Wisdom Wednesday
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
Ephesians 5:8-10
Over the past/next few Wednesdays, in keeping with our Wisdom Wednesday theme, I’m going to explore the idea of ‘Making Godly Decisions’.
Phillip Jensen helpfully offers three categories in decision making:
1. Matters of righteousness
2. Matters of good judgement
3. Matters of trivia
Matters of righteousness aren’t about wisdom. They are right/wrong decisions. Next week. I’ll consider matters of trivia. But today, let’s think about matters of good judgement. These are decisions where there is no clear Biblical command but where the significance of the decision demands consideration in light of the bigger picture of the Bible.
One example of this is attending a same-sex ‘marriage’ celebration. We know Christians shouldn’t be in same-sex relationships, but how should we interact with unbelievers who are?
Well, first, let’s grab the data points and try to triangulate an answer.
First - engaging in same-sex relationships is dishonouring to God and each other. Regardless of their beliefs, those who participate in such relationships are not living as they were created to live (1 Corinthians 6:9, Romans 1:26-27).
Second - Christians should love God by condemning sin and having no part of it (Ephesians 5:11).
Third - Christians should love their sinful neighbour. Whether it’s their same-sex marriage or their verbal blasphemy, we eat at their tables in the hope of winning them to Christ. We must be wary though - love can take many forms. Because we trust God that living in sin is actually harmful, it can be loving to be unsupportive in sin.
Four - We are all sinners and outside of God’s saving grace are no more holier than any other person.
So where to from here? Well, now it is up to each of us to decide which of these we must give the most weight to - taking into account contexts and circumstances.
I can see how a Christian might choose for the sake of love of the sinner to attend a same-sex ‘marriage’. I would suggest that if there is where you land, you consider having a conversation with the friend/family member to explain your position.
My preference would be to not attend because I love God and I love them. But again, there might be a situation where I would.
For Today:
Pray:
Ephesians 5:8-10
Over the past/next few Wednesdays, in keeping with our Wisdom Wednesday theme, I’m going to explore the idea of ‘Making Godly Decisions’.
Phillip Jensen helpfully offers three categories in decision making:
1. Matters of righteousness
2. Matters of good judgement
3. Matters of trivia
Matters of righteousness aren’t about wisdom. They are right/wrong decisions. Next week. I’ll consider matters of trivia. But today, let’s think about matters of good judgement. These are decisions where there is no clear Biblical command but where the significance of the decision demands consideration in light of the bigger picture of the Bible.
One example of this is attending a same-sex ‘marriage’ celebration. We know Christians shouldn’t be in same-sex relationships, but how should we interact with unbelievers who are?
Well, first, let’s grab the data points and try to triangulate an answer.
First - engaging in same-sex relationships is dishonouring to God and each other. Regardless of their beliefs, those who participate in such relationships are not living as they were created to live (1 Corinthians 6:9, Romans 1:26-27).
Second - Christians should love God by condemning sin and having no part of it (Ephesians 5:11).
Third - Christians should love their sinful neighbour. Whether it’s their same-sex marriage or their verbal blasphemy, we eat at their tables in the hope of winning them to Christ. We must be wary though - love can take many forms. Because we trust God that living in sin is actually harmful, it can be loving to be unsupportive in sin.
Four - We are all sinners and outside of God’s saving grace are no more holier than any other person.
So where to from here? Well, now it is up to each of us to decide which of these we must give the most weight to - taking into account contexts and circumstances.
I can see how a Christian might choose for the sake of love of the sinner to attend a same-sex ‘marriage’. I would suggest that if there is where you land, you consider having a conversation with the friend/family member to explain your position.
My preference would be to not attend because I love God and I love them. But again, there might be a situation where I would.
For Today:
- What would you do & why?
- Do you have a ‘matter of judgement’ type decision you need to make? What are the data points?
- Ask God to grow you in wisdom.
Pray:
- Praise the Father that He gives us the truth we need to make decisions in life that are good and honour Him.
- Give thanks for Jesus Christ who teaches us the truth of God in all wisdom.
- Ask God for His Holy Spirit to help you and others make judgements and decisions that honour Him.
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