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Good Morning, Covenant Family.

Rules and very clear instructions are important - very important sometimes. When a child is reaching for a hot stove. When a student is learning the fundamentals of solving an equation. When an adult is driving down a road that is closed because the bridge is out. Sometimes people need to be told what to do.

While I value rules and instructions I've come to realize that for all their good, if we are seeking to foster maturity and wisdom we cannot rely on rules and instructions to do so. Wisdom is "the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments." (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wisdom)

Notice the three factors involved in this definition of wisdom:  knowledge, experience, and the ability to make good decisions/judgements. Knowledge comes through instruction. This is where the rules can contribute to maturity. But knowledge also comes through practice; through failure; through repetition; through exploration; and through honestly asking hard questions and genuinely exploring possible answers. Experience, a part of gaining knowledge, brings with it success and failure; victory and struggle; great joy and great sorrow. Experience is a teacher like none other.

Wisdom requires both of these elements, but then also demands that we apply them towards good decision making and judgements. Ultimately this process of making decisions and judgements is where wisdom is formed. We learn how to make good decisions by making both good and bad ones. Our poor judgements often teach us best about how to make wise ones in the future. There are a lot of decisions and judgements I wish I'd made better in the past, but I'm thankful for what I learn through my mistakes.

As a pastor I'm regularly tempted to tell people what to do or what the answer is. I'm learning (as both a pastor and now as a parent of a teenager) that if I really want people to grow I need to learn to be very discerning in my "telling". I need to accept that we ALL fail, but that failure is used for our maturation and development of wisdom.

As followers of Jesus we're told that the Holy Spirit can be a source of wisdom (Acts 15:28; 1 Corinthians 2:12-14; Colossians 1:9). And the Bible is full of language that denotes our life with Jesus as a journey, a process of maturation and growth. Because of these things, a church - a body of people empowered by the Spirit as we seek to learn from Jesus and follow his way - should be a place that embraces this process more fully than anywhere else!

I'm thankful for those in my life who gave me space to fail and then supported and encouraged me as I matured and gained wisdom through it. I want to be that kind of person, but truthfully - it doesn't come naturally to me. This is an area of my life where I am learning and growing. I want our church to keep striving be that kind of church. Let's walk with each other through the process of striving, living, failing, learning, stumbling, growing, and maturing.

I'm thankful that I get to walk this journey with you!

Peace,

Jon