He who walks with the wise...

Some of my days have themes. Today's theme has been "Who am I listening too?" I stumbled across this blog entry talking about intelligence and foolishness not in terms of intellectual capacity, but in terms of one's relationship with God. Then I came across this blog discussing Fundamentalism vs. Liberalism. The entry is fascinating in many ways, but many of the points relate back to knowing God's heart rather than following human constructions. And then I came across this quote by A.W. Tozer (who was quoting someone else):

Let no one listen to a man unless he listens to God.

There's an interesting feedback loop here. People who know God better than me differ from me (hopefully) in their view of God. As I learn from them, my view of God improves, and I'm better at recognizing people who know God well. I've been reflecting today on some of the different types of people I've known. People don't tend to fit well in a single category, but here's some generalizations...

The charlatans: Sometimes known as hypocrites, everyone loves to hate these people. They portray themselves as deeply spiritual and their surface lives have the appearance of godliness, but over time, one realizes that there are deep sins that are being denied and suppressed. This group scares me as it takes time and often much discernment to tell whether people fall in this category.

The different mature: These are people whose view of God is very, very different from mine. Regretfully, it has generally taken me a long time to recognize the beauty and depth of their faith. But over time, these people have perhaps the most significant impact on me as they broaden and deepen my understanding of God.

The older me: These are people who are very similar to me, naturally and capably speaking into my life. Because we're similar, they tend to see through me, and are able to speak truth much more directly into my life than others.

Faith survivors: These are people who have been through hell on Earth at least once, and sometimes repeatedly. And yet through it all, they pursue God: Not necessarily without struggle - often great struggle. Often they are people who I originally meet and think "Wow, they are really young in their faith" until I hear where they have come from and realize how present God is in their lives for them to be loving people and coping with reality the way they are.

The Younger Visionaries: These are the idealists who see the magnitude of God and haven't been worn down by life's hard knocks. They often lack an understanding of God's work through pain, but they deeply and contagiously believe in what God can do with them and through them.

Most of the above are people that I listen to. Even the charlatans I tend to take seriously - first, because I think they often have good points even if they are not living them, and secondly, because I often mistake them for (the older me, the different mature) before I decide I must be much more cautious in how I take their advice.

And then there are a whole host of categories of people I take much less seriously, people who I love and care about, but who fundamentally I don't trust as listening to God. I still try and hear them out because God can speak through them despite themselves, and because sometimes they know God better than I realize.

But sometimes I think about the number of times I've re-evaluated how I categorize people, the countless times my estimations have been wrong, that I've regretted not listening to someone, or wondered why on earth I took someone so seriously...and sometimes I just throw my hands up and wonder how on earth I'm supposed to hear from God through people when it is so hard to know people's hearts and intents.