Matthew 22:29 English Standard Version (ESV) But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”

There is a line in a movie I remember even though the movie is long forgotten and the context is lost on me. “You are wrong, just be wrong in your wrongness.”

For a Christian nothing hurts more than to be chastised by Christ for being wrong.

Taking a defensive posture with our Lord and trying to rationalize our behavior does not allow our hearts to grow closer to Christ. Just be wrong.

Being told we are wrong by people we respect does not grow us closer to them when the way  it is loosened upon us as judgment. Babes in Christ are not taught to love like God if we do not allow the power of God to administer a measure of grace to less than perfect people.

We are not perfect, we are being perfected. Being in a state of grace does not mean we will always remain babies. We will grow in grace if grace is sown in us properly.

Isaiah 44:24-25 English Standard Version

24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,

25 who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back  and makes their knowledge foolish,

Christ alone is our redeemer, our Savior, our Lord, and He is the Word that changes our hearts.

It is our minds that need correction, not our hearts. Just accept being wrong and look forward to our Lord who is our righteousness because we had none of our own.

Philippians 3:8-9 English Standard Version

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

1 Corinthians 1:27a English Standard Version (ESV) But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;

In the first church I joined I would sit in the front row. The front row always gets called on.

The “sermon” was being given to a new member of the church who came to us from the public school system. He was a natural teacher. He relied on his natural instincts.

“Larry, what is grace?” he asked the kid in the front row.

“God’s love being poured out into my life.” That was how I felt but it wasn’t the “book” answer.

“Wrong, anyone else?” Then someone behind me said “Unmerited favor.” That was the answer he was looking for. Was I wrong to define grace by how it made me feel? I don’t think so.

A few years ago I discovered a video by Dr. Keith Lamb online. One of the first things he said was that man’s natural instinct is to make things complicated. It really is simple.

Matthew 13:3 English Standard Version (ESV) And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.”

And it is just that simple.

Jesus explained the parable because it was too simple. 18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

We need to understand it. This is where man likes to complicate things. The simple truth is that we are to spread the gospel and allow the gospel to do the work.

“It cannot be that simple, let me explain it to you.”

That is where Dr. Lamb’s lesson comes into play. The natural man likes to think of himself as being superior to others. He will say “Wrong, anyone else?” He has placed himself in a position of superior intellect. He ignores what the gospel has done in the heart of his student.

A Kingdom Teacher looks at the condition of the heart and sees beyond the “book” answer.

What if that natural teacher that was preaching had said, “That’s a better answer, but I was looking for something simpler.”