857 - Creative License, Part 1
God gives us a mind so we can find and glorify Him. It’s why we go to school. See the column below, and remember Solomon ... Blessings, Bob
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John 4:8, 1 Kings 3:9-12, ask of me anything, economics, Genesis 1-2, image of
God, John 14:13, Mission Christian Academy, school, Solomon, Trinity
Spirituality
Column #857
April 18,
2023
Common
Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Creative
License, Part 1
By Bob
Walters
“Behold,
I have given you a wise and discerning mind.” God to Solomon, 1 Kings 3:12
Today, I’m
burying the lede (newspaper talk for “main idea”); so hang with me.
Solomon is
famous for asking God for wisdom, though depending on which translation of the
Bible one reads, Solomon asks God (1 Kings 3:9) either to “give your servant
an understanding mind” (ESV) or an “understanding heart (KJV, NIV, etc.).
What the obedient
and young King Solomon wanted, and what God understood and provided, was the wisdom
and means Solomon knew he needed to govern God’s people in a way glorifying to
God and beneficial to them; he loved God and others. It is wise to understand that “mind” and “heart”
– synonymous – are God’s unique gifts to humanity. Developing them in service and love to God
and others is our holy calling.
Consider Genesis
1 and 2, where God gives this gift of “a discerning mind/heart” to Adam and Eve
as they – and we – are created in God’s image. Interestingly it is phrased
thusly in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over [all other
animals].” Let’s take a few
notes.
Note 1: “us,
our, and our” – God’s plural self-reference appears three times in the
first sentence. This denotes God exists
as a relationship, which we now know as “Father, Son, Spirit.” That is why Jesus’s apostle John can repeatedly
write, “God is love,” (1 John 4:8).
God is a divine, eternal relationship – the Trinity – and love must be
shared to be love. God is generous; our image both reflects and is God’s love, made
to freely join that relationship. We call that relationship the Kingdom of God,
Note 2: “And
let them” – again in the plural, tells us “they,” i.e., God, intended “persons,”
not just Adam. “Male and female he
made them,” says Genesis 1:27.
Note 3: “In
His own image he created him,” also Genesis 1:27. Maybe this phrase is
singular because God makes us one at a time?
Just a guess. But we humans are unique
in God’s Creation as the image of God, imago dei. We can think and we can be creative. God made
us that way; creativity separates us from beasts.
Moving on,
Jesus at the Last Supper declares to the Disciples, “ask me for anything in
my name and I will do it” (John 14:13). Most folks reflexively ask to be
(or their loved ones to be) rich, smart, good looking, happy, healthy, comfortable,
or safe.
I had
occasion this past week to use John 14:13 to encourage a group of bright Christian
students as to their studies: remember Solomon, and ask for wisdom.
Here is where
the digging stops and the buried treasure, er, lede, is revealed.
My life is
changing. The student setting was a high
school economics class I began teaching last week at Mission Christian Academy
in Fishers. In August, that will be my full-time
“unretired” function, teaching high history, government, and economics. After
11 years, I’m retiring May 23 as a Hamilton Southeastern Schools bus driver.
For now, I’m
also at MCA, teaching Economics and 7th grade U.S. History, two
mid-day classes that fit comfortably between my AM and PM bus routes. I felt a real call from above about this
decision, and now realize the joyous freedom of education that is unbridled
from denying the reality of God and the authority of the Bible. More next week.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) joins his also-unretired wife
Pam – a career English teacher at Lawrence Central H.S. – who teaches high school
English at MCA.