NO.6/ PERSONAL IDEOLOGIES
“It’s not enough that we’re careful in what we take in, it’s equally important that we hear it properly, almost an impossibility when our preconceptions are more dominant than the truths that stare us in the face everyday.”
I've always maintained that the most difficult feat to accomplish in life is change. For most of us, we won't until the PAIN of NOT changing EXCEEDS the pain of change. Then we'll budge! Am I right?
Tied to this 'pain of change' lies the second most difficult feat - letting go of personal ideologies rooted in misconceptions. The difficulty here, however, lies NOT in us being willing to "let go" as much as us not being aware there is something to let go of! If you're anything like me, THIS is what get's us into trouble; we expect "round" and miss it completely when opportunity comes to us as a "square."
John the Baptist stumbled over this very thing. After being thrown into prison by Herod, he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask if He was the Messiah. Jesus responded this way:
"Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them." (Matt. 11:3-5). The origination of these thoughts came from Isaiah where the Messiah was depicted as doing these very things!
This is where it gets interesting. The Lord ended His declaration with a simple observation."And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." (v.6) This comment was not just a random off the wall kind of comment. Jesus was directing it towards John. YES! JOHN! John was offended at Jesus and Jesus was calling him out on it!
Are you wondering what happened? The quick answer is, John was looking for "round" and Jesus came as a "square." But let me take a moment to delve into this deeper. There's a lesson here for all of us.
We all know that John was the precursor to Jesus. Operating under the mantle of Elijah, John came preaching a message of repentance to prepare the hearts for the Messiah who, John said, would come after him. "Though his ministry follows mine, I'm not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal." (John 1:27 NLT). Pretty clear don't you think?
When Jesus came to John to be baptized, John said this very thing. "I am the one who needs to be baptized by you," he said, "so why are you coming to me?" (Matt. 3:14 NLT). As you can see, John KNEW who Jesus was and spoke in line with what he understood it all to be! John even saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus after the baptism and heard the words, "This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy." (v. 13)
Could there be any doubt in John's mind? NOT AT THIS POINT.
However, like everyone else in his day, John was fully expecting the Messiah to deliver the Jews from their enemies and restore the nation to international prominence. Never happened! But John's offense lay much deeper than this.
The key can be found in properly understanding how John chose to live his life. Keep in mind that EVERYTHING John did, he did so believing it was pleasing to God. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT POINT.
First, note that John came from a family of Priests. In fact, John's father was serving in the Temple when an angel appeared and told him what to name his son. All we know from the point of John's birth onward is, he left the priesthood at an early age and lived in the wilderness. I'm thinking he saw the hypocrisy openly displayed by the religious leaders of his day and couldn't stand the thought of being part of it. Certainly, by the time he arrived onto the scene, he carried a great contempt for the scribes and Pharisees and made it plain he would not baptize them without their demonstrating the "fruit" of a repentant heart. Clearly John neither liked them nor trusted their motives.
Secondly, note the clothes John wore and the types of foods He ate. "John's clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locust and wild honey." (v.4) John had a disdain for the display of material wealth, choosing to live a simple life and allowing himself only a minimum of bare necessities to maintain his life. This is a life we could characterize as monastic and austere.
And as I suggested earlier, John lived this way BECAUSE he felt it was pleasing to God.
Jesus on the other hand, embraced neither a monastic life style nor possessed a contempt for the pleasures of life. If you might remember, the Roman soldiers cast lots to see who would end up with the Lord's robe. Can you imagine what must have been going on in John's mind when he saw what Jesus was wearing?
As you can probably tell, Jesus lived a life almost completely opposite of John's. While John hated the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus had supper with them. John didn't drink alcohol and ate the simplest of foods. Jesus was accused of being a "glutton and a winebibber." (Matt. 11:19).
So where am I going with this you ask?
Jesus said, "take heed WHAT you hear." (Mark 4:24). He also said, "take heed HOW you hear" (Luke 8:18). It's not enough that we're careful in what we take in, it's equally important that we hear it properly, almost an impossibility when our preconceptions are more dominant than the truths that stare us in the face everyday.
YES! I know, what I just said is probably the most subjective of comments one could make. Those on the one side will accuse those on the other of this VERY TRUTH.
However, TRUTH IS STILL TRUTH. And we will all have to be careful how we proceed moving forward. As stated yesterday, i believe we are living in a unique time in our country's history and, like you, I want to be on the right side of it when all is said and done. To do so, we should all be spending time in prayer seeking the heart of the father and asking 'what does this all mean?' and 'what would you have me do?' I say this all the while recognizing how easy it was for John to miss it ... and he was right there staring Jesus in the face!
Amen?
