amount of effort. Our attention spans have been so manipulated that they won’t let us take the time to really learn anything.

The Christian is just as vulnerable to this lack of patience, even when trying to learn about God and His ways. Having to listen to a sermon over twenty minutes, or having to pray for more than fifteen would probably put most of us into a deep sleep these days. An example that might hit closer to home with believers is the tendency to want to have the answers without having to struggle with the questions. That is why we see so much of the “7 principles of power”, or “10 steps to success”, or “5 keys to kingdom living”, etc., etc. Having the answers alone without knowing how to figure out the questions is not all it is cracked up to be, however. Consider the following thoughts.

If I told you that the earth was 93 million miles away from the sun, you would have the information you needed to answer that question, “how far is the earth from the sun?” You could then use this information in a social situation, or a classroom situation, or whatever, or whenever the topic arose. However, if someone were to proceed to ask you, “How do you know this?” do you think they would be satisfied to hear you answer, “well, so and so told me”, or “I read it in a book?” No, they wouldn’t, or even if they were, this knowledge only gets you so far. However, if you knew how to figure out for yourself the distance, you could use this knowledge to figure out the distance from the earth of other planets, and this knowledge could help you to find out other things as well.

In the Christian this idea helps us understand why we must struggle with sin, rather than just expect the desire to be taken away. We want the “thing” to just go away, but it doesn’t. Surely, some Christians have been given a special mercy by God to have an instant moment of sanctifying grace where they no longer desire to do that “thing”, but this is not the normal occurrence. Too often we see those whom have had a crisis experience where they were instantly delivered of this or that vice try and teach others that all they have to do is believe and they will also be delivered. Let go and let God, they might say. When it doesn’t work, the defeated Christian is thrown back into a state of disbelief, either in his faith or his God. This need not and should not be. There is a reason we don’t get the “answer” right away. God wants us to struggle with the questions first.

You see if we were to have our answer before we understood the problem, all we would do is have a surface solution. When the real, root problem surfaces again in some other form, if all we have done is rely on the answer key, all we can do is attack the problem on the surface again, and it will pop up again and again until we lay the axe to the root. Having to struggle with the questions will inculcate the discipline we need in life to be able to survive the other struggles we may and we will face. “Inculcate” means to instill: did you look it up? Would you have if you didn’t know it? Will it become part of your vocabulary?

It is not the answer key itself that is wrong, but having the answer without understanding the problem is what is wrong. This is why cheating on a test only cheats you out of greater knowledge. You may get the answer right this time, but when the next time comes and you need the prior knowledge to find out the answer, you are going to be in trouble. It is like having the answer to a calculus problem, versus being able to understand calculus itself. See the tremendous difference?

There is no “secret” of spirituality or “formula” for faith. There is a plan, and it involves staying the course, walking the narrow path. We depend on Jesus for our life, and our Father for our daily bread. The Holy Spirit will lead us into a more passionate relationship with God if we will only take the time to struggle with the questions. Then we may learn lessons that will enable us to overcome our problems at the root level. It’s the difference between a brief and a broad victory.

Start a fire, and be warm for a day.

Stay on fire, and be warm for life.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, let's say the question is, "Lord, why do I continue to struggle with lusting?" Yes, I'm "staying the course" because I know this isn't what He wants for me. But why doesn't He just deliver me from the unGodly thoughts and pictures that come in my mind? What possible purpose could there be for me to continue to "struggle" with this? I don't know what the "root" is other than I initially "chose" to allow those images into my heart and mind.

Even So... said...

It would seem that the "root" is lust, and the initial choosing of the pictures was watering, etc.

I think ther question that needs to be asked is, what would constitute "deliverance" to you?

Like most, myself included, we want deliverance to mean no more temptation, but it doesn't.

The temptation, to our flesh, becomes greater, not less, in the sense that the enemy strikes with greater force the closer we get to God. The devil aims high: Jesus did not give in to temptation, and the only way for temptation to be relived is to give in to it, and so in that sense, the pressure only got worse, you see. It was that way for the Lord, as you realize the temptation became the greatest in Gethsemane, and it will be so for us. Nevertheless, not my will....

However, it all depends on what type of peace you want, the type that comes from giving in, and your flesh is satisfied but your conscience isn't, or the peace that passes understanding, the peace that comes even though we have a seemingly greater conflict in our flesh. As the flesh "dies out" it doesn't go quitely, and it is at war with us, as Galatians 5:16-17 tells us.

Perhaps God is allowing you to continue this way because He wants to show you how to fight, but perhaps, and forgive me if I am wrong, perhaps you always give in to the fleshly pressure instead of resisting it and finding, after the struggle, the Godly peace He bestows.

It will be a peace that will not alleviate the flesh-pressure, but it will be a peace that is greater than the pressure, one that passes all undestanding.

Battles aren't always easy, and the narrow road of repentance is better walked when others are there to help you up, so I hope this helps you. Continue to dialog, your answers, our answers, are not far away, I'm sure.

God bless.

Anonymous said...

Whoa, this is different. You're telling me the temptation will become greater and greater? (until my flesh dies out) I've been told that if I had more faith I wouldn't be struggling like this and that "deliverance" does mean no more temptation or that I just need to "get control" of myself...which is hard in a society that integrates sexual themes into EVERYTHING!

OK I think I see what you're saying. It makes sense that the closer I get to the "Light" the harder it will be...for a time. So are you saying that my walk will invovle moving from one repentance to the next...and then comes victory (deliverance)?

Even So... said...

You are on to something, I think.

Even So... said...

This is a repost from 4/2006, but in light of the continuing trend of "cookie cutter Christianity", I thought it wise for us to see it again...

Anonymous said...

I started my Christian walk with a book which I was required to memorize the given answers to the given questions, so.....if you were to ask me one of those questions I would respond with the assigned answer. If you were to ask me a question "about" the subject matter of one of those questions, I wouldn't have a clue to what you were asking.

It's been a long walk (40 years)......but I persevered (praise Him).......and I now know some of the "whys". God grant me the "want to" to finish the course!

Even So... said...

I am not saying catechizing children or adults is wrong, only that they must go on to learn the why, to fill in the outlines of faith, otherwise all they will be left with is an empty shell, with others filling in the blanks for them...

Even So... said...

The Bible helps us to see through God's eyes, and He helps us to learn to adjust the glasses of our mind so as to focus more clearly on His Truth.

If we do not mature to where we can do this adjusting, to where we can see things in God's Word for ourselves, then someone else will always be seeing for us, and we will still be blind, ripe for deception, and leading others into the ditch of distorted vision...

Even So... said...

Teachers and preachers are like binoculars for us, and in that way they are prophetic, they give us a long range and/or big picture view, and help us to focus...but we must also be able to see the very things when they come near, or some unscrupulous one will lead us around like a seeing eye "dog", who will bite us and tell us it was someone else who is doing it...

Ray said...

This is also one of the reasons for the plethora of Bible versions that are not out. The versions keep getting simpler and simpler, taking any and all ambiguity out of the text.

People want someone to spoon-feed them the Word rather than wrestling with it themselves. We are becoming neo-Roman in that way.

People are often shocked when I tell them that I don't know the answer to a question about suffering or evil. I can give direction and assistance, but there are simply some aspects of our faith that we have to wrestle with.

That is also why there is a dearth of Bible preaching in the pulpit -- it is far easier to preach on '7 ways to cook low-carb', than it is to preach on Job.

Anonymous said...

JD said-
then someone else will always be seeing for us, and we will still be blind, ripe for deception, and leading others into the ditch of distorted vision...

Whew....don't ya know that was me??

Even So... said...

6-26-07