Just finished reading a life-changing book for a church class. It’s called The Best Question Ever by Andy Stanley. He addresses living a life of wisdom. Read it, if you haven’t. It’ll change your life too.
The chapters got me to thinking: why do we avoid living wisely? Sometimes we don’t want to live what we know because we’re lazy or afraid or stuck.
When we get stuck, we ask God for direction. What if He tells us something we don’t want to hear?
Have you ever disregarded something a friend said simply because you disagreed or thought the advice was unfitting to your circumstances? Have you ever ruled something out because it scared you (i.e. they told you to do something you’d rather not face)? Guess what? Sometimes our friends are right, we’re just not ready to hear what they have to say.
So, how often have we asked God for direction, heard a response, and disregarded it? Thought it was our own inner voice? Or too obvious to come from our Almighty God? Or too challenging—we’ve already decided we’re not going to “do that” whatever that is?
What keeps us from living in wisdom? What keeps us from hearing what we don’t want to hear? Why won’t we let it in, follow through? Even consider it?
Pride. Or fear. But rather than being so quick to disregard something a friend says, or even that God says, we should stop and consider their words. Who knows, if we follow through, we might just have the breakthrough we’ve been praying for for years.
2 comments:
Very insightful post. I guess I'm guilty of all of those: pride, fear and a mean streak of independence. Thanks for reminding me that listening to others is not necessarily a sign of weakness - it could be a sign of wisdom.
Thanks, Angie. That's one of the things Andy Stanley mentions in his book. Of course, people have to humble themselves to do it, me included. And it's a risk. What if they aren't gracious? I guess we let that fall in God's lap. All we have control over is ourselves and even then, only to a certain degree.
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