Trust but verify... Mark 9:38

Acting in Jesus name & heart, good work is for all to do.

 

In the late '80s when U.S. President Reagan met face to face with USSR President Gorbachev, the "trust but verify" phrase was made famous in the discussion of missile deployments and nuclear warhead agreements being made. But the same principle seems apt on the field of interpersonal relations and the eternal vigilance needed to look out for false teachers and prophets, whether they are off track on purpose or unbeknownst to themselves and their followers, too. Then in the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament there is the visual interpretation of wisdom to resemble a snake in its sharp-eyed way of evaluating things. In other words, there is an important relationship seen in Jesus' living example between loving forgiveness and righteously judging.

Like Jesus, we should live in the  physical world to embody and live out God's teachings rather than to sit idly by in meditation alone. Part of that exertion and exercising of body and mind comes from looking with care and love upon sins of self and others with a view to close scrutiny and discernment. When it is appropriate and there are "money-changers in the Temple," then we should call it out and make judgement; not the preachy, hypocritical, or judgmental kind but a firm and loving kind. Put another way, while God judges each person in some ultimate sort of way, during each person's sojourn on Earth, judging others should be practiced - not carelessly, but judicially. Not with the goal of excluding, condemning, or damning the person, but rather with the purpose of accountability that leads them on course correction back into God's Way. Judge, discern, look closely - but always with a heart of love and for the purpose of redeeming salvation that comes by God's own grace, not something given by human powers that be.

In the words of Ronald Reagan, in order to sustain the relationship between us, we should trust each other but at the same time never stop verifying. Be ready to forgive but not to forget sins. Be ready to judge, but not necessarily blurt out unthinkingly. In all things, though, it is on God's authority and message, not on one's own: Judge but not judgmentally, be righteous but not self-righteous.

A personal scale for "be in the World but not of the World"

From the tree with knowledge of Good and Evil in the world?

The Jesuits (Society of Jesus) are closely associated with the aim to be "in the World, but not of the World." The idea is to do God's work in relationship with the high and the low of society but remain slightly at a distance in order to keep from being swept up or tripped up by the messiness and incompleteness found there: go into the trenches to wage battles with sin, but avoid being buried in the mud. Now instead of trying to grapple with the tension between mingling and holding one's distance, the scale of the tension can be shifted from the philosophical or the organizational to the boundaries of one's own body.

"Deny the flesh" is a phrase used to describe the discipline gained by being vigilant about one's motivations and the attractions to puffed up Ego, conspicuous consumption to wow others, and wasteful ways that contradict the Bible's instruction to be good stewards of the land, seas, and air. In a sense, this body-sized, corporeal medium is a place for striking a balance between "Delight in all of Creation" and "Deny the Flesh." This echoes the "be in the World" (garden of Earthly delight) tension with the "be not of the World" (deny the flesh). Maybe the ancient philosophers of Greek said the Golden Mean best, "in all things moderation."

By enjoying the pleasure, wonder, and rainbow of emotional responses to being a person in the world of nature and society and ideas, but at the same time seeking heavenly value and purposes, the result is a sort of "feet on the ground and head in the clouds." God is immanent in the people, places, and things of the World, but those tangible things are only place-holders or signposts that point to God's glory that runs through it all. The sated senses are only the surface of things; not a destination or stopping point. They are instead a gateway or entry to the fuller meaning of The World and of God's Ways.