By David ReayTuesday 21 Sep 2021LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
Honest words can be painful, but what do your criticisms amount to? Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation? (NLT)
One of the criticisms levelled at our politicians is that so many lack what we might call real life experience. Their only work has been as a staffer in a political office. And so when elected to office, they have a distinct political perspective divorced from what people generally are experiencing.
Similar things can happen in Christian circles. A person may grow up in a generally “respectable” family, be educated and nurtured in a consistent Christian context, relate socially and intellectually within the Christian community, and not be well acquainted with another sort of world.
And so some Christians can blithely assume that their world is the norm. This can lead to problems when those same Christians are called on to offer counsel to those who live in another world. The words and ideas that prevail in their Christian world are foreign to others. Their ways of coping may not make a lot of sense to those outside that world.
Those who live in what we might call the “Christian” world ought to be thankful for the good things in it. But there is another world, and if we are to do good in it, we need to be aware of the culture and language gap. We never want to become like Job’s friends, who offered orthodox but unhelpful counsel, who suggested solutions which ignored Job’s pain.
If, praise God, life is going along just fine for you, don’t forget that in another world things are so very different. Let your bubble burst.
Blessings,
David