Can you say, “I’m putting this bullet through your heart because I love you with the love of Jesus. Because God’s Word commands me to do this.”?
If you seriously think you can, if you ever feel the need to kill someone, call me first and let’s talk about it.
I don’t want to hire a river guide who’s just like me, a nice guy who knows the river as well as I do, who never tells me what to do.
I want a river guide who is wiser than me, who knows the river better than I do, who’s willing to tell me what I should do.
I want to hear about the river, not what I want to hear. Or I could drown.
I would rather be uncomfortable and find the truth, than be comfortable and find nothing.
As Thomas Aquinas is supposed to have said, the Western church can no longer say “Silver and gold have I none” but neither can we say, “Rise up and walk.”
In a previous article, I hinted about my background in the theater. Sometimes it was hard being a better playwright than actor. Faced with difficult lines, mediocre actors (like me?) are tempted to change them.
“I don’t understand what the line means”… but presumably the playwright does.
“That isn’t something I would have said”… but is it something the character would have said? How well do you know the character yet?
The great actors can perform great plays without changing the lines. Instead, they change their attitudes and understanding, trusting in the author’s intent.
Good advice for followers of Jesus as well.
I worked in a bookkeeping department for about a year. Every week I had to make one large bank deposit. I totaled up the checks, recorded their bank routing numbers on the deposit slip, then totaled them up again.
My first day on the job, the two totals didn’t match. I was angry and frustrated. This isn’t fair, I thought to myself, this is somebody’s fault. (more…)
