Right or Wrong? Wisdom & Understanding
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Do you ever feel confused by other people? Like what they have done or said? Their beliefs or their perspectives?
As someone who really strives to view things from multiple perspectives, I still find myself baffled by all the ways people can interpret something and respond to it. Indeed we are all different, and indeed we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made,” but how do we make sense of all the contrasting behaviors and viewpoints?
We tend to form relationships based on similar ideas, perspectives, beliefs, etc. But when you’re with your crew and someone says something or does something that you just don’t agree with, does it leave you confused? Or unsettled? Perhaps even defensive of your opinion and suddenly instead of feeling unity, you’re the odd man out?
Sometimes I’m amazed at how many people, family and friends, share opinions and beliefs that I disagree with. Who is “right”? Who is “wrong?” Am I stubbornly holding to something that needs to change? Do some things even need to be considered right or wrong, or simply a difference of opinion?
These thoughts have been plaguing me recently. In my closest relationship, my husband and I continually interpret things differently. In my wider family circle, my family makes choices that I myself wouldn’t choose, and broader still, my closest friends often take a different path than me.
When I was younger I used to try to align with my closest friends. I sought unity, identity, and relationship. While I still hunger for those things now, I have found that nobody is exactly like me. No one is going to think just like me, or come to the same conclusions as me. I often find that my mother and I view things very similarly, but then that splits at some point. Or my sister and I can agree on a lot of things but then we are wildly different in other areas. I think of my closest friends and all the things we have in common and can also see all the ways we are different.
I want to celebrate all the ways we are different. I want to embrace someone’s opinion or viewpoint. It doesn’t mean I have to change my own but perhaps I can learn from them. Perhaps I can understand them better; be a better wife, better daughter, sister, or friend. This scripture spoke to me about wisdom and understanding.
Proverbs 2:1-5 - New Living Translation reads:
My child, listen to what I say and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out [to God] for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.”
*Fear of God - “respectful faithfulness, awe or reverence, even terror”.
So when you find that you can’t make sense of others’ actions, opinions, and beliefs, it doesn’t mean you have to agree, rather pray as Solomon instructs, “Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.” Let God alone be the judge of right and wrong. Let your wisdom be based on the knowledge you have at hand, based on the knowledge available to you in the bible. In Proverbs 3:5-6, Solomon continues to say, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Another scripture that ties in here is Matthew 6:22-23. It is a part of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. It reads, “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!”
When Jesus says that the eyes are healthy or good it means that a person both sees and perceives well.
So let me ask you. What impacts how you perceive the world?
Is it your friends, family, coworkers, social media, TV, movies, music, and books? That is likely the answer for all of us. If we continually expose ourselves to specific things, it will impact how we see and experience the world.
So it’s okay to be selective with who and what you give the most attention to. In fact, Jesus, in that same sermon discusses this. “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also.” In other words, where you put your time, energy, and attention, is where you’ll be rooted.
Some relationships enrich our lives, some are neutral interactions, and others tip the other way to where they perhaps do more harm than good or in other words are more worldly/sinful. So as referenced here, pray about it -pray about it all, the situations, perceptions, relationships, and where to go (or not go) with them. Pray fiercely- as if searching for “hidden treasure”. Guard your heart, guard your eyes, your mind - and be a light to those around you.
Blessings and hugs,
Holly
