Higher Truth

I've become concerned with increasing numbers of reels seen on Instagram and Facebook that identify and condemn narcissistic behavior. I'm pretty sure that we are all narcissists to one degree or another. And as Christians, we must be cautious of making life decisions based only on human reasoning and logic.  

The facts of any situation can be delineated but our best efforts will yield only partial and often conflicting versions of the truth. There is higher truth in God's perspective, truth we sometimes have to take on faith rather than from what we can see.  

If the person labeled a narcissist has accepted Christ as Savior, the transformative power of the Holy Spirit is at work in that person's successive approximations toward an appearance of Godliness.The self-focused Christian's tendency to do the right things for the wrong reasons can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, end up to be wholly right. It's ok to respond to them as though their motivations were pure because, by God's grace, they are becoming pure! Never look at a human being created in the image of God and proclaim that because human logic shows they cannot change that they are disposable, rejectable, or leave-able. Never look at a situation or a person apart from the vast potential of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.    

There's nothing logical about God's love. Human wisdom or AI will miss the higher truth of God's love and our love for one another through Him. Sometimes we feel foolish for continuing to love someone who does not deserve it based on their behaviors toward us.  But the illogic of the love that sent Christ to the Cross is at work in us.  It is not wrong to love those who don't deserve it.  This is the way God has loved each of us. 

Let's not sequester someone God has given us to love with labels created by human beings.  Human-formed categories can never contain the enormity of God's transforming power in the lives of those who are on the path to loving God as God has loved them.  

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Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

*Necessary disclaimer, I do NOT advocate staying in an abusive situation. I'm not addressing physical or verbal abuse in this post, but the universal frustrations we as flawed human beings experience as a result of living with other flawed human beings.  

A Caution for Christians Regarding AI

 I have been appreciating Google's AI summaries of my search results.  I type in a question such as this: "Can I take Tylenol with Zyrtec?"  

Very quickly the answer appears, "There are no known interactions between Tylenol and Zyrtec."

Handy.  And useful for quick affirmation of something to which I was already pretty sure I knew the answer.  

However, just yesterday I was bringing my need for physical stamina to the Lord, and I remembered that when Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, that he prayed, "Now strengthen my hands." I couldn't remember the Scripture reference and did a Google search.  Here is the AI summary: 

"Nehemiah prayed for strength to continue his work despite opposition. Nehemiah sought God’s help to persevere: “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands" (Numbers 6:9). 

Nice enough, right? I stared at the AI answer a moment and prayed, "Lord what are You wanting me to see here?"  

Here is the summary I then wrote, custom-tailored by the Lord for me for the specific needs I was facing, via the direction of the Holy Spirit: 

"False accusations had been brought against Nehemiah.  His enemies hoped to get him wrapped up in self-defense and upset in his emotions about the judgments that human beings were bringing against him.  Nehemiah recognized his enemies’ purpose was to stop him from working on the wall by draining his strength through emotional upset, and prayed for God to strengthen his hands."

AI could not know (or care) that I had been suppressing fear of what other people think of me to the degree my strength was being misspent and my time wasted in self-defense.  This was a spiritual battle in that it took place entirely in my mind and emotions; no human being had actually expressed judgment of me.  I was responding to the enemy's whispers "If you don't do this, then they will think badly of you."  

I'm being purposely vague about my own circumstances, but I hope you catch my point: don't depend exclusively on AI; use your God-given mind to reach your own conclusions based on the Holy Spirit's guidance from within.  As Christians we need to be led from the inside out, and not from the outside in.  Worldly influences, no matter how reasonably stated or initially helpful, must not be used as a replacement for the Holy Spirit.  

AI is a convenient tool.  But don't depend on it exclusively even when you are doing a Bible search.  Recognize the difference between right-sounding summaries from AI and the right-indeed guidance of the Holy Spirit from within.  

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For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Romans 8:14 

Clarification: When I say we are to be led from the inside out I certainly am not encouraging people to follow their own hearts (aka, emotions). Our own ideas of what is good will quickly lead us down a garden path that ends in despair. I refer to the fact that God has placed the Holy Spirit in our hearts: "And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 1:21-23 ESV).