Yesterday, someone was trying to express a special point of view concerning Biblical doctrine. I kept interrupting them...and strongly describing the other side of the coin. I did that because I thought they were trying to deny the existence of the rest of the pie.

There is more to life than just one narrow viewpoint on things.

I AM AN EXHORTER...

That's why my writings are pockmarked with UNBALANCED STATEMENTS.

An exhorter prods people's minds and tends to stir their emotions.

He or she is a catalyst trying to create certain reactions and responses.

...A MAGNIFYING GLASS

I find hidden or overlooked points of view and bring them into sharp contrast with daily living.

I take one good point and magnify it beyond due measure...on purpose. It is up to the reader to acknowledge the truth I've spoken and then break it back down to its true perspective and put it in its proper place in the whole scheme of things.

A TRUE TEACHER...is supposed to give the overall view of a topic while filling in the picture with innumerable details of fact. That is the tedious transfer of knowledge which causes wiggling in children and impatient anxieties in adults.

I can't take time to feed you with the other seven pieces of the pie. I don't have the time, the space or the money. And you don't have that much reading time.

You have to think all day long. But it is not necessary for me to make you read all day long. I just have to say the right thing and you will think about it for three weeks. And I save on paper and postage.

Someone recently transcribed a sermon of mine onto paper. It took 24 pages...single spaced and with no pictures.

So...when I write...how am I supposed to condense all that onto two pages?

Nope! No can do! But, I can explain the way I write and let you be smart enough to ADD THE BALANCE YOURSELF!

However, this does not give me the right of unbridled freedoms in what I say.

Some omissions are more serious than others. Some statements are too wild to let me get by with.

In those instances...someone needs to speak up and call my attention to those serious gaps or wrong assertions.

And...it wouldn't even hurt to mention some small things. Someone wrote and told me that I wasn't capitalizing the word Bible and that I should because it was a proper noun.

I used a lot of correction fluid for a while...but now I'm trained not to habitually make that same mistake.

I have a teachable spirit. Try me. I welcome opinions, suggestions and even rebukes and reproofs. How else can God straighten me out...?

1. one of the learned class in ancient Palestine...studying the scriptures and serving as copyists, editors, teachers and jurists.

2. Author or Journalist

Why couldn't it be me? A great mark of deception and delusion is when a person interprets all the good scriptures as applying to himself...and never accepting the corrective or judgment scriptures as personally applicable to himself.

I used to read the Old Testament and always see myself as David the Giant Killer...the man after God's own heart. But one day it seemed that God said to me, "YOU ARE SAUL".

Talk about somebody weeping uncontrollably. I knew it was true. I had rebelled. I had turned away from true, devout allegiance to God. I was the renegade. I didn't want to be SAUL forever, so I began to repent.

As a writer...and a supposed 'teacher of good things' I don't want to be made subject to the promised wrath and judgment of God.

So...I'd better 'listen up' when He says, "Woe to you writers..."

There is an awesome burden of accountability placed on writers, teachers, preachers and all those who have power to influence others.

And that last phrase takes in all of us in some small way.

But, Paul the Apostle said:

There was a time when I wept and cried and said: "GOD...I DON'T WANT TO PREACH." What if I preach something wrong? What if I lead people astray without realizing what I am doing?"

I had been a liar and deceiver for so many years...that I knew there might be a chance that I could BE DECEIVED and thus teach untruths to God's people.

I finally agreed to "TALK TO PEOPLE'S MINDS...IF GOD WOULD TALK TO THEIR HEARTS". And I put a P.S. on my agreement. I asked God to assume responsibility for what I teach and preach.

That's why I MUST LISTEN AND PAY ATTENTION WHEN I AM CORRECTED BY ANYONE...IN CASE GOD MIGHT BE TRYING TO GET THROUGH TO ME... (through even one of the least of His people).

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Chances are he will never truly be right.

Nobody ever really loves those red "X" marks on their test paper.

Who can say they look forward to being corrected, criticized or harpooned?

But, I'm discovering the benefits of refusing the emotional reactions against criticism. I'm learning to accept the true value in calmly examining the facts involved in controversy.

Have I learned my lesson perfectly? No way. Sometimes I'm caught off guard...or attacked while I'm tired.

There are times when I've refused to outwardly defend my case or express my views. I've thought of how noble I am to be such a peacemaker. But, I've let the subtle, nagging reactions simmer within me.

In those cases, the festering wound has to come to the surface so that I will admit to the secret turmoil which has been at work deep within.

I know 'wronger' is not a correct word.

There is a time when a person can say or do a wrong thing and get a right point across or achieve a right result.

That's why, when a person is dead wrong in the way that they are calling my hand...it is possible to forgive the mistakes in their delivery and get the benefit of the eye salve they threw in my face.

My wife or children may be emotionally upset when they string barbed-wire words across my path. But, then how do animals learn to stay where they belong?

If we don't want to be treated like animals, then let us decide not to trespass against their souls.

Even the most antagonistic person will calm down if they receive a calm and soft reaction to their outburst.

The antagonist is usually not right in every point or in every sentence that they uttered. But... there is always a reason for reactions. It is our duty to discover the cause of opposition...and it is a noble thing for us to be honest about our flaws, mistakes, weaknesses and errors.

If an opponent sees that we are truly listening with a teachable ear...they will be more open to us than ever before.

Thus, misunderstandings can be exposed, apologies can be made and harmony can be achieved even when differences aren't totally absolved.