May 10, 2006
Sea Lawyers.
Acts 27: 11-12: “But the centurion,
instead of listening to what Paul said, followed
the advice of the pilot and of the owner of
the ship. Since the harbor was unsuitable to
winter in, the majority decided that we should
sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter
there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both
southwest and northwest.” -NIV
I find that I get a lot of advice these days.
I try to listen to all of it (that is polite)
but I only follow some of it. It is good to
figure out in advance who you are going to just
listen to and who you are going to follow. When
I am making a plan of action I know in advance
that many people are going to want input into
that plan, my wife, my friends, my children,
my boss, my pastor, the man behind the deli...
well the list goes on. Some are experts and
some are just Sea Lawyers.
When I was in the navy we had a lot of time
on our hands out at sea. We would spend a lot
of that time sitting around and telling stories,
we really got to know one another, we got to
see who was smart and who was... not as gifted.
We also got to see who thought he was smart.
The Sea Lawyer was someone who had an answer
for everything. Every conversation he had to
have input in, and he has lots of advice to
give, all with an air of "knowledge"
and most of it wrong. For my first few months
on my first boat, I am sad to say, I was the
sea lawyer. I quickly learned that the bad advice
I was giving led to most people not listening
to me at all. Eventually I learned that I had
to only speak about what I really knew and not
about everything. I earned more respect and
eventually people started coming to me for real
advice about things I could really help on.
When Paul spoke to the centurion he was talking
with great authority about what God would do.
The pilot and owner believed in their own knowledge
and the centurion who was used to dealing with
the world and not with God listened to the seemingly
wise knowledge. If you are in doubt about anything
you should ask around and the centurion was
wise to do that. But if what you need advise
on has anything to do with God do not ask around
just ask God and ask those whom you trust to
give you Gods word. The majority is not always
right, the Sea Lawyer is usually wrong but with
God's word can never fail.
|
