Would you like to understand more? Would you like to experience the wisdom that comes from understanding?  We can gain a lot of knowledge and still not have the capacity for actually using it in some practical manner.  But understanding leads to practical application.

Can you gain understanding by learning lots of bits of information? Maybe, but my experience is that understanding comes from the process of contemplating this knowledge, and not just knowledge but God’s Word. It involves purposeful times in your routine to calm yourself and patiently listen to the words of wisdom God has to offer you. Recently Pope Francis noted, “We need also to be patient if we want to understand those who are different from us.” The late Steven Covey also encouraged us to seek first to understand and then to be understood. Why in that order? I wonder if seeking first to understand others helps increase their motivation to listen also to us. Paul writes in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

This is why loving one another has to go beyond mere words and mere actions. We need to be truly interested in others, not just to see them as a means to achieving our goals. We are told that not everyone is interested in the light. Some would prefer to live in darkness. But I have to think that demonstrating real interest in understanding others is a great way of letting your light shine in the world. How about you?

Go Light Our World – GLOW today.