Common Denominators
True growth doesn’t occur simply by identifying what we agree with in others.
I know it is not possible for me to know what you are thinking and feeling.
All I can really do is explain how I think and feel and then hope you will find something helpful that might connect us two at least briefly and perhaps longer.
It all depends on common denominators - things we both have in common and interest us.
But true growth doesn’t occur simply by identifying what we agree with in others. That process of seeking common ground is to create in us enough trust to listen and consider thoughts and ideas we have not considered, or may even have rejected a time or two when they were coming from sources we thought, and may still think, questionable. It is a truth that truth can even come from flaky mixed bags, it may just be difficult to see or accept them.
I remember when I had no interest in reading or studying the Bible. I didn’t know Old Testament from New and I had no idea what was behind the list of chapter titles that turned out to be book titles. What added to my problem was the fact that I grew up in a home filled with the biblically illiterate - people who, none-the-less, had strong opinions about the Bible, God and the church they had gleaned from general public opinion. For this reason, when I finally was invited to study the Bible with someone, I had no interest. It would take a series of odd circumstances to help prepare me with enough curiosity as well as doubt in my own opinions and beliefs before I was ready to sit and listen with enough of an open mind to be able to take in new, and what turned out to be, compelling information.
“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 1:18-20 (ESV)
