“It’s true that some
are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with
pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been
appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as
they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely,
intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn’t matter.
Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being
preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.” Philippians 1:15-18 NLT
One of the favorite things that I do in discussions (if your
name is Loretta, my wife, call it an argument ☺),
is what I call the ‘Kent dumb’ question.
These are questions that usually do one of two things. One is to blatantly point out the obvious,
which usually ends the discussion. The
other is when I feel there is something obvious that I am just plain
missing. For example when my daughter claims
not to know where the missing cupcake is, the Kent dumb question is, “Mya, why
is the cupcake wrapper in your bedroom?”
However, there are times where that so called ‘dumb’ question becomes a great
one. It’s great because often it is the
dumb question that reveals something in a plan that no one has thought of. These are important because it often is the
difference between a great plan and a plan that sinks because no one ever asked
that question.
It brought me to the very obvious question that we as
Christians often wonder. Am I doing what
God asks of me? When I make a stance on
something, is it because it’s what God wants or what I want? You see, these seem like dumb questions, but
they are smart especially when we are not balanced in our approach to them. Sometimes I allow my heart rule over me too
much, and end up not doing what God wants me to do. Other times, I let my literal sense lead
because that’s what God’s law says, but in those cases, I am not as loving of
others as God is as loving of me. As a
comedian once said about being a father, “We are dumb, but we are not so dumb.”
It is important that we always check our motives to ensure they
are God driven. God’s law is perfect,
and so is His love for us. But what if
one conflicts with the other? What do
you say to the gay person who’s lost his loved one to AIDS? Now I have not had to deal with this, but
this is the dilemma. How can I show
God’s love without accepting or approving of the lifestyle? You see for one side, it sounds simple. God does not approve of the homosexual
lifestyle, and as such, anything I do to uphold that is a sin. Period.
That’s easy enough, right? That’s
exactly what happened in the South when they said slavery was acceptable (Note:
They used scripture to prove that God approved of it because it wrote it
explicitly God’s acceptance of it – see Exodus 20:10, 17 as prime examples). The fact I bring this up does not mean I
condone homosexuality. It does mean that
if we are not approaching it with God’s heart for the person, we are not
following Christ for while He did love us for the person we would become, He
also loved us right where we were. I’m
merely trying to point out we must truly understand our motives prior to saying
one is right or wrong.
God wants all of us.
Mind, heart, and soul. These will
take us to places where we will feel very uncomfortable. It will make us think when our hearts have led
us astray, and soften our heart when our heads are stubborn. Our goal is to love God and His word, and ask
prayerfully for guidance. So let us not
be too simplistic in our approach to situations. Let us always be willing to make God’s word
truly living! My prayer is that before
we jump to the seemingly obvious answer, we pause to check our motives and ask
The Dumb Question.’ Amen.
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