Split brain obedience?
This week's goodness is on Matthew 6:3-4:
I did some reading this week about psychology and brain function. I won't bore you with the details, but it had an interesting bit about how the left brain works versus the right brain. You need both halves working properly in order to be normal. Sometimes doctors, doing their doctor thing, would cut the connection between the halves trying to solve one problem, but they'd cause another. People's perceptions would get weird, because the verbal part and the visual part wouldn't communicate anymore. It started getting me thinking about these verses, because creative obedience and literal obedience are both necessary in God's kingdom, but each side can lead you into a pit, if you let it.
In these verses, God is commanding us to be charitable, not for our own self-glorification, but for actually helping others. It is a specific command, not something to be creatively reinterpreted. If you see someone who has a genuine need, you are to help them. You are not to overthink it and decide that the verse was only for the specific disciples Jesus was talking to, or that it only applies to food and linen and wool garments like would have been found in Roman Palestine. God is saying "Dude, don't just stand there. That guy needs help. Help him."
The problem is that people read into things and then they swirl them around in their brains. "Hmm. If God wants me to help people, and he's let us know that, then other people probably know that too. When they see me helping that poor guy, they will know how incredibly spiritual I am. But what if they don't see? My efforts will be less than optimal. Maybe if I make a scene right as I'm giving the food to the poor folks, someone will notice and start rumors of my greatness. And the greatest part is that I'm being totally obedient and winning." No! Don't let left brain and right brain form a committee. If you have all of the info you need in order to do it, just do it. "Left brain" may say "Just do exactly what he says, literally, and without any respect to the situation and what God's plan may be right now." "Right brain" may say "How can we rewrite this to just do what we wanted to do in the first place?" You need to know what God wants, for real, and once you know it, to do it.
Saul fell into this trap in the Old Testament, where God told him to kill everything and everybody in enemy territory, but he got all creative and decided to save a few things to kill in some big ceremony afterwards. Technically, literally, he is obeying God's command, but creatively speaking, God's desire is not getting fulfilled. Fail!
The Pharisees fell into the trap too, on the other side, when they decided to get all literal in their obedience of God's Old Testament law without seeing the context. Yes, it was important not to mix wool and linen in garments, from a functional perspective, but it's also important to take care of your sick relatives and aging parents. By only doing what was literally told to them, they missed the point.
This is why it's important to know God's will for your life. You can think about things until smoke rolls out your ears, but only God's plan will work cleanly. Once you do know God's plan, it's important to act quickly, before you have time to overthink it. (And my experience is that dumb people do the most overthinking of us all, ironically enough.) If God says to help the poor, then do it. If he says to go be a missionary in Saudi Arabia, then do it. If he says to write worship music, then go get your pencil and your guitar. At the moment you know what you need to do, go and do it.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
I did some reading this week about psychology and brain function. I won't bore you with the details, but it had an interesting bit about how the left brain works versus the right brain. You need both halves working properly in order to be normal. Sometimes doctors, doing their doctor thing, would cut the connection between the halves trying to solve one problem, but they'd cause another. People's perceptions would get weird, because the verbal part and the visual part wouldn't communicate anymore. It started getting me thinking about these verses, because creative obedience and literal obedience are both necessary in God's kingdom, but each side can lead you into a pit, if you let it.
In these verses, God is commanding us to be charitable, not for our own self-glorification, but for actually helping others. It is a specific command, not something to be creatively reinterpreted. If you see someone who has a genuine need, you are to help them. You are not to overthink it and decide that the verse was only for the specific disciples Jesus was talking to, or that it only applies to food and linen and wool garments like would have been found in Roman Palestine. God is saying "Dude, don't just stand there. That guy needs help. Help him."
The problem is that people read into things and then they swirl them around in their brains. "Hmm. If God wants me to help people, and he's let us know that, then other people probably know that too. When they see me helping that poor guy, they will know how incredibly spiritual I am. But what if they don't see? My efforts will be less than optimal. Maybe if I make a scene right as I'm giving the food to the poor folks, someone will notice and start rumors of my greatness. And the greatest part is that I'm being totally obedient and winning." No! Don't let left brain and right brain form a committee. If you have all of the info you need in order to do it, just do it. "Left brain" may say "Just do exactly what he says, literally, and without any respect to the situation and what God's plan may be right now." "Right brain" may say "How can we rewrite this to just do what we wanted to do in the first place?" You need to know what God wants, for real, and once you know it, to do it.
Saul fell into this trap in the Old Testament, where God told him to kill everything and everybody in enemy territory, but he got all creative and decided to save a few things to kill in some big ceremony afterwards. Technically, literally, he is obeying God's command, but creatively speaking, God's desire is not getting fulfilled. Fail!
The Pharisees fell into the trap too, on the other side, when they decided to get all literal in their obedience of God's Old Testament law without seeing the context. Yes, it was important not to mix wool and linen in garments, from a functional perspective, but it's also important to take care of your sick relatives and aging parents. By only doing what was literally told to them, they missed the point.
This is why it's important to know God's will for your life. You can think about things until smoke rolls out your ears, but only God's plan will work cleanly. Once you do know God's plan, it's important to act quickly, before you have time to overthink it. (And my experience is that dumb people do the most overthinking of us all, ironically enough.) If God says to help the poor, then do it. If he says to go be a missionary in Saudi Arabia, then do it. If he says to write worship music, then go get your pencil and your guitar. At the moment you know what you need to do, go and do it.
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