Tolstoy’s Three Questions – Reflections (5)

 

 In thinking about the king’s question, “Who is the right person to listen to?” we’re considering the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and trusted men and women who have been given wisdom.

 

“Where there is no guidance, the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory” (Proverbs 11:14; see also 15:22, 24:6).

 

There are different textures and genres of wisdom, understanding, and counsel that we need throughout life. Sometimes what we need is intensely practical in nature (how to do something), sometimes it is ethical, moral, and spiritual in nature. It can often be both.

 

Seeking and receiving counsel is not a substitute for making our own decisions and being responsible for them. A wise counsellor will not make decisions for us.  We have all probably known people who perpetually seek counsel for two reasons, one is that they want someone else to tell them what to do (and thereby abdicate responsibility), the other is that they want someone to tell them what they’ve already decided they are going to do.

 

For the follower of Jesus, wise counsel must include the Cross, for we must not look for the easy way out, we must look for Jesus, for the Christ of the Cross. The default posture of most of the world is self-preservation, our default posture is to be loving God and others – no matter what the results and consequences to ourselves. If we follow the Lamb, we can trust the Lamb. Yes?

 

Let’s recall that Peter’s counsel to Jesus was to avoid the Cross. Where would we be now if Jesus had listened to Peter? Where would Peter be now?

 

My sense is that wise counsel is not so much about dealing with specific situations, though it certainly can be, but is more about growing into the image of Christ as our Way of Life. In other words, if we learn the way of wisdom as our way of life, then wisdom and understanding will permeate our lives, they will become natural to us in Christ. We learn “not to lean on our own understanding” but rather to trust in God and acknowledge Him in all of life (Pro. 3:5 – 6).

 

Learning the Way of Wisdom is knowing Jesus (Proverbs 8, 1 Cor. 1:30 – 31; Col. 2:3). While it is vital that we know Jesus personally, it is also vital that we know Jesus as members of His Body; we really can’t have one without the other, for we are members of one another in Him.  I am, of course, speaking of relationships within the Body, koinonia, not simply membership in a congregation and not simply church attendance.

 

Wise counsellors can take many forms. They can be men and women we know (and we need these for many reasons, not the least of which is to keep us honest, what we may call “accountability”.) They may also be those we have never met but who are living today and speak to us through writing and public ministry. They may also be those who have lived before us and continue to speak to us through their writing.

 

I think we need all three.

 

There is so much that could be written about who we should listen to, but this is a blog and not War and Peace, so I’ll close for now.