How much confusion do you allow inside your head?
How much confusion has to accumulate before you do something about it?

 

I’ve tried to read Proverbs chapter 3 four days in a row. Each day I get STOPPED at verse 7: “Do not be wise in your eyes.” I mean UTTERLY STOPPED. I have to stop reading and start reflecting, praying, writing.

The eye part is easy: it’s not about how I view myself, it’s about how God sees me. I need to change perspectives. SHIFT from the first person to the third. (for my gaming friends, from a  FPS to TPS)

What got me thinking deeply? It wasn’t where I needed to be; WHAT CAPTURED MY HEART AND SOUL was understanding the roadblock. I don’t want to be wise in my own eyes, how might I BE DIFFERENT?

So I considered confusion, since it’s the necessary pre-step to learning and wisdom.

[It is absolutely impossible to learn without a bit of confusion. If you don’t think you need it, you won’t learn it. Ignorance must be realized before it is removed. The hole must exist before it is filled.]

What’s my typical response to confusion? Ignore it? Gloss over it? Pretend it’s not there? Allow it? Wait for it to go away?
What if confusion became absolutely unacceptable? What if confusion was met with a tireless thirst to find answers?

I’m talking about the confusion that comes from things that really matter: for most of us, the inner workings of the space shuttle don’t matter. Relationships matter to all of us (or they ought to). What if we took relational confusion seriously? How about God’s Word and teaching from God’s word? What if we took truth confusion seriously?

You pick your flavor of confusion. I don’t think it’s enough to let confusion enter and take up permanent residence inside our minds. Confusion leads to complacency and apathy. There’s no reason to build a life around those UGLY THINGS.

Unless, of course, we are content with being wise in our own eyes.