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| Couldn't resist plugging a now-twelve- years-old grandkid here :-) |
When
doctrine is put into creed the devil can be in the details. I don’t mean to say
it is wrong to establish creedal statements. I appreciate the passion of our
Pastor to keep such statements before us. What I have in mind is the tendency
to become doctrinally imbalanced when we read the Scripture. In the previous
devotional I expressed fascination with Jesus’ ability as a boy to listen, ask
questions, understand, and give answers which knocked the sandals off the
rabbis with whom he spoke. Why I am intrigued is that I don’t slip into the
analysis that, Oh yes, he was God. That's why he
could do that.”
Of
course I believe he was (and is) God. The
Bible gives me no alternative, nor do I want one. But there is another
creedal issue involved. I also believe he became perfect man and from infancy
he grew in wisdom as well as stature. The
Bible gives me no alternative with regard to that either; and neither do I
want one. Therefore, when I see him functioning as a man and doing so in an
exemplary way, I do not assume that he is functioning as God unless the
behavior is clearly a violation of God-ordained natural law, as in walking on
water or radiating a drop-dead brilliance.
That
having been said, is there something I can discover in this perfect boy-who-was-God concerning growth in wisdom
which applies to me as a believing man-but-not-God? And, if so, what does
that tell me with regard to encouraging other believing but not-God persons to
grow in wisdom? First Peter 3:15 suggests the importance of my questions.
PREVIOUS DEVOTIONAL: THIS KID KNOCKED THEIR SANDALS OFF
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