Shade Tree Wisdom 9/14/09

The Bible describes Moses as “humbler man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth”. Numbers 12,3. Yet God said of Moses, “With him I speak face to face, clearly, and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord”. V.8 Moses was the one who led Israel for 40 years, faced them down when they danced around an idol, prayed for them when they rebelled, soothed and comforted, fed and led them through every danger to the very edge of their new homeland.

So how bold are you in your faith life? How firm is the conviction, and especially the ‘face’ you use daily in your life?

In the latest Witness (pg.D), Dr. Hirsch writes of a man who was taking a training course in counseling. This man, Peter, was asked, “Peter, how are you, as a Christian, gong to keep your values out of therapy when working with clients who are not Christian?”. He had been asked this before by professors, but this time it came from a fellow student.

Peter, after thought, replied, “That’s a good question and needs to be considered. However, today I wonder why I have had this question posed many times, and yet never have I heard anyone ask the alternate question posed to my atheistic and agnostic friends. So I simply ask you a question, how will you non-Christians keep your values out of therapy when working with Christian clients.”

So how do we respond? Paul gives us one answer in Romans 12,2, “Do not be conformed to this world. But be transformed by the renewing on your minds.” And there is a hidden spring we drink of, and that is the Word of God, the source for our strength and the strength of our wisdom. We stand boldly in the faith, for such standing God will enrich and bless. For we are secure, armed, as Paul also taught us, and ready for the battle. For Jesus Christ Himself prayed for us, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also you have given me in the World. They are in the world, but not of the world.” John 17.

So we stand, because, as St. Paul writes to the Church at Corinth, “The time is short”, 1 Cor. 7,29, and we remember, that “the form of this world is passing away.” V.31.

So, be bold In the faith. Isaiah describes Jesus as “setting his face like a flint”. And it is Jesus who is the Savior, not the world around us.

GPD 9/14/09