I don’t always comment, but I always love to hear the stories of God told and explicated by Dr. Wright, one of my favorite teachers. And this is one of my favorite stories, and on of the first prayers I prayed as a new Christian 40 years ago.
Your reflection is truly heartening. It's remarkable how certain stories and prayers become intertwined with our journey of faith, shaping us in profound ways. Thank you for sharing this part of your journey with us. --NTW Online Team
A listening heart - I love that. A listening heart hears God. It also hears the truth of another person even when their words say something else. It is a gift from God but we don't always use it. It requires our full attention.
I’ve been meditating on testing this week. The line of Solomon not asking for “self-sufficient” wisdom but a listening-heart divinely enlightened me on passing God’s tests! The tests aren’t for me to a self-sufficient, righteous person. The test force me to partner with God to be His true image.
Good words as they apply to tests, which as you pointed out aren't for us to necessarily 'pass' on our own, but to surrender, trust, and depend on God in the midst of the testing.
Listening, reading, observing, experimenting, and making mistakes is part of the wisdom that connects us with God, in such a way that we harmonize with the Lord and with our neighbor. We should not underestimate and ignore that oral and written tradition transmitted for generations, both extracted by the scripture and outside of it, in the so-called science if it is not opposed to the knowledge of good. Our deceased ancestors spent a large part of their lives passing on the knowledge of good, although we cannot deny that they also passed on the knowledge of evil.
Yes! And a listening heart is also an obedient, submissive heart. What good is listening without also acting on what is heard? The kingdom coming is marked by listening and surrendering to God's will, in Christ.
I love the hearing or listening heart, I pray I have a heart like that and it continues to be so. I will sit and read that whole passage tonight and find someone to share it with.
Lovely! Thank you for sharing. May God grant you ears to hear the hearts of others you encounter, and especially the person with whom you share this message.
Just wanted to say AMAZING JOB to the production team. SO WELL DONE. I remember when you guys first started. CONGRATULATIONS on your 1 year anniversary of this project!!!! The work you have done will be benefiting the world for many years to come. May the Lord bless this channel and Tom to continue to bring hope and light into the darkness!
I was just talking to someone about what I had been reading from the proof for the son of God, and she stated during this discussion, that she wants to be valuable. I continued to talk about nihilism, that had come up. The Lord had been graciously bringing my attention to this mistake, when I had an opportunity to tell her that God has made her valuable. That she, as the declaration of independence states, has inalienable rights attached to this value, and that the ultimate evidence of the value God has given her, is evidence through the mechanism of reconciliation God sought her through.
I'm currently preparing a sermon on 1 Cor 1:17-2:5, which speaks of the wisdom of the world vs the wisdom of God. Simultaneously I see how often many have uncritically imbibed a secular worldview (it is our fishbowl, after all), and how disconnected they/I are/am from the grand narrative of scripture that we are to find ourselves in. How do we learn/teach to become hearers of God?
A very good question indeed! There are many ways to approach this, of course, and we'd love to hear what others think. Since you mentioned worldviews, one place to start might be in our course, 'Worldviews, the Bible, and the Believer'. www.udemy.com/course/worldviews-the-bible-and-the-believer/ At times we find the words of Richard Bach to be apt: 'We preach best what we need to learn most'.
A very wise comment on the nature of wisdom. You must be hearing from the Lord. I wanted to serve God and my country in politics, but I have a feeling that this sprere is not exactly an area where God's people can make a difference. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Perhaps it depends on how we look at what it means to make a difference, and practically speaking, your giftings, and what opportunities there are to serve. You very likely can love God and neighbor as yourself in many spheres, whether they are political or something else.
One metaphor for vocation is that of an angled mirror, where humans reflect God's love and wise stewardship into the world, and also reflect the praises of creation back to God. Prof. Wright has written about this subject in many places, such as 'Broken Signposts'. You can also learn more in our online courses on the book of 'Genesis' or 'Themes in the Gospel of John'. www.udemy.com/course/book-of-genesis/ www.udemy.com/course/themes-in-the-gospel-of-john/
