Tag: diligence

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The Diligent Pursuit of Truth

We must not be casual about ultimate truths but must be in a lifelong, diligent pursuit of truth.

pursuit of truth

In previous posts we have looked in Scripture at the personal responsibility we each have to love and actively seek truth. We have seen that choosing to believe error is a serious sin with grave consequences. Here is one final installment on that theme.

Blame rests on people who do not value ultimate truth enough to seek it. Instead they occupy themselves with the cares, pursuits, pleasures, and entertainment of this world. They do not make it a priority to study the Bible on their own and with the church to know it well.

Their indifference is a choice. Our choices show what we value, and we are morally responsible for what we value. If we are not interested in the truth God has graciously given in Scripture, if we are unwilling to learn from mature teachers, we are responsible for the consequences.

God has given his truth and put the ball in our court; now we are responsible to make every effort—every effort—to learn it. A good person treasures truth. If we treasure other priorities, we are not innocent victims if deceived.

A man who boards an airplane to fly over the ocean and chooses to watch a movie while the attendant explains what to do during an emergency landing, and who ignores the emergency instructions in the seat pocket in front of him, has no one to blame but himself if the plane ditches into the water and he drowns while those who paid attention to instructions lived. Solomon would probably say, he was a fool.

Solomon

Speaking of Solomon, he deserves the final word:

Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

“Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.”

Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster. (Pro. 1:20–33)

We are morally responsible to love God’s truth enough to pursue it diligently.

That brings us to a crucial question. How do we recognize false teaching? How does God equip even the youngest believer to distinguish truth from error?

Let’s pick up that vital subject next week.

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Pray for Wisdom and Think Diligently

God’s wisdom comes to those who pray for it and think diligently.

think diligently

We learn another important principle about praying for wisdom from the coaching that the apostle Paul gave to his protégé Timothy. In his second letter to Timothy, who is serving as pastor of the church in Ephesus, Paul wants Timothy to learn further wisdom about how to succeed in his work for the Lord.

Think

Paul begins by giving in rapid succession three brief analogies:

“No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

“An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

“It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.” (2 Timothy 2:4, 5, 6)

Paul does not explain the meaning of the analogies. Rather, in verse 7 he says, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

Think diligently

Notice that Paul is confident and full of faith that the Lord will give Timothy understanding—wisdom. But it will not come without work, without the hard work of thinking. “Think over what I say.” He requires that Timothy think diligently over these three analogies until they yield their wisdom.

We might call that process meditation or reflection, reasoning or analysis. Timothy might write as he thinks. He might share the fruit of his mental exercise with others as he works through it. But one thing is clear: this is not passive, but active. His mind is not in neutral. He is not waiting for God to drop a thought into his mind. Rather, he is asking questions of these analogies, visualizing them, attempting to distill from them the principles and application Paul intends.

And what Paul is confident of, probably because he is also praying that God will reveal to Timothy the understanding he needs, is that as Timothy thinks, wisdom will enter his heart (Proverbs 2:10). Timothy will probably not even recognize that God is the one causing the light bulb to come on; it will seem as though he suddenly came to understand it on his own; nevertheless God will be the one who enables Timothy’s mental work to yield the fruit of understanding.

This is one more example of the principle of human cooperation with God. An airplane has two wings; which wing enables it to fly?

When supernatural thoughts come naturally

There is another remarkable Scripture about God himself supernaturally giving wisdom to a person in a way that seems utterly natural. The subject of the passage in Isaiah is good farmers and how they get their skill. Like me, you are probably not a farmer, and so you will not readily grasp each of the points Isaiah makes about the practical rules of good farming, but that is not the point. Rather, notice to whom the prophet Isaiah gives credit for this farmer’s good understanding:

“Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border? For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him. Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.” (Isaiah 28:24–29)

What I find remarkable about this is the exalted credit Isaiah gives God for what seem like mundane principles of successful farming, principles that this wise farmer may have heard from his father when he was a boy, or principles that he learned from trial and error over several years. These were not things he heard from an angel, a dream, or vision. That is, these were not things he learned in ways that seemed like divine interventions.

Yet, according to Isaiah, the farmer “is rightly instructed; his God teaches him….This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.” The farmer is active, and God is active. The farmer thought about his farming, and wisdom entered his heart (Proverbs 2:10).

Trial and error. Learning from mistakes. Learning from success. Observing cause and effect. Having a teachable heart. Intentionally pursuing and writing down best practices. Remembering the advice of one’s elders. Thinking, reflection, meditation. When these things are mixed with prayer, faith, patience, and God’s promises, lo and behold—wisdom.

Think diligently with paper or pixels

Related to all the above, I have one practical suggestion. Keep a journal, digital or hard copy. Writing is just recording your thinking. Have a section for each subject or question. Write your questions and answers and everything in between. The more you write, the more you will understand. Writing helps you think far better, far wider, far deeper.

You might write in complete sentences or in bullet points. You might scatter words and phrases around on a page in a thought cloud or link them with lines in a thought tree. Do what works for you, but record your thoughts no matter how simple they seem, because there is something about writing thoughts that causes more thoughts to come. Writing turns an occasional drop of rain into a shower, and sometimes a lightning storm.

Now and then go back and read what you have written, organize the helpful thoughts, and develop conclusions. Thinking is an adventure into the unknown. It is messy and fun and satisfying. It is unpredictable.

And it takes work. “I [wisdom] love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me” (Proverbs 8:17).

Paul was right, and this is the word of the Lord: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7).

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)