HIM Conference, Part 2; Brewer

So, another bonus of the Conference was that Annie and I got to attend a lecture taught by our former pastor, Bel Air's Mark Brewer. His topic was one we weren't interested by simply reading the title, but it turns out that we loved the topic and discussion. The title was "the third intelligence" and referred to the idea of spiritual intelligence. His whole premise was that our society champions IQ, EQ (emotional intelligence), but we miss the part about being spiritually wise. He also made the point of differentiating between knowledge and wisdom; knowledge is knowing what something is, while wisdom is knowing how to apply that knowledge. He was basically trying to show how to make wise and Godly choices in our post-modern and uber-technological world. We deal with issues that people in the bible never dealt with and vice-versa.

How then, do we as Christians make God-honoring choices about things that the bible doesn't specifically mention. Things like who should we date/marry and what does that look like, should we pull the plug of a loved one on life support, what job to do, dealing with divorce, and the list goes on. It seems like many of these things aren't clear from simply scripture so what then. He mentioned that there are 4 sentinels (a sentinel was a guide who could show you the way, but couldn't make you do them) to spiritual intelligence. He lists these as 1. Scripture: The Living Word through the Written Word. 2. Reason: the difference between our intention and our motives. 3. Wise Counsel: from the Present and Past. 4. Inner Leading: spiritual "caller ID" whose voice is bringing this?

He brought up some great points on each of these, but some specific ones were: reason; God holds us accountable for our intentions more than our motives and can God possible give us freedom (free will) without freedom's consequences? Wise counsel: wise friends, they care about you more than the relationship; love is wishing someone's highest welfare; relationships themselves are spirit-filled, not merely the individuals; you need both truth and safety for relationships to go deeper. From the past: when we look to the wise thinkers who have gone before, we must really study them hard to understand there opinion and thoughts, we learn more this way. Spiritual caller id; 3 ways to recognize the voice you hear; 1. you spend time with them: you know God's voice better the more time you spend with God. 2 check the voice against the other 3 sentinels. 3. when it is from God, God blesses you with the fruit of the spirit; love, peace/tranquility, joy...

Anyway, those were some notes from his talk about the 4 sentinels that guide us to make spiritually wise choices in our lives. I must also say that the second topic he was going to talk about was, how to flesh out God's will in the really tough choices in life. And he had 10 specific instances like the ones mentioned above. I didn't get to attend this one because it ran concurrently with the Chris Tomlin Worship session that we went to with our teens.

However, I will say that this topic challenged me way more than I was expecting, not because I think I am super wise or anything, but because it really hit home hard. I will say, I am still fleshing this out in my life and hope to make it a lifelong and continual process. I will also leave you with what I thought was the quote of the day from Brewer;

"This Christian journey is not a march of legalism, it's a dance of grace." wow, how deeply profound and true.