All Figured Out

(Written today!)

I have been a Christian for twenty-five years. I’ve learned a lot, grown a lot, and decided that I’m the expert on a lot. Believe me, I am quite free in letting other people know it, too! When someone needs to know something that I am privileged to have “figured out,” I am happy to be the educator.
In one sense, I can look at my willingness to share my knowledge with others as a calling of the Lord. In my denomination, I can’t be a preacher, and that fits with my convictions and understanding of Scripture. But, that does not mean I have to keep my mouth closed. God has given me a passion to share with others what I receive from Him, and where He gives a passion He also gives an opportunity. But, on the other hand, I am realizing that my “sharing” isn’t always a response to that calling. Sometimes I’m just sharing my hard-core, tradition-based, stubbornly held to ideas. These are not the beautiful things I’ve learned in my times with the Lord. These are not the truths that jump out at me when I am diligently studying Scripture. These are the doctrines and traditions that I hold to because I am associated with thus-and-such a group or because this is the way I’ve always been taught. In those things, I might just need to keep my mouth shut!
I think maybe that’s why the Lord led Paul away from Christians immediately after his conversion. In Galatians 1:12, Paul states, “For I neither received [the Gospel] from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Then further down in verses 15 and 16 he adds, “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.”
The message I’ve always gleaned from this passage is that we need to be careful to hear from our Lord and not be swayed by the ready advice of fallen man around us. But, this morning I was convicted by this passage in a new way. Paul avoided people because He wanted a true, unadulterated Gospel that was not bogged down by tradition and preconceived notions. How many times do I share my preconceived notions instead of the beautiful truths presented in Scripture? How often do I share Ann’s ideas instead of God’s Word? How often to I bog down the simplicity of a relationship with the Lord by my blabbering?
I don’t have it “all figured out,” praise the Lord! If I did, what a disappointing faith we would have! Lord, help me to be diligent to be a light that points to Your Word, not a talker whose words have to be sifted through to find the nuggets of truth from Your Word. May I be a vessel that encourages others and points them to You to find Truth rather than a loud voice that proclaims what truth they should believe.