Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (KJV Isaiah 1:18 - 20)
Some use the word reason in the same way they use words to make an excuse. An excuse is often more lie than truth. Some will say that an excuse is useful in that it keeps one from hurting another person's feelings; like the time you were asked to go out with friends, but there was one person in the group you had no desire to be around. So you made up an excuse about being tired, or busy. The truth was that you didn't want to be in the presence of that particular individual. When did "No" cease becoming a complete sentence? If you don't want to go, or do, or whatever the ask might be, why make excuses? Let your yay be yay, and your nay be nay. Yes and No are perfectly complete and acceptable answers to questions where additional details are not required.
Today we shall dwell on the other use case of the word 'reason'.
Several years ago I was asked to be the executor of a family member's estate in the event of her death. I asked why are you asking me to do this? She said that she knew she could trust me to carry out her wishes. She was right about that. The responsibility would include managing a rather sizeable brokerage account on behalf of her grandchild. We didn't know it at the time, but she had about two years to live after we had this initial conversation.
I went on to ask why she had not considered other family members, including her own adult child. She went into detail explaining why she had not elected her child for reasons that were perfectly clear to me. She went on to say that there were others to whom the responsibility might be given, but they were unacceptable because she did not trust them.
Then, without warning, she was gone. I was named custodian of a valuable stock market account on behalf of a minor that my relative had named as sole beneficiary.
I consider myself an experienced investor. I self-managed my own IRA for many years until I learned the benefits of using a professional financial advisor. After the first year of seeing a professional advisor's results, I decided to use the same firm and financial advisor that my deceased relative had elected. To this day the funds designated as the child's inheritance remains with the original brokerage company and financial advisor.
Skip ahead nearly four-years later. Working together the advisor and I had grown the investments by more than 100%. We even set aside a substantial sum in an education plan that allows the funds to be used tax-free if used for college or other related education expenses. That means no student loans... EVER!
You can imagine my surprise when the minor child contacted me in an absolute rage about having set aside funds for a tax-free, debt-free education. The tirade lambasting me was shocking, disrespectful and without reason. There's that word again, 'reason'.
As an older man I understand how the desire for autonomy drives some young people to rebel as they approach adulthood. But the fact remains that we encounter many, who are not young, who seem to lack reason, or as some say, common sense. Why would anyone in their right mind go off the rails when another person is acting on their behalf, within the spirit and the letter of the law, with complete transparency and with their best interests in mind? Worse still, why do adults fail to learn from their mistakes? It is no wonder that history repeats itself.
Right after our divorce became final, my former spouse and I had a brief conversation. She said, "NOBODY will tell me what I can and cannot do ever again!". And she meant it, even though it had been part of the reality of our marriage for nearly 14-years. To my way of thinking it is the explicit definition of unreasonable, unrealistic and mind-numbingly ridiculous assertions about autonomy. These days, when I hear about somebody making that declaration of absolute autonomy, it tells me enough to know that it would be impossible to have a reasoned relationship with the owner of that mindset. My reaction to that is, "Really?". What about a boss or supervisor at work? What about parents or spouse? What about other authority figures like police officers and judges? Literally, nobody can tell you what you may or may not do? If you are one who embraces this attitude do you mind if I ask how that's working out for you? Take heed of who you really are vs. who you think you are. If there is an unreasonable gap there you can understand why.
The sad truth is that common sense and reason seem to have gone on a decades-long vacation. The woes plaguing our society is hardly believable. Ever increasing violence, sexual abuse, pedophilia, murders, thefts, scams and more are symptoms of a culture that, having lost its reason, has rejected the Word of God and its rightful place as the moral authority for human behavior.
I submit to you that rejecting the LORD God's word, spoken through Isaiah more than twenty-five centuries ago, is a major contributing factor to why we collectively lack the common sense, clarity and the discipline needed to function in an orderly law-abiding society. Refusal to obey the laws of God and man, rejection of the LORD God's absolute authority, and rebellion in the name of personal freedom, have lead millions to live in highly charged manic states. The ability to calmly discuss issues, understand and forbear one another, compromise our feelings, and work together to resolve conflict has devolved into social, religious and political chaos.
Reason, like the fear and reverence of the LORD God, is a practical life skill that one should cultivate through daily practice. The fruit of such a life is joy, peace, confidence and the ability to see things as they really are; not as the world sees. The age when knowledge is increased is upon us yet wisdom wanders the desolate landscape of confused and cluttered minds searching for any who possess the quality of REASON.