Christians Not Curious Enough

Curiosity Makes Us Want to Really Know

Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio

Before the devotional, here is a short Nature Narrations audio:

Good vs Evil Desires

"Curiosity killed the cat" is an American expression putting curiosity in a negative light. Sure, curiosity to try drugs or experience things with severe consequences is reckless. But this is simply the misuse of curiosity. Money can be misused. Power can be misused. Dare I say, even life can be misused. 

Life, power, money, curiosity and a list of other things in the hands of a wise and loving being can have wonderful fruit.

Buddhism encourages a lack of passion as a virtue. OK, I admit, we are all better off if bad people lack passion and never get around to their evil plans, but I know the life best lived is one with wise passion and gusto.

Our desires have a huge impact on the direction of our life.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV) Proverbs 4:23

Great Desires

I have discovered something in my latter years; once a heart is fixed on doing good and pleasing God, appetites and desires look very different. In fact, as Erwin McManus (one of my favorite authors) “If you are passionate about God, you can trust your passions”.

If you yearn to do good, it is safe to pray that God fulfills your desires. A God-loving heart aches to ease the pain of others and do ever-more good. God loves those kinds of passions and desires. 

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (NIV) Psalm 37:4

Healthy Curiosity                                                    

I needed to explain good and evil desires because there is healthy and unhealthy curiosity. I believe there is a terrible poverty of healthy curiosity among Christians. Curiosity is the mother of many inventions. The person curious about how a thing works or if a hardship is absolutely necessary asks curiously, "What if it were possible . . . ?" 

God made us creative, like He is. I marvel when I think of the things humanity has invented in just the last 200 years. God created man with these abilities. 

What may have replaced the wonder and power of curious minds who want to understand and want to improve life for everyone? I believe it may be COMPLIANCE. I mean this in a broad sense. I could have said "conformity" or "obedient" all representing not curious.

Romans 13 says we should obey the laws of the land because God appointed officials. That’s just compliance and obedience, right? Throughout the Bible we are told to obey God and respect certain chains of command. 

But in Romans 12:2 say we should not be conformed to this world but transformed. That’s not really compliance. In many ways, the world considers folks who do conform as having an attitude problem. 

So which do you believe? Romans 12:2 or Romans 13?

It’s certainly better to believe both in order to understand God’s guidance.

There are so many "contradictory" scriptures that are not contradictory at all, but providing life and dimension to flat formulas extracted from the Bible that are honestly not what God was trying to say. I promise to not twist the scripture but shed light on more of the Bible. 

Don’t Ask

Teachers and experts who prefer you trust them rather than asking hard questions, are far more interested in your compliance than you truly thinking. 

The Bible, I am excited to say, really triggers thinking but ONLY IF YOU ARE CURIOUS about what appears to be a contradiction. If you pick one and ignore the other, I really don’t think you understand what God wants to teach you.

Curiosity makes us honest because nothing is as good as knowing, really knowing.

(This is the first half but I wanted to keep it short, so I will surprise you with part 2 before next weekend since it is already written. Have a truly inspirational week.)