Get beneath the surface

"Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” (John 7:24) These words struck me this morning as I was reading the account of Jesus going up to the Feast of Tabernacles and the people hearing his message, amazed at his depth of teaching though he was not a 'scholar' of the Law of Moses. They are in awe of his wisdom and well-grounded instruction, but miss the point that he is the living, breathing Messiah. Jesus assures them his message is not his own but comes from is Father - "Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies." (vs. 17-18) Though speaking the truth, they could only see the things they knew about Jesus - that he was a son of Joseph, a carpenter, born into a village without nobility or honor. They could not see beneath the surface, so they were not making a 'valid' judgment about who Jesus really was.

This is the problem for us at times, isn't it? We see only the surface and never really get beneath the surface - beyond the things we think we know to the things that we could come to know. If we want to really understand the things of God, we have to be willing to 'dig beneath the surface' in order to really get to know him. That might look a little like us having to 'dig beneath the surface' of the front we put out there for everyone to see, as well! What? We get to know more about Jesus by getting beneath the surface of the 'superficial image' WE portray to the world? We get to know more about Jesus when he gets to touch us at more than 'surface level'. Ever wonder why some very solid biblical teaching never really does much to change our character or behavior? It is because we only 'interpret' it on the surface level - we don't allow it to really penetrate into our hearts and minds.

We all go through life making judgments of one sort or another. Some will be rather superficial, like which cut of meat to buy at the supermarket, or which roads we will travel on a journey. Others require just a bit more introspection, such as who we will choose as a soulmate, best friend, or spouse. While some of the judgments we make are okay to be made with very superficial knowledge, such as choosing the gas station on the same side of the road as we are driving on when both sides of the road offer the same price, we cannot always go through life only being 'surface deep' with our actions. At some point, we will need to 'look beneath the surface so we can judge correctly'. Notice, correct judgment is not always 'intuitive' - sometimes it requires a little more effort.

We may go through life seeing things as 'good' that 'tickle our fancy' and other things as 'bad' because they kind of repel us, but are we interpreting things correctly? The adage to not judge a book by its cover comes to mind here. What do you see when you look at yourself? What do others see? It is likely they see what you want them to see, but not always what is truthfully going on inside of your heart, mind, emotions, and struggles of the will. When we allow ourselves to begin to see with Christ's eyes, we begin to make better judgments in life. When we allow ourselves to be seen as Christ sees us, we become examples he can use to draw others to him. Just sayin!

A little waste recycling needed

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. 

(Will Rogers)

How true is that statement? We all amass 'experience' as we move through life, some of it more 'worthy' of proclaiming than others. Certainly some of our judgment has been 'flawed' on occasion, yet there are even good things that come out of our bad judgment. The fourth police car has just passed my house bound for a residence at the end of the street, along with a fire truck and ambulance. Curiosity would make we want to find out what is going on - good judgment would tell me to trust the local authorities to do their job and pray for whatever is happening at the moment. Good judgment isn't learned by giving into every moment of 'curiosity' we have toward a matter, is it? In fact, there are times when we have to deny our curiosity because it is bound to lead us down a path we shouldn't be traveling!

A leader of good judgment gives stability; an exploiting leader leaves a trail of waste. (Proverbs 29:4)

Some will immediately deny they are 'leaders' in any sense of the word, but even if you are not presently thinking of yourself as a leader, let me assure you that someone is following your example. Obviously that makes each of us 'leaders' in some sense of the word. How important it is for us to lead well - with good judgment so there will be a stable example for them to follow! Poor judgment indeed leaves little more than a trail of waste, but even 'waste' has some value to the ones who have learned to 'recycle' it! God would hope we'd be consistent in our use of good judgment, minimizing the need for 'waste recycling', but he is also a realist and knows our propensity toward not always using good judgment!

For some, bad judgment seems to be the 'norm' - it has become so commonplace in their lives that when 'good judgment' happens, it is an oddity! I am so grateful that the periods of my life marked by one bad judgment right after another were actually able to be redeemed. How about you? Has God done the work of 'recycling' the waste of all those bad decisions in your life? Think about it - what has he done to turn what others would label as 'waste' in your life into something that would now be labeled as 'beautiful' and 'holy'? We want to focus on the fact that 'waste' came out of those decisions, but God wants us to see that the pile of waste is nothing more than 'fertilizer' for the growth he is now bringing forth.

Yes, we all want stability in our lives. Certainly we want to lead well and never lead another astray, but we know the reality of our moments of indecision and weakness - we will exercise bad judgment at times. Rather than beating ourselves up over those moments, why not let God use them as a means to help us develop better judgment for the next time we face similar moments of indecision or weakness? He might be using that 'waste pile' in your rear-view mirror as a reminder of all that has changed in your life. He could also be reminding each of us of just how powerful it is to have 'pre-decided' to make certain good judgments when faced with decisions and weaknesses. Just sayin!

Who is "in residence" in your life?

Wisdom has a couple of companions "in residence" with him - Good Judgment, Knowledge, and Planning.  All three make the best "roommates" for Wisdom.  If we want to have a "full house", we want all of these "in residence" within!  Get Good Judgment, Knowledge, Planning and Wisdom inside of you and you will find you make decisions a little differently - these "residents" create a culture quite different from what might be the "norm" in your life right now.

I am Wisdom. I live with Good Judgment. I am at home with Knowledge and Planning. (Proverbs 8:12 ERV)

Wisdom is not a thing, he is a person - Christ Jesus.  All wisdom comes from God because God is the embodiment of wisdom.  Wisdom is the applied knowledge we amass over the years - to have both in residence in your life suggests you are in a position of learning on a continual basis - not just to amass knowledge, but to figure out how it applies to the daily decisions you make.

Good Judgment may seem like it is the same thing as Wisdom, but it stands alone because we can possess a whole lot of knowledge and still make bad decisions.  Wisdom and Knowledge are good companions, but we need Good Judgment to assist us when we don't have time to think things through - when we need to be spontaneous or instantaneous in our decision-making.

Planning is the companion of the rest because when we apply our knowledge, we find ourselves planning our steps.  We aren't as quick to take steps which are not well-ordered and appointed as the best ones for us to take.  We find we are more apt to avoid missteps when we have invited a little Planning into our lives.

Why are these important "residents" to invite into our lives?  I think it begins with our choices.  When we have these companions living so close to us, we find that our choices are a little different than they were without these companions. I can tell you I live a little differently today with my elderly mom in residence with me than I did when it was just me living in the house.  When it was just me, I could choose to stop at the stores and window shop instead of coming home to make dinner.  I could eat a bowl of cereal at dinner if I didn't feel like cooking. I would not be concerned with shutting the doors when I showered or changed clothes.  Why?  Alone I make different decisions than when I have someone "in residence" with me. 

To have these companions in residence in our lives begins to affect how we live our lives on a daily basis.  Wisdom is the governing companion - helping us make wise choices when we might not possess all the knowledge we might need up front.  Wisdom calls upon Knowledge to reveal truth to us so that we might stand in strength in the decisions we make.  Good Judgment will tweak our choices a little - giving a little "tempering" to the ones which may not be the optimal for us.  Good Judgment helps us live life at the "optimal" level - by helping us pick and choose what it is we will respond to.  Planning is kind of there as the "leveling" factor in our lives.  When we invite a little Planning into our lives, we are taking steps to avoid wrong decisions, but also to plan for the right ones to be made.

We don't just want Wisdom - although it is a good start.  Knowledge is the beginning of wisdom - Good Judgment and Planning help us in our actual walking out of what we have learned and what we are actively applying in our lives.  Just sayin!