What Is Your Opinion…
What is your opinion . . . . worth? Don’t answer too quickly, especially if you think what you think is of considerable value to others. Ever hear the saying, “A penny for your thoughts?” If anyone has ever said that to you they may be saying something you need to consider. So why even open your mouth, let alone your mind for a penny?
We are in the age of endless opinion polls and requests for our feedback. The requests are relentless. Just listen to talk radio and see how long the host goes before soliciting your view so that a point of view can be magnified by the weight of audience response. And of what caliber are the responders? Penny thinkers? With the advent of email we are learning to whom and where we release this means of contact. We get requests for feedback on the screwdriver we purchased from Home Depot, just how good the“Good Neighbor” at State Farm was, or how did you like those new blue jeans from Kohls or gas grill from Ace or pencil sharpener from Office Max or headache medicine from CVS? Just quit it!
I immensely enjoy that I often have conversations with people who are having spiritual conversations with others. It may be parents mentoring their kids or someone offering help to a new believer or maybe just someone with a question about faith and practice. When it comes to spiritual questions, what’s needed is truth, not opinions. “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” (Ps. 119:60).
It’s what we know to be true that counts, not so much what we believe or think. Admitting a serious personal deficit in intelligence, I have found it best to rely on facts . . . truths that are not subject to times, trends or tweaks. I go for the steady stuff, the eternal. “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,but the word of the Lord remains forever.” (1Peter 1:24-25)
The word of God cuts to the chase. It doesn’t bend itself or soften its punch to make it more palatable to those who need to hear it. And it’s durable. The Holy Spirit rides on the wings of God’s word and uses God’s truth to penetrate minds and hearts and continues to work long after our conversations end.” For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) Let’s back that up with another important promise from Isaiah 55:11“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” God wants us to use his word because of the power that it carries with it!
King David was well aware of the value of God’s word and his desperate need for it. He basically devoted the entirety of the longest chapter in the Bible (Ps. 119) to the praise of what we treasure as scripture. God’s word is wisdom, correction, guidance, spiritual sustenance . . . basically it is life. The brief verse 105 from this Psalm is meaningful: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Simply said David praises God that his precepts, principles and commands show him where to place his feet as he moves step by step through life. Interestingly, this light is not a torch or floodlight to help him navigate miles down the road or necessarily years ahead, but to keep him dependent on the Lord for where God will lead him with his next step. God’s word works in the same way for you and I.
So I ask again, what is your opinion worth? It is rich if it is founded on the wealth of God’s word, God’s truths. Not just worth a penny, but good as gold. I encourage you as you, in love and grace, help others navigate their course in life, to set opinions aside and use the word of God as your compass and know for certain, not just think that you have given them something of great value. Think About It.