Do the Opposite

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Many times the will of God runs contrary to the will of us. He comes at problems from a different angle than we do, and we all know his thoughts are nothing like ours. So why are we surprised when he doesn’t want to do things like we want him to do?

George

I remember a Seinfeld episode years ago in which everything went wrong for one of the characters. Once he figured out that his repeated failure was a result of his own poor decision-making, he decided to try a new approach. From then on he would do the opposite of what he thought he should do, hoping for success in that way.

Strange as it may seem, that do-the-opposite approach actually worked for him. And as I’ve been thinking about God’s ways vs. ours, maybe the same tact could work for the rest of us, too.

In the middle of pondering this, my son Nelson’s newest blog post arrived to my inbox. He’d written it in one of the many airports he’s passing through on his way from the Youth With A Mission base in Hawaii to Thailand. Two quotes from him:

Airport line

  1. When I don’t have enough money, I should give some away.
  2. When I feel like there’s not enough time, I should let someone go before me, making me even more behind than I already was.

And there it was, the do-the-opposite living that seems to connect with the Lord. Why would a logical God ask us to do such illogical things? Nelson gave us the answer: because it leaves the outcome up to him.

The scriptural Paul studied this same dilemma and by sheer will power determined he’d live by a do-the-opposite philosophy. He very much wanted to please God and tried hard, but white-knuckling his way through didn’t work: “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do.” (Romans 7:19) Thinking like God was the opposite of what his heart wanted.

His conclusion was that mankind has no natural goodness in him, which is probably the reason we all find it difficult to think like God. After all, if we have no natural goodness in us and he is all goodness, we’re exact opposites.

So, what hope do we have?

Paul says our hope is in knowing that God is a willing partner in our efforts to live-the-opposite of our natural tendencies. When we’re short on money, he’ll empower us to give some away. When we’re in a rush, he’ll give us the will to let another go ahead. And when we live this way, God will take care of the outcome.

There’s one other benefit, too. To quote Nelson again: “Mastering this kind of attitude actually brings a whole lot more peace than the alternative.”

Paul said, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me? …. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)

Verbiage

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Back in high school I took a journalism class that nourished my love for writing. Our teacher repeated several basic principles again and again such as, “Don’t use words that tell me. Use words that show me.”

American International School of Kabul (AISK), Senior English class. Peg Podlich is on the left.

He wanted us to select words that were bursting with visuals, putting an emphasis on choosing good verbs. “If you pick the right verb, you can cut out all the extra words, which enhances the reading.”

After that I watched for interesting verbs in my school books and noticed how they livened up a paragraph. And then one day I decided to check the verbs God used in his book.

No doubt an English language version of Scripture doesn’t give proper credit to the way God originally breathed life into the words of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and some of his brilliance has been lost to us in translation. But as I read my copy of the Bible, one thing was certain:

God loves verbs.

In doing a quick study of the 100 most often-used verbs in the Bible, I saw that he ignored the writing principle (in relation to verbs) that I was taught in my journalism class. Instead he kept things simple and easy to understand: come; remain; hear; turn; meet; confess; rejoice.

And here are a few more off that list of 100: give; guard; stand; see; deliver; find; love. Studying these verbs reveals something special about God-the-Author. These action words are person-to-person: humanity to humanity, and divinity to humanity. They describe a wide variety of actions that can be taken to have a relationship with him and live our best lives.

And that’s the key: actions. God took the initiative and acted first, then followed that by inviting us to act in response. If we choose not to, we’ll waste his remarkable gifts and promises.

God didn’t write a book with the hope that a clever choice of individual words might pull people in and then hold their attention. He wasn’t interested in producing the perfect “beach read” or a pleasure novel. Instead he wrote out “the words of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), encouraging us to decide for ourselves whether or not we’ll read them and/or act on them. He used: do; go; choose; serve; remember… words that are clear and simple.

God makes it known in several places in his Bible that this Word is totally complete the way he first wrote it, and nothing needs to be added, subtracted, or altered. My journalism teacher might not have agreed, wanting to circle those simple verbs with his red pencil, but when it comes to perfect communication, I think God would get the A+.

“When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

 

How ’bout now?

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As a mother of young children, I was never a consistent disciplinarian. Having had a mom whose M.O. was to “let the kids have fun,” I didn’t know how to do it, and besides, being the bad guy was hard work. So I schlepped along, hit-and-miss, and it’s only God’s grace that brought my children through.

Jesus was never a parent, but we get glimpses of his parenting skills throughout the Gospels. I love to read how he got frustrated with his disciple-children once in a while, because all parents have those same exasperating moments.

Kids know in their hearts that parents have their best interests in mind when they set the rules, but a desire to “do their own thing” is often stronger than the will to comply. I saw a recent example of that in my granddaughter Skylar:

Pep!

This energetic, creative little girl is, at 4½, something of an expert on family relations. Last week when we were visiting, the whole family was working toward a birthday dinner for her little sister, Autumn. Company was coming at 5:00, and there was much to do. Linnea called to Skylar, asking if she’d please come into the kitchen to help her.

Caring for pets

Skylar’s reply was interesting. “Mommy, I’d love to help you a whole bunch, but I first have to deal with one of my pets who is having a birthday party tonight also.”

Her comment reminded me of the Bible story where 3 men expressed an interest in joining the ranks of disciples following Jesus. Their words said they were all-in, “a whole bunch,” but the excuses they gave as to why they couldn’t do it right-this-minute fell flat with Jesus.

These unnamed men had no concept of what they were about to give up by making excuses. They believed Jesus was their wondrous Messiah, but incredibly, after this conversation with the Son of God, they chose to go their own way.

Jesus did, too.

I shake my head and think, “They could have had one-on-one teaching from the Master! They could have watched his every move, listened to every conversation, gleaned how righteous living worked. They could have followed him all the way to the cross, to the Garden Tomb, and even to Resurrection Day! By making excuses, they forfeited it all.”

But am I any better? Hasn’t God asked me to do this or that when I’ve said, “Good idea, Lord. I’ll definitely get around to that somewhere along the way.” When I respond in that maybe-later way, do these God-structured opportunities evaporate? Does he come back later? Or does he go and ask a more obedient “child?”

What treasured opportunities have I forfeited?

Skylar didn’t get away with her bogus excuse, since Linnea and Adam are much better at disciplinary follow-through than I ever was. But as for Jesus, I have a hunch he usually leaves it up to us.

“Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.” (Luke 9:61)