Confession of a Pragmatist

So, It has been unearthed that I am a pragmatist. What exactly does that mean?

prag⋅ma⋅tist
1.a person who is oriented toward the success or failure of a particular line of action, thought, etc.; a practical person.(Dictionary.com)

Simply this looks like someone who has really practical and helpful advice to get people through a situation. They see a problem/situation and they know exactly what to do to fix that problem.

The scary part about this is that it looks really effective and wise on the surface. Think about it, someone always knows how to solve a problem in the best and most effective way. What is wrong with that, should we not desire to be more like that?

No we should not. Why? Because this is turning systems into the savior of situations and formulas into the fixer upper of broken people. Ultimately the problem with pragmatism is that there is some concept that if I do this in a certain situation it will all be ok, fixed, work, whatever. The problem here is that there is no room left for God.

Example:
Someone comes to me because they want someone to talk to about a problem they are having. They are having a hard time trusting in the goodness of God or something of that nature. A Pragmatist knows a list of verses that relate to this subject. The pragmatist will tell the sufferer these verses and to trust in God and not themselves. All this is good but there is one problem here. The pragmatist things that if this person knows these verse and if they are given the advise that is Godley advise then the problem should be fixed. They are relying in their words to fix the problem and not God.

This is hard to detect sometime because all the things they say are right, the problem is what they are trusting in to get the job done. The pragmatist thinks that their idea seems to fit best and that it has worked in the past so therefore it is a good formula for that situation. The pragmatist does not understand when things do not work out like they thought they would. They forget that the one who open eyes to see and heals the broken hearted is God, not just Godley advice. The advice should do one thing, it should take the broken to God for healing, not it in itself do the healing. The power to heal is in the Lord and His word.

The pragmatist like myself need to repent for trusting in systems and experience to deliver us. Like all sinner we need to turn back to God and realize that is where the real change comes from.