from Erin Hunter
About a week ago a FB friend posted, about how learning more made him more aware of how much he didn’t know. As an ornery contrarian, I semi-jokingly responded, “So learning leads to ignorance, right?” Thankfully, he got it, and we’re still friends. At the time though, I didn’t realize I had a similar post planned for this week, so let’s look at another angle of the principle.
Earlier flaws
once seen as strengths
now recognized
for what they are
Ironic
how years of growth
merely reveals more flaws
both past and present
Like knowledge in general, as we grow and learn in Jesus, we also discover that his desires for us include many factors we didn’t consider in our earlier years. Here’s one example. In my early 20s when away from God, I fought my huge self-centeredness. Ironically, a hated Marcus Welby TV show had a selfish character that I despised, only to realize he was me. So, I worked on it. Hard, only to fail.
Then, my spiritual search led me to believe the biblical God was likely real, so I gave God a chance. With all the arrogance of a twenty-three year old, I put him to the test, “God, I think you’re real, and need you to change my selfishness. So, please work on that in me.” Then came the arrogance, that God in his love and grace didn’t hold against me, “If this works I’m with you forever. If it doesn’t, I’m gone forever.”
I quickly noticed some changes, and within a week people asked what had happened. Very simply, I said that God happened.
This changed my life. After this victory, I thanked him, thinking the job was done. I could relax where I was. He gently pointed out another area, one I thought I was doing pretty well with, but it was in his word, so we took that on. Once more I thought I’d arrived, then he showed me something different. I discovered that God changes us in a lifelong process.
Some of those areas that I earlier took pride in, I found I had fallen short of God’s target. I truly didn’t think he cared about those things.
More examples: in my early day with God, I knew sexual intercourse was wrong, but that left a lot of leeway. Then he gently corrected me, that sexual intimacy, in any form, was designed as part of marriage. Or, being analytical, I often held back information to benefit me, until God used a friend to point that out.
The lesson: things I incorrectly thought God accepted when earlier, that I took pride in as strengths, became flaws as I grew closer to him and his word.
In crafting this post, I found a verse that had never noticed me before, “Finally, brothers, good-bye. Aim for perfection” (2 Corinthians 13:11). Aim. You won’t attain it down here, but grow, step by step. Mend your life. Complete it.
Kick Starting the Application
Have you experienced the same process, that as you grow, you feel less moral than you did earlier? What issues like this have you faced? What are the next ones you suspect that need some mending?