Overview
Connie Roubinet begins with a classroom illustration showing how a familiar context can turn confusion into understanding. She then applies the principle spiritually: clarity grows when believers slow down, recognize context, listen, focus on what God has said, and refuse the confusion produced by competing voices.
Transcript
A Classroom Lesson in Clarity
So excited for the opportunity to talk a little bit more about clarity. So this kind of happened earlier this week. As many as you know, I'm a math teacher.
I was reading a problem. We were actually supposed to read it together in class, but I was reading it was printed out on the front of my board and we were reading this problem together and it read about two different young boys who went to an amusement park and they were going to ride the rides. Okay.
So as is my norm, I asked the class, what is the problem about? That's what we always start with. What is the problem about? And on this particular day, I didn't even have a single answer. Now there's 36 kids in this class and they're, you know, they're seventh graders, they mumble all the time, but not a single mumble.
And I went, wait a minute, do you understand what we just read? And that's when I heard the mumble, no, no, I don't understand anything. I don't get it. I went, okay, here's what we're going to do.
How many of you have been to Lagoon? Well, everybody shoots up their hand because out here in Utah, Lagoon is the one and only premier amusement park. It has all the greatest and latest rides. I said, so I want each and every one of you to lay your head down on your desk.
They kind of looked around, they looked at each other going, wait, what? What? Are you serious? I said, yes, I'm serious. Put your head down and close your eyes and just listen. Waved them all.
And then I read the problem. Noah and Diego went to Lagoon. After they got through the ticket booth and had their hands stamped, they each decided to go to their favorite ride.
And then they decided to meet at the fountain afterwards. By now, I know I have my students because there's not a sound in the room. It took Noah eight minutes to walk 100 yards to the bumper cars.
And Diego took eight minutes to walk 75 yards to the roller coaster. Who had the faster pace? I paused and everybody put their head up. And all of a sudden, all you hear is, oh, that's easy.
That's Noah. He went 100 yards in the same amount of time that Diego took 75 yards. And then you hear, oh, yeah, because bumper cars are way better than the roller coaster.
And then you hear, no, the roller coaster is way better. He just had to go through the food court to get to it. So they went on and on for about three or four minutes.
Now I had their attention. They were clear. They knew what the problem was now.
They knew it. So what changed from when I originally read the problem to that? Well, they got clarity. They were listening without distraction.
They connected to the scenario. It was relevant. It wasn't just any old amusement park.
It was lagoon. It wasn't some vague ride off in the park somewhere. It was the bumper cars and the roller coaster.
And they were meeting at the fountain. They saw it in their minds. They got clarity.
Context Changes Understanding
And you know what they did? They moved forward with the work. They were excited about the work because now they understood what was expected. So that got me to thinking about clarity.
Well, what is clarity? By definition, it is a clearness to perception or understanding. It's a clearness to perception. But it's understanding that it's free from indistinctness or ambiguity.
Wow. Free from indistinctness. It's some vague, hazy idea of what you're doing.
It's crystal clear like water, like a diamond. The clarity is real. Like James says in chapter one, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
That's the definition of what clarity is not. Clarity is, it is. Or it isn't.
It's one or the other. There's no greatness in between. But later that day, I got to thinking, hmm, I think I'd like to live my life with greater clarity regarding my relationship with God and with each other.
I don't want any ambiguity about who God is and what he wants for our lives. I want it to become more crystal clear. So I'm just going to look at two sections of scripture today.
The first one on who God is, and the second on what he thinks of us. So let's go to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55.
And we're going to start in Isaiah. We're just going to stay in the King James version. We're going to start in Isaiah in verse eight.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. God's thoughts are way bigger than ours. He inhabits eternity.
Have you thought about that statement recently? I hadn't until I started studying this. God inhabits eternity. He sees everything past, present, and future.
Look at verse nine. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Well, he already sees us seated in the heavenlies because he inhabits eternity and he can.
He sees us where we are today, but he definitely sees us where we are in eternity. That's a great thing to become clear on. At the very least, we can say clearly and decisively that following his ways is always going to be the better route.
Always. So that's a comfort, right? That's who God is. He's huge.
Now in mathematics, we deal with infinity quite a bit. We're always trying to prove that things will work, you know, a summation to infinity, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's pretty cool stuff.
Recognizing Confusion
But eternity, that's where our God resides. So how can we ever be afraid of anything that happens in our life? God has got it covered from before the foundation of the world to the time of eternity. So that's something to wrap your head around.
So let's read on to verse 10. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give feed to the sower and bread to the eater. I just wanted to look at that, but watereth the earth.
Verse 11, sorry. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
God's words are not coming back empty-handed. All of his word is true. Remember 3 John 2? God wants us to prosper in every activity of our life.
Your everyday routines can just be zippity. I don't know, a lack of better word for that, but it could be exciting. It can be way better as long as we are clear on what God's word can accomplish.
His desire is clear. We can be assured to our very core that he wants us to prosper. Any other saying, anything else that comes out of people's mouth, or on cartoons, or on commercials, or on billboards, they hold not a candle to what God's word says about us.
His word is reliable and it's remarkable. Let's look at verse 12. For ye shall go out with joy, we heard joy a lot in manifestations today, and be led forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, what a mind picture that is, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. I love that verse of scripture. I always think it's like we're in a parade and the creation is cheering us on.
This is what God has done for us and what he thinks about us, but this is who he is. He sent this word and as he said, it will accomplish what I please, because my thoughts are bigger than your thoughts, Connie. My thoughts are bigger than your thoughts, little ones.
You're my children and I have great things in store for you. So what I say in my word, it's going to come to pass. It doesn't come back empty.
Living with anxiety is a very worldly strategy that is embedded in our culture and it's there to get us to lose our peace. And we know that it's the kingdoms of the world, which of course the adversary is behind it, and he's done a great job with embedding anxiety at every level of life. I see some of my little 12-year-olds in class and they're anxious about some of the most silliest things, but to them, it's a blockage.
To them, it's reality, this anxiety. Our job is to make sure that we stay at peace and we can do that because of what God is, what he has for us. When we're not peaceful, we cannot accomplish what God has called us to do.
But when we are, we can accomplish everything. I love that Philippians tells us to be anxious for absolutely nothing. Nothing.
Be anxious for nothing. Not who you look like, what you're going to wear tomorrow, what you're going to eat today, how's that person going to react to my words? Nothing. I love that about our God.
In every situation in life, when we have the clear word, when we live with clarity in our hearts, we will always, always have the solution. That's how come we can be fearful of nothing. We're fearless, but not in an arrogant sense.
We're not fearless because of our own accomplishments. And we've all done great things because we're God's people. Of course, we're going to do great things, but that's not why we're fearless.
God’s Word Brings Light
We're fearless because we are clear on who God is and what he wants for us. So let's look at a section of the word on what God thinks and wants for us. Let's go to Romans chapter eight.
Romans chapter eight. I love this section of scripture. I know I say I love this and I love that.
There's so much more to God to get clarity on, but we can only do a little bit at a time. At least that's me. I think I'm going to work on these verses this week so they really become embedded in my heart.
I'm really clear about it and make sure I see how God teaches me. And that's the work of Holy Spirit, right? To teach us God's word, to recall to us, to help us walk that amazing path that God has set for us. So in Romans chapter eight, we're going to start at verse 31.
Very familiar section. We're going to get some clarity on it, right? I'm going to really bring this down and make it relevant so that these scenarios that we have every day, we can remember these things. Verse 31.
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? I think I could live on that verse like forever. If God be for us, who can be against us? There is no way that we can lose as long as we're clear on what God says about us and what he wants for us. Verse 32.
He that spared not his own son, Jesus Christ is who he's talking about, but delivered him up for us all, all us guys, all y'all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? God did not hesitate to put everything on the line for us. That is remarkable love.
He gave his only son for us. So is there anything he wouldn't gladly do for you and me? That's a great question. But the answer is, oh, he'll do everything.
We just have to follow him because his ways are better than ours. Fantastic. Verse 33.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? That's you and me. We are God's elect. What a great thing to think about when you wake up in the morning and your hair's all messed up and you still got to brush your teeth.
You're looking in the mirror and going, ha, I am God's elect today. What a way to start your day. God justifies.
How can anyone possibly point a finger at us? Look at verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Jesus Christ is sticking up for us at all times.
How can anybody judge us? God's already judged us to be righteous. Anything else that we hear is just nonsense. Put it in that category in your mind.
Don't even entertain any thoughts that we are less than who God says we are. What a fantastic verse of scripture. Jesus Christ, our brother, he's sticking up for us.
He's taking care of us. I remember a time when I was little in Philadelphia. I grew up in Philadelphia.
Choosing What Deserves Attention
A little bit of a rough neighborhood every now and then. But where I was growing up there, I had two friends that lived next door. And we got to a disagreement, me, two girls, me and these other two girls, and we were so kind of angry at each other, I thought we were going to get into fist fights.
I mean, it was just that situation that happens among kids. And then I hear the door slam. I'm outside in the front, and my brother comes running outside, my big brother.
And he looks at the two girls, and he looks at them, and he said, walk away. Oh, they took off. Because my big brother stood up for me.
That's how Jesus Christ is with us, with the adversary. Walk away. These kids, they belong to God.
They're my brothers and sisters. We have everything covered. Fantastic.
These are some of the ways that I'm trying to make the clarity of the word real in my life, make it relevant, so I can do the work that God has set us to do. And hopefully this is something that's communicating to you. Look at verse 35.
Love this verse. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or pearl, or sword? It's listing just about everything there in that list of things that could separate us from Christ, that are kind of on the, from the love of Christ, that are on the negative side. You know, just, well, poverty, or not being in the right place at the right time, or being in a job that you don't like, or somebody bullying you.
Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Absolutely nothing. Doesn't matter.
No trouble, no hard times. Verse 36, as it is written, for my sake we are killed all the day long. Woe is me.
I'm such a victim. We are counted as sheep or the slaughter. No, verse 37 says, no, no, no.
In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. In everything, we are more than conquerors in him that loves us. That loves us.
Verse 38, for I am persuaded. Now, this list is extremely comprehensive. I don't even think you could add anything to it.
For I am persuaded that neither death, okay, that's the ultimate separation, nor life, anything happening in life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There is absolutely no way God will ever stop loving us. Remember, he inhabits eternity.
He can see us past, present, and future. He's with us forevermore. There is no way that we are never not in God's eyes, so to speak.
He has plans for us. I think these are great sections of scripture to get clear on. Think about them without distractions.
Take a little time. I know many of you take time in the morning, and I'm trying to follow that as well. Take about time to think about it and make them relevant in your daily routine.
Living and Acting With Confidence
God's got great things in store for us, and I'm excited to live it together. God bless you.
Key Takeaways
- Understanding often begins when information is placed in a clear and meaningful context.
- Confusion can be reduced by slowing down, listening carefully, and identifying what the situation is truly about.
- God’s Word supplies a stable point of reference when circumstances or emotions feel unclear.
- Clarity involves separating essential truth from distracting or competing information.
- Believers can ask God for wisdom and move forward with confidence rather than remaining immobilized by confusion.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the central idea of Living With Clarity?
Clarity comes from understanding the true context, focusing on what is relevant, and using God’s Word as a stable reference point.
How can someone respond when a situation feels confusing?
The teaching encourages slowing down, listening, asking what the issue is really about, seeking God’s wisdom, and separating reliable truth from distracting voices.
Why is biblical clarity practical?
Clear understanding helps a believer make decisions, communicate accurately, recognize God’s direction, and act without being controlled by confusion or fear.
Scripture References
James 1:5; Psalm 119:105; 1 Corinthians 14:33; 3 John 2
Verification Note
Prepared from a recovered transcript. Verify proper names, illustrations, quotations, and verse wording against the original recording and a Bible before publication.
