I know that the answer to my problems isn’t found in school. I’ve been to school, and still missed the more important point. I know that the answer to my problems is not found in knowledge about God. I know a lot about God, and none of it was enough to shift my mind into His way of thinking. I knew a lot about Him, but did not know Him as I should.
And that is the problem that I was not trying to solve in school and with knowledge. My problems stem from my problem with my relationship with my Master. Simply put, I have only one real problem: I don’t know my Master as I should, and as I can know Him. That’s it. And I don’t find that answer in school nor in knowledge acquired in any way; experientially or referentially. That answer comes, as Chambers puts it, as I “soak on the great fundamental truths of God’s redemption.”
As in much of life, the cliché winds up being true, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” In this instance, it’s whether or not and how well I know my Master, that is all that matters. Having said that, I now turn to a problem that has been flowing out of this limited relationship.
I have been compromising. The pastor on Sunday warned against making compromises that lead away from or are contrary to my Master. He made his appeal very clear. I loved it! But it also ran roughly over my toes and sensibilities. How do I get along in this world without compromise? Well, I’m not supposed to (he mentioned that too). The little things I do that are what addiction speak refer to as “middle-circle boundaries” are not acceptable.
It doesn’t matter what’s on camera or not. It doesn’t matter what triggers my accountability software. What matters is what my Master is thinking as I take Him with me wherever I go on the internet, entertain in the recesses of my mind, and where I look in crowds. That sounds legalistic, but it’s not legalism, it’s about what is acceptable to my Master. I am acceptable but my conduct is not always. When it is acceptable to me and I know it would not be to Him, then that is indicative of a problem with my relationship with Him. It goes back to that, not to knowing something more, but knowing Him more.
The truth I find difficult to accept about myself is that I compromise because it’s easier to do. Relationships take work, whether earthly or heavenly. It’s easier to just try and get along with everyone, just compromising to make the most people happy. The hard part is to hold to one perspective, my Master’s. It’s simpler, but it’s also more difficult to do.
I do know, and therefore have a choice. It’s a matter of knowing my Master so well, the choice is lopsided toward Him. One of the real dangers of knowledge is the responsibility that comes with it. I hate that part because it means that I hurt more and grieve more. But it also means I have a joy that transcends the knowledge of times. But that joy is really pale compared with the joy that comes from my relationship with my Master. I may not be bothered by the wisdom of this world, and as nice as that is, that serenity is paltry compared with the serenity gained in lap of my Master.
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