You Can’t Cure ‘Stupid’

You Can’t Cure ‘Stupid’

Sunday, June 27, 2021

I have a friend who says this often: “You can’t cure stupid.” He worked in a field where he was in regular contact with people who did dumb (and illegal) things, and this maxim was supported time and again. I think he’s right. I think the Bible agrees.

I’ve been studying in Jeremiah, and one of the key themes is “repentance.” “Repentance” means “turning,” and so it can refer to turning to God, but it can also refer to turning away from God. The turnings multiply, and it proves the line from “Come, Thou Fount,” where it says, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love.” We have a pronation problem, a turning problem, and, we can’t cure this ourselves.

In fact, there are no natural solutions to our stupidity problems, or our wandering problems, or stubbornness (could we say, “you can’t cure stubborn”?). The health store doesn’t sell a product that cures arrogance; the hospital can’t surgically remove a nasty attitude; mental health providers won’t make you thoughtful and aware. They might help. They cannot heal our deepest problems.

Gilead, across the Jordan river to the east, was a source of balm, a medicine (probably from the word balsam, as in balsamic). God says to the world, “Go up to Gilead and seek balm.. You search out remedies in vain, for (but) your disease is incurable” (Jer 46:11 CEB). You can’t cure stupid, nor will you find in a destination like Gilead anything that comes close to healing the sickness of the soul.

But, there is a God who heals. We cannot fix ourselves, but He has promised healing. He does it in surprising ways, with surprising people (think Naaman, the Syrian general, the enemy of Israel). He cures the incurable. He raises the dead. Listen to these verses:

Jer. 30:17  ‘For I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the LORD, 

Jer. 33:6 ‘Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth.

Perhaps you have found yourself to be incurable. You’ve tried every remedy that you could find in the self-help sources, and they have all failed. You keep doing the same stupid thing, or experiencing the same chronic condition, over and over. And still, there remains that weeping wound of whatever sort, and you are ready to give up. My friend is right, you can’t cure stupid, but God can, and will.

Open-Minded?

 Open-Minded?

Sunday, June 20, 2021

Are you open-minded? Or closed-minded? It’s a trick question, since our culture tells us to be open-minded, unless, of course, “they” disagree with me, then they don’t seem so open-minded themselves. But it’s a cultural virtue. Is it a Biblical virtue? I got to thinking about this during last week’s Sunday School class (attending Sunday School can get you thinking about things - you should try it!) - Bob has been working his way through 2 Corinthians, and the elite in that church were comparing Paul, unfavorably, to false prophets. The Corinthians were open-minded toward these popular, successful, fast-talking preachers (and they probably had really good hair). Paul, on the other hand, was closed-minded. That is, he had been grabbed hold of by God, convinced of the truth of the Gospel, and committed to making Christ known instead of himself. He was close-minded in that he had settled on this Truth, and built his life and ministry on that foundation.

Is it better to be agreeable, or disagreeable? That also is a trick question, and of a little different flavor. To agree means that we concur with a particular point of view. To be agreeable seems to have more to do with how we concur (or object). The Corinthians found Paul to be disagreeable, and the world finds Christians to be disagreeable, because we - you know what’s coming - because we disagree. Can we disagree without being disagreeable? You know by now, it’s a trick question.

In our world these days, you are disagreeable if someone finds you disagreeable, and many people find anyone that disagrees with them disagreeable. Paul could have been as gracious as apostles can be, and yet be charged with being disagreeable, just because many people cannot handle objections. 

And further, the subjects being debated were not insignificant (like whether a person should part their hair on the right or left) (for those that have an option). No, these statements have to do with the truth of God and His Son Jesus, and the truth of the Gospel. These truths have eternal significance, and these false apostles were trying to lead people away from heaven and straight to hell. Just exactly how “agreeable” or even “gracious” should Paul be in those cases (not a trick question)? A firm, impossible-to-be-misinterpreted statement of objection was definitely in order. 

Open-mindedness can lead to apostasy. Apostasy is bad, very bad.