Joel M Bradshaw

16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.–Proverbs 26

When you are the standard for your wisdom, you are not wise. It’s a version of “I’ve got this” that derails people from following disciplined paths. Even the secular person in recovery submits to some form of a ‘higher power’.

The sluggard lives the life of drama and messes created by his own selfishness. His decision making got him into his mess, and it will never on it’s own get him out.

There’s a difference between being occasionally right about something and then making yourself the standard for truth and falsehood. That’s our society’s problem: truth is possessed rather than known. Therefore, I can claim that my truth is just as important as your truth. And my truth is defined by whatever I choose, but most likely, my experiences. Therefore, right and wrong are determined by however I feel or react to a situation.

You see the problem, there? What if I am wrong? If I am the standard, the determiner, the definer, my only solution is to be humble and submit myself. But, as long as I have the power to define truth, will I ever get to that point? No.

Truth is so important that it transcends experience. Walking a mile in my shoes may ILLUSTRATE truth, but it NEVER DEFINES it. If I am only right in my own eyes, or seeking to arrive at decisions without counsel, then I illustrate the sluggard’s laziness of mind and will.

Just some thoughts on the nature of truth. The law of gravity doesn’t care about my opinion of it. The way we live our lives should be by the same non-capricious standard. A standard that cannot be derived or arrived by the self. Where do you get the standards by which you govern your life? Self or God?—JMB