Be Confused, Learn and Grow, Repeat: RRE 28
Religion Ruins Everything Daily 10.8.16 from One Life Network on Vimeo.
46 An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”
Luke 9:46–48 ESV
Jesus is moving the disciples into the learning zone. By the paradoxes that He teaches, Jesus takes them out of their box of understanding into dissonance. When you consider two things that are in conflict with one another, you experience dissonance. As you try to reconcile them, you have to learn something new or give up.
As the disciples then, and us now, grow in our relationship with God, we come across a lot of these paradoxes. Just as Jesus didn’t rebuke the disciples for being confused, but led them along in understanding, we too can care about people and help them move into a learning zone. Create illustrations and activities that move them to dissonance so they get to learn something new.
As we experience them ourselves, we can share our confusion, our exploration, and our discoveries with one another. That is how we share our lives together and grow together in Christ.