I know many of you will find this hard to believe, but many years ago I was young I was stupid. The only difference now is that I’m old and stupid. I guess the word stupid is a little harsh, but what I really mean is that I did a lot of foolish things. At the time in my youth I actually believed what I was doing even though it was wrong. Today as I look back I can see the errors, however it took years of growth to see these things. There hasn’t been anyone ever who has escaped their own delusions. You will see people standing and protesting beliefs and they truly believe in their hearts they are doing the right thing. This is very normal or human. We do have a choice as we grow older and that is to weigh our beliefs with God’s teaching and be willing to allow God to change our hearts to seek truth and admit when we are wrong.
There has probably never been a teenager that hasn’t made the remark, “Times have changed and your old archaic beliefs don’t apply anymore.” There are many people who sacrifice themselves for their religions and their beliefs and they couldn’t have done this if they didn’t truly believe in what they were doing. If Kamikaze pilots flew more than one mission then there is a good chance that their belief wasn’t very strong.
I am still amazed when I do here there are a few out there that do have convictions and principles. A friend just called me concerned because her daughter had to stand alone because of her convictions and principles. This is difficult for anyone and especially a teenage girl. This girl is a beautiful young lady on the cheerleading squad. I know at that age I couldn’t have taken the risk of losing friends because of my beliefs. I salute her and those like her.
I think back to some of my crazy thinking and beliefs and wonder how I could have been so wrong. Why didn’t God reveal these things earlier in my life and why does He hold out on me now. The short and the long of it is I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t come to the place in my life where I could understand. It’s the same principle as trying to teach a 4 year old calculus. There are stepping stones to understanding.
When Jesus was teaching His disciples as the journeyed together, several times He had to repeat the teachings and they still looked at Him blanked faced. His teaching was so opposite in their natural beliefs. It was much later and after His death and resurrection that several of His teachings were starting to be revealed and fall into place.
God still reveals things to me that I thought I had learned 20 years ago and I still have so much to learn. I have to learn to not worry and fret about when. I just need to continue to seek and when I am ready and He is ready, God will let me know. If a child doesn’t go to school and begin the building blocks of learning, then they will never understand the greater things and will not be prepared for the life that’s ahead of them.
