10. Preaching

INFORMED TO BE

It is written like this, in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 20:

"Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.”

Well, we are like children to God, but how annoying it is with people who pretend to be stupider than they are... One is equipped with reason and understanding, and of course the encouragement to be like children must not be understood as meaning that one is expected to wind up one's understanding. As children, we want to be faithful and hopeful, and we want to show love by being genuine, but with regard to judgment and assessment skills, one must of course be an adult.

One must be small in pettiness. In contrast to being judgmental, one will be generous and forgiving, and meet each other with goodness. We must be small when it comes to envy and hatred; we must be small in wickedness, but we must be fully grown when it comes to trusting and when it comes to recognizing others. We must be mature in understanding.

If you are sick and anxious, and you can be that in various ways, it often means that you feel particularly small. If you are not physically healthy, you will almost inevitably feel small. And if one feels small, the urge to see oneself as an object of God as a judging or punishing power may arise, and one may begin to look for directives to adhere to. You have to be aware of this, and this is the core of what we can be for each other. We can strengthen each other. We must look especially to the fatherless and widows, says the Bible, but we must look to all who suffer, and otherwise be joy and strength to one another.