The humble and teachable heart

There must be one in every church or fellowship - they "A" type personality (if they use those terms anymore) who is very concerned that everything be done in the correct way. In biblical discussions, this desire tends to manifest by needing to have the last word on every topic. I think this must be because the desire for correctness translates to making sure all diverging opinions are silenced and only the "correct" belief or interpretation remains standing, which, of course, is theirs.

I was thinking about this lately - have you ever noticed that God, in His word, while He is definite about pivotal doctrine, remains silent or ambiguous on other matters of belief? How the end times will play out is one excellent example. I am sharing my own opinion about that in this blog, but it is just that - opinion. I may have biblical reasons for believing the way I do, but I also recognize that my opinion may change as I mature in my understanding, or as God reveals truth to His people the closer we get.

But the A types rarely see any point as ambiguous - they have a decided belief, and it is the right one, by golly! I tend to think that God was ambiguous on certain issues intentionally. Perhaps He wanted to give each generation an opportunity to love each other in spite of differences, or to patiently (not arrogantly) teach others in love where there are differences. Perhaps it is so no one man can claim to have it all figured out, and so become a type of Messiah figure to people. Perhaps it is to keep us humble with each other.

I have been waking with the Lord for 30 years now. The one thing that amazes me, is that the more I learn, the less I seem to know, LOL. When I first became a Christian, the funny thing is, the correctness of my doctrine was not the first thing that the Lord began working with in me, but things like, honor, love toward others, and patience. Things like that are what Jesus called the "weightier matters of Torah."

Now that I am learning Torah again, I am running into its incredible detail on certain matters, and non- detail on other matters, and those who are so zealous that everyone have the correct details that they have forgotten to honor, love, patiently teach, and not elevate their own opinions to the place of Scripture. May we all have the attitude of humility of mind, regarding each other as more important than ourselves!