Bits and Pieces of Homespun Wisdom
Oh, it sounds so good. There is feeling in the voice: passion, conviction, energy. Others listen with a deep sense that the speaker is motivated to life behavior by what he/she is saying.
"My daddy always told me…" and then follows some dictum of varied length and description that sounds like a verse from the Bible. “I just believe that when a person is really committed to an idea they must in good conscience follow it.” Then follows another strong statement: “A person should always follow his/her conscience. A person’s conscience will never lead him/her wrong.”
At issue is the homespun wisdom that seems to guide life for many folks. The argument is that if a person believes strongly, and if that person does what they believe is right, everything will turn out wonderfully.
Once, while talking with a young man about his relationship with a young lady, I indicated to him that the evidence was overwhelmingly contrary to what he and the young girl were doing. The young all-too-wise twenty-something-year-old informed me that he was wiser than any statistics or any smart people who thought they knew so much about people. He was full of fancy statements intended to justify behavior contrary to biblical standards, and he was full of anger for anyone who suggested that his wisdom was not the highest order of wisdom. Of course, the end result was that he justified taking liberties the Bible limits to marriage.
It occurs to me that Hitler must have really been committed to what he believed to justify killing 6,000,000 people by genocide and be instrumental in a war costing 100,000,000 lives directly and another 1,000,000 who have died from direct causes of World War II. Did conviction make him right?
I remember a woman who would not join a church, because she promised her dad on his deathbed that she would never be part of “organized religion.” Her dad cheated her. She cheated herself. She attended a church, but never really became a part of the local church to fulfill the vow to her dad. She foolishly kept her promise to her dad.
“My mother told me never to trust a man,” a woman said. Then a man echoed, “My daddy told me never to trust anybody.”
Words, words, words; careless words, careless promises; words that bind people to behavior contrary to the life of Christ. Words that sound so deep, so persuasive, so right, but there is no scripture to support the words, no principles that are consistent with the life and teachings of Christ.
Talk radio epitomizes the cheapness of words: talk, talk, talk; opinions, feelings, hour after hour. No base. No anchor. No fear of God. Just blast away at others, curse a little, making light references to God, but never to a cross-bearing life of being submissive to Christ and a servant of others. Loud talk -- but when the show is over, the sweet essence of the fragrance of the presence of Christ is not found. What is left is the ominous and foreboding sense that the talkers will continue to do what they want to do while finding fault with anyone not supporting their behavior.
The hope of writing this article is to convince readers that fancy sayings, and quotes that are not biblically anchored, are dangerous and may be damnable. What we say is a powerful expression of what we believe. We do act out according to what is in our heart: “From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt.12:34). “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).
This I promise you: when we stand before the Lord to give an account of our trite sayings, not based in the life of Jesus, we will sound as dumb as unlearned musicians banging spoons at a philharmonic symphony concert.
I suggest that we each take careful counsel of the wisdom that comes from heaven. We ought to pray daily for this wisdom. We also ought to think when we speak whether we are speaking in a manner and with the words that sound like what Jesus would say.
Otherwise, we are just spinning life together with bits and pieces of homespun wisdom that are not likely to help us hear “well done” on Judgment Day.
Just for the record,
Pastor Bare
James 1:5