Proverbs
22:2-4 The
rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all. The prudent
sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. The
reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
It’s about time to go
beneath the moralism that assumes the church’s job is done when it instructs
people in biblical principles and then exhorts them to do right. It’s about
time to find a better way to help each other when we struggle than the way of
our therapeutic culture, which looks beneath every troublesome emotion or
behavior pattern to find a psychological disorder that needs repair.
I want us to think about the
kind of connection that is needed for a small group of people to become a
healing community. I want us to understand how a father can relate to a sullen,
troubled son with a power that could change his direction. I want to be able to
guide the wife of an angry husband toward a path that could restore their
relationship.
I don’t want us to focus on
the hard things, the ugly things, the awful things. I don’t want us to gloss
over them – we must never pretend that things are better than they are – but I
do want us to look beneath all that is difficult and see the miracle God has
wrought in our hearts.
I want us to see that he has
placed powerful urges to do good in the deepest recesses of our regenerated
hearts. That’s what the New Covenant is all about. Something wonderful and
beautiful and resilient is within us that no abuse, rejection, or failure can
ever destroy. I want us to focus on that.
God has given us the power
to be his instrument in healing souls. That power is waiting to be released.
(pgs. xvii-xix, Connecting:
A Radical New Vision)
