Just use your common sense!

Luke 12:54-59

Then he turned to the crowd: “When you see clouds coming in from the west, you say, ‘Storm’s coming’—and you’re right. And when the wind comes out of the south, you say, ‘This’ll be a hot one’—and you’re right. Frauds! You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don’t tell me you can’t tell a change in the season, the God-season we’re in right now.  “You don’t have to be a genius to understand these things. Just use your common sense, the kind you’d use if, while being taken to court, you decided to settle up with your accuser on the way, knowing that if the case went to the judge you’d probably go to jail and pay every last penny of the fine. That’s the kind of decision I’m asking you to make.”

Food for thought!

In today's gospel reading, Jesus makes a very intriguing remark: You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don’t tell me you can’t tell a change in the season, the God-season we’re in right now. What Jesus is doing is to acknowledge the human capacity of think. He knows  that we know how to interpret the appearance of the sky; our minds are in full gear to think clearly about sunrise and sunset. But not so when it comes to thinking clearly about Jesus. In other words, we know how to use our eyes and our minds to draw right conclusions when it comes to the natural world. Why don't we do so with the spiritual matters? 

Jesus wonder why we don't use our brains to know spiritual matters? Some people are genius in business matters; others are successful managers of companies, others still hold high positions in life. But when it comes to spiritual matters, many of us perform very poorly. This is what makes Jesus wonder. And when he says, "You don't," he does mean  that we have what it takes to know. For all of us have brains in our head,  unfortunately we don't use them for spiritual matters. 

Like the men  in the gospel, we all have the capacity to think, but sometimes we choose not to use it; we have the mind but we don’t use it always. We have the power to think but we don’t use it to understand our life. Why is this so? What’s wrong? Why does our thinking work so well at the natural level but so badly when it comes to perceiving the presence of God in Christ?  The answers may include these ones: we are not educated in using the power of thinking; we don’t know what we have, and if and when we do, we don’t know how to use it; we are afraid to use our mind and our brains.

We have confused the need for a childlike faith (that is, an attitude of profound trust in God, and a faithful love for Him) with childish thinking. Many people become bored with the Bible precisely because their overall intellectual growth is stagnant. They cannot get new insights from Scripture because they bring the same old categories to Bible study and look to validate their old habits of thought. If you’re frustrated today because the old methods aren’t working in your marriage, your family, your finances, your career, use your brains.

Many of us try to fight new battles with old battle plans. We’ve had successes in our past, so when faced with a new challenge, we assume we can be victorious by responding the same way we did last week, last month, or last year. Instead of seeking God to see what He wants to do in this new day, we try to relive what we did the last time. This connection to the previous “glory days” keeps us tied to the past, missing out on a fresh, new thing God wants to do in this present day.

Romans 12:2

Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God —what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.