Exit Jesus
I know, weird title but stick with me and you’ll understand.
In my short, but meaningful, year at bible college I discovered the ‘Exit Jesus’ scenario. It was a brilliant course with one compulsory stream and three choice subjects. I chose 21st century Mission, Global Christianity and Middle Eastern studies and they were all brilliant and totally motivating. Theology was the compulsory stream, and honestly it wasn’t all fun. Apparently there are subjects that are ‘the principles of scriptural interpretation’ and ‘the explaining of scripture’. Hermeneutics and Exegesis!
What I discovered was as fascinating and as eloquently elegant these subjects and discourses were, they could easily drop into the intellectual and good argument realm. So exegesis, in my mind, became exit Jesus. It’s easy to replace Wisdom with intellect and knowledge. God has no problem with intellect - he created it and it is good. However, knowledge and intellect cannot replace Wisdom. Our good and eloquent thoughts have no lasting value unless they are tempered with, and grounded in the Wisdom that comes from developing an intimate relationship with God. So, Exit Jesus is about remembering that you can never leave Jesus behind in any part of your life, not even for a millisecond.
How do we do this?
Start with the book of Proverbs written mostly by Solomon, the son of King David.
This book was written to teach us how to get Gods Wisdom, develop a moral compass, and use them in everyday life (Proverbs 1:2 NLT).
Prov 1:2-7 NLT explains the what, the why and the how.
Chapter 2:1-11 NLT takes it further and starts to go deeper into the how. All 31 chapters are stunningly relevant to everyday life, but literally every day I find myself going back to chapter 3:5-6 NLT
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; don’t depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in ALL you do, and he will show you which path to take” (my highlight)
Pursue wisdom, it overflows with hidden treasures, through it you will gain knowledge of God and it will lead you to the true understanding of the fear of God.
