As the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:9, NASB)
I
treasure God’s Word and have spent much of my life reading and studying it. Thus
I have strong opinions on some theological issues.
At
one point I had just finished studying an important section of scripture and
came away with the conviction, more powerful than ever, that those who
disagreed with me on the interpretation of that scripture were wrong, and
dangerously wrong. I prayed and asked God what He wanted me to do about their
“serious error”. He told me, “Do what I trained you to do: write a clear and
practical hymn based on that passage.” I did, and when finished, I felt good about
the hymn and the accuracy of its message.
But
as I looked at the completed hymn, I realized that it was just as acceptable
and meaningful to my “theological opponents” as it was to me.
Perhaps
that was because hymns are best when they are heartfelt and life-centered.
And
while believers often disagree about theology on a theoretical level, they
rarely disagree about the way we all should live and long to live. For the most
part, we are one in that living faith.
I’ve
often experienced a strange silence from God about theological positions I
consider erroneous. I’ve sensed that somehow, He was more tolerant than I. I
kept expecting Him to send me out against the misguided with my sword drawn. He
never has.
God
gradually helped me realize that He hadn’t called me to straighten out all that
is false in the world and in His Church. He has called me to lift up Jesus
Christ so that all may find the truth in Him.
Let’s
face it. Ignorance is something we all have in common. We are small,
short-lived, often self-centered creatures. We are tiny specks in a sea of
time, space, and spiritual reality. Our ignorance, at least in this life, is
inherent and inescapable. If God couldn’t put up with our ignorance, He would
have nothing to do with us.
I
pray that God keeps me conscious of my own ignorance and patient with everyone
else’s. At the same time, I want my life to boldly, unfailingly proclaim the
beautiful, living truth that is in Jesus Christ alone.
Father,
we try to bind You with the ropes of our own
ignorance and
weakness.
But You are beyond all
our limitations,
our control,
our understanding, and
our imagination.
You are the I AM.
Hymn: I Have the Truth
