LOW GLORY: I like finding new, better ways of doing things, even if they are unconventional. Thus, I find it intriguing (about me) that a person (even a thoughtful, caring friend) could approach me with a simple, sound piece of advise and logic--perhaps a practice that I could very easily implement, one that would obviously and significantly benefit myself and my children's well-being---and my response would be, "Naaah...what you say makes sense, but I don't think I'm going to do it."
Here is one example; I have many.
"Hey Greg, if you and your family will wear crash helmets, you guys will significantly reduce your chances of injury and improve your chances of survival in the event of an automobile accident."
Ironically, I would judge other adults who drive without a seatbelt on, and especially those who don't insist their children buckle up, as not being "thoughtful". Still I don't own a single crash helmet.
The lesson here. We might assume that thoughtful people are thoughtful all the time and about most everything. That assumption can be turned on its head.
Mark out a mile, and color a foot of it red. That red patch represents about how much critical thought, discussion and weighing of evidence---of the sort that occurs in the supreme court, university forums and corporate think-tanks---that even the most thoughtful person musters in consciously choosing (let alone implementing their choice) life practices and general beliefs.
Observe a thoughtful person waking up, cooking breakfast. Note, he doesn't follow with exactness the latest research on omelet-making. The technique he uses when he kisses his wife isn't necessarily conforming to some well documented, research-based, best-practice formulation of effective intimacy verified and certified by social workers and psychologists in some double-blind study. At least ninety-nine percent of all the things he does at work have not been confirmed by multiple research studies and supported by a consensus of scientists. Night falls, he brushes his teeth, tucks his kids in bed, prays and sleeps in ways that have not been deduced as preferable by elaborate thoughtful investigations with proofs.
And in the end...this thoughtful person doesn't care, because things are adequate.
Sufficiency rules.
MEDIUM GLORY: The devil uses the 'everybody does it' logic to get us to do (or not do) certain things. I believe God uses the 'everybody does it' logic too. Today he is helping me understand that even the most thoughtful people are, even in some of the most important areas of life, basically just winging it.
He wants me not to despair this, but to celebrate it. He wants me to take permission from this precedent he now lays bare before me, to understand and to preach that we can with surety: loosen up, follow our bliss, our whims, our best guesses (as ill-informed as they may be) in establishing even core life beliefs and practices.
Today Gods wants me to glory in the vast limits of reason. He started revealing this glory to me in my earlier post: "180 Degrees."
HIGH GLORY: My Captain Of The Celestial Voyage is preparing me for battle. The Great and Eternal King now warns me, his warrior, that there will come people who act like they can reason, and will insist we all should reason, the full mile.
He warns me that some persons deliberately, and other persons accidentally, overestimate the realm of reason and thus cause his holy princes and princesses to be distracted from other powerful means of knowing, like the revelations he wants to pour out upon us.
I prophesy that there will be some persons who are able to paint a few more inches of red than the rest of us. I warn that we must not become blind to the stark fact that they, and all of us, travel the long mile...we mostly (99%) walk by faith and not by thick-reasoning and double-blind studies.
Other Prophesy Notes:
-When I do meet these long-red-line persons I need to remember to ask them to show me the peer-reviewed research that justifies their preferred egg-cooking and kissing techniques:). I will ask them if they wear helmets when they drive and other such questions.
-Someone could think that my intent is towards anti-thoughtfulness. It is not. As I testified in my posting, "180-degrees", I love engaging in long arguments, more than most people do. But today I am commanded to testify of the limits of reason. Yes, we should travel the red part of the mile. But we should be wary of overestimating the length to which we can go with our intellect.
-I am grateful that God lets me drive my car around without a crash helmet (even against my better judgment), if it suits me. (Thank you Lord for helping me live not by 'thoughtfulness alone', but more by every word that proceedeth forth from thy throne).