Revival and Renewal

Tuesdays are my dread-days. It is not because I do not like my job (I do, actually). But on Tuesdays I come into the office feeling heavy. Sunday has taken its toll, and now I roll toward the next one while trying to work up the steam to also plan ahead, analyze what worked last week, and figure out my to-do list. A myriad of tasks parry for my attention, and I worry that perhaps some of them will never get done.

But then I remember these words:

“He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.”

Psalm 1:3

And I find myself remembering that wisdom is really the ability to point one’s life Godward, to organize oneself to the greatest end, to determine in each task the soulish work of leading people in and through “paths of righteousness” (Ps. 23:3). The prudent pastor is the one who has learned to fear the Lord, even when returning emails. And the result is slow, ever-ripening fruit.

“Prudence” is a word that we don’t use that often anymore, to our detriment. It has the connotation of cautiousness; of an evaluative heart that recognizes the cost before building the tower (Luke 14:28-30). Thomas Aquinas called prudence “the virtue most necessary for human life.” (Summa Theologica I-II 57:5). To Thomas, prudence was the ability not only to do the right thing but to do it in the right way. “It matters not only what a man does,” he writes, “but also how he does it.” Thomas saw that the virtue of prudence produces an internal navigation system when coming to decision-making: it leads you down right paths. It thus is the fount from which all other “cardinal” virtues (justice, fortitude, and temperance) spring.

Traditionally, Lady Prudence is depicted holding two items: a mirror and a snake. These two items represent two big-picture aspects of prudence in Scripture. For the snake, the passage is Jesus’ words describing the ideal mindset of a disciple:

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Matthew 10:16

Jesus envisions people whose hearts are set on his kingdom purposes, but who also recognize the need for discernment and judgment in the present age. They don’t go in blind, but rather discern motives and intentions and dangers. They have with them the shrewdness of the serpent (Genesis 3:1) without his corrupt heart.

But for the mirror we have another passage, this time from James:

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”

James 1:22-24

James goes on to remind people that persevering in Christlikeness means being aware of one’s sinful tendencies and actually acting on that self-awareness.

Prudence is simply this: “love distinguishing with discernment between what hinders it and what helps it” (Augustin). The prudent person remembers that the Godward life will lead one to discern the grey hues of life, between those things that tend toward the dark and those which tend toward the light. The virtue of prudence gives one the push they need to not only be self-aware, but to act on what they see in the mirror. Prudence is discernment directed toward God.

Prudent Christ, Prudent Pastors

Prudence shows up in the life of Christ constantly, though not as you might expect. Whenever you see Jesus telling those he healed not to spread the word around, or sidelining an accuser’s question, that’s prudence. And his prudence circled around one thing: his calling. He knew what he was on this earth for, the direction which God wanted him to go, and how to get there. He could discern which people, motives, and tasks furthered or hindered that calling, and that determined his action.

A significant part of Christ’s prudence is his understanding of timing. Jesus sees all of life as directed by God’s forward motion; God is the one who sets both when and how people act. The plan-promise of God for a Messiah was accomplished “at the fullness of time” (as Paul said, Gal. 4:4), and each moment of Jesus life was directed toward God’s timetable. What Jesus does, when he does it, and how he acts is all dictated by an understanding of the divine control of time.

As a young pastor, this is a great guide for me. We exist in a world where thousands of different objectives ache us, but there is really only one that matters: the divine directive. Seeing every task under God’s providential progress leads me to ask how God’s promise-plan is fulfilled in me today, right on this Tuesday afternoon as I send out emails. As seconds tick by on my clock I see myself under God’s directive for me right now:

“Jesus said to him ‘Feed My Sheep’”

John 21:17

That calling drives my motion as a pastor. I must look with wisdom at all my tasks and see behind them the soul-work to which I am called. I can discern between those tasks that further and those which hinder that calling. I become a more diligent, humble, and compassionate pastor as I choose to see the soulish in each objective, the divine directive behind the seemingly mundane. And I learn to lead others in the same direction.

Prudence at Home

But, Lady Prudence holds not only a serpent but also a mirror. I must be willing, if I am to be truly prudent, not only to discern the soulish in each task, but to be aware of my own weaknesses and act toward Christlikeness in the hidden parts. In other words, to be prudent as Christ was prudent I must be on the path of righteousness myself, and this means I am willing to step back and assess myself. Spiritual transformation begins in a person’s internal world and in their most basic relationships. Prudence presses me to see the soulish, not just in what I give, but in what I consume, whether it is on Netflix, Facebook, or anywhere else. I must always ask, “does this lead me down paths of righteousness, or toward lust, anger, or greed?”

Where we lead others we must go also, and so above all the virtue of prudence teaches us to value the soulish in everything, to direct our lives (even our private lives) toward this end: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Shepherds must know where the life-giving waters and the green pastures are, they must drink of those waters and lay in those pastures, if they are to be trusted to lead the sheep there.

That is the message of prudence.