So, here it is - the last day of my Proverbs Experiment. I enjoyed it, although it was tough at the end thinking of new things to write about. It seems like there are several repetitive themes in Proverbs - foolish vs. wise, laziness, don't oppress people, etc.
The last chapter of Proverbs are the sayings of King Lemuel. Whoever that is.
Proverbs Chapter 31:
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those who are perishing. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. (vs. 8-9)
Two of my favorite verses these days. Actually, I first learned these verses several years ago when I became involved in praying for the persecuted church. I believe that these verses were some of the main verses for Voice of the Martyrs. Now that I'm focusing on human trafficking, these verses are used frequently as well.
Tonight I had the privilege of leading worship for a New Year event that my friend Seth had for his high school and jr. high students. First, it was great to lead worship again with some people who were on my worship team for several years here in Ohio. It was fun to be together again, and we all decided we needed to do it more often.
I also had the opportunity to talk a little bit about my passion, and I left some information about Love 146 and Rapha House on a table for students to pick up. I knew that some of Seth's students went to CIY this summer and saw the same video I did that inspired me to do something. I had a great conversation with a girl who actually put together a fundraiser for Rapha House with her former student ministry, which is really great. I got her information, so now I have at least one other person who is excited to make a difference in this area. I told her that I was thinking about putting together a non-profit organization whose goal is to raise awareness among high school and college students about human trafficking, starting here in Ohio, and she got really excited. So now there are two of us who want to speak up "for those who are perishing" due to human trafficking.
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. (vs. 30)
The last part of this verse reminds me of several women who are very strong in the Lord and have inspired me with their passion for God. Some of them are in the anti-human trafficking arena - Stephanie from Rapha House, Kathy with Love146, and Allison in Illinois. Some of them are friends here in Ohio - Rochelle, Cathy, Tammie and more. I also think of my past youth coaches who were mostly moms who helped so much in my student ministries. Thanks to all of you for your inspiration!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Thirty
Now we move out of the proverbs attributed to Solomon and into proverbs by two other men: Agur son of Jakeh, and King Lemuel. Today, we look at Agur.
Proverbs Chapter 30:
Every word of God proves true. He defends all who come to him for protection. (vs. 5)
Hmm, these are interesting already. They don't feel like they belong in the book of Proverbs; or actually, they feel more like the early proverbs rather than the last several chapters of one verse proverbs.
Every word of God proves true - Every once in awhile, I have a time of deep doubt in Christianity, in God, in the church. I have to admit that a lot of times the spark of this doubt is something that happens in the church that makes me cringe or that has hurt me. I have a hard time accepting the above verse, because there are many different interpretations of what God's word really says about certain things, and you have to wade through all the muck of denominationalism and theology and the like to really know what God intended in His word.
Verse 5 does kind of reassure me, however - because if every word of God proves true, and I can believe that, then that means that the promises of God are true, and there are some great promises to us if we continue to press on and hope.
O God, I beg two favors from you before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?" And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God's holy name. (vs. 7-9)
I'm really liking this guy. The first favor that he asks of God reminds me of the fable concerning George Washington, when he chopped down the cherry tree and said, "I cannot tell a lie." The second one is a great prayer to pray, I think. I like that he asked for just enough to satisfy his needs, not his wants. In our culture today, wants and needs can be pretty subjective. I may want a car, but do I really need a car? And if I need a car, does it need to be a Hummer, or is that a want? (seems kind of obvious to me)
Never slander a person to his employer. If you do, the person will curse you, and you will pay for it. (vs. 10)
Does this include slandering a person to a possible employer? Because I had that happen a couple of times. When I was looking for a ministry position, I almost lost two possible jobs because a former employer slandered me. At one point, I had actually thought of suing this person because he could have cost me employment (one church I turned down; I ended up working for the other church). But I decided not to, especially because I was able to refute what he had told them.
There are three things that amaze me - no, four things I do not understand:
how an eagle glides through the sky,
how a snake slithers on a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
how a man loves a woman. (vs. 18-19)
I'm glad he didn't say "when a man loves a woman."
"I'll be honest with you, I love his music, I do, I'm a Michael Bolton fan. For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than when he sings "When a Man Loves a Woman."
"I celebrate the man's entire catalog."
Yeah, I'm in a goofy mood today. This isn't going well.
Proverbs Chapter 30:
Every word of God proves true. He defends all who come to him for protection. (vs. 5)
Hmm, these are interesting already. They don't feel like they belong in the book of Proverbs; or actually, they feel more like the early proverbs rather than the last several chapters of one verse proverbs.
Every word of God proves true - Every once in awhile, I have a time of deep doubt in Christianity, in God, in the church. I have to admit that a lot of times the spark of this doubt is something that happens in the church that makes me cringe or that has hurt me. I have a hard time accepting the above verse, because there are many different interpretations of what God's word really says about certain things, and you have to wade through all the muck of denominationalism and theology and the like to really know what God intended in His word.
Verse 5 does kind of reassure me, however - because if every word of God proves true, and I can believe that, then that means that the promises of God are true, and there are some great promises to us if we continue to press on and hope.
O God, I beg two favors from you before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?" And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God's holy name. (vs. 7-9)
I'm really liking this guy. The first favor that he asks of God reminds me of the fable concerning George Washington, when he chopped down the cherry tree and said, "I cannot tell a lie." The second one is a great prayer to pray, I think. I like that he asked for just enough to satisfy his needs, not his wants. In our culture today, wants and needs can be pretty subjective. I may want a car, but do I really need a car? And if I need a car, does it need to be a Hummer, or is that a want? (seems kind of obvious to me)
Never slander a person to his employer. If you do, the person will curse you, and you will pay for it. (vs. 10)
Does this include slandering a person to a possible employer? Because I had that happen a couple of times. When I was looking for a ministry position, I almost lost two possible jobs because a former employer slandered me. At one point, I had actually thought of suing this person because he could have cost me employment (one church I turned down; I ended up working for the other church). But I decided not to, especially because I was able to refute what he had told them.
There are three things that amaze me - no, four things I do not understand:
how an eagle glides through the sky,
how a snake slithers on a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
how a man loves a woman. (vs. 18-19)
I'm glad he didn't say "when a man loves a woman."
"I'll be honest with you, I love his music, I do, I'm a Michael Bolton fan. For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than when he sings "When a Man Loves a Woman."
"I celebrate the man's entire catalog."
Yeah, I'm in a goofy mood today. This isn't going well.
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty-Nine
I had an excuse yesterday, my internet access was down - just got back up an hour ago.
Proverbs Chapter 29:
Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be broken beyond repair. (vs. 1)
Wow, is this a true statement. I think sometimes it takes others to see the weaknesses in ourselves. It's hard to hear from other people what those weaknesses are, but if we truly believe that there is something to be learned from criticism, we will grow from it and will hopefully turn those weaknesses into strengths. If we don't accept criticism, those weaknesses in our life may get too big and irreparable. Therefore, even if a criticism seems picky or little, it's good to face the criticism now and see what needs to be fixed now, before it's too late.
There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking. (vs. 20)
This is where I'm glad that I'm an internal processor, rather than an external processor. Someone who processes information internally thinks through options and responses before saying something. Someone who processes information externally uses their words to help them process options and responses. And external thinker is usually pretty popular in staff meetings and committees, because it seems like they are more involved and engaged in the conversation. We internal thinkers can be viewed as aloof or disinterested, but that's not the case: we are simply taking in all the information given and thinking through everything before responding.
Of course, I'm sure the above proverb has nothing to do with staff meetings or the like - but being an internal thinker does have its advantages sometimes!
Proverbs Chapter 29:
Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be broken beyond repair. (vs. 1)
Wow, is this a true statement. I think sometimes it takes others to see the weaknesses in ourselves. It's hard to hear from other people what those weaknesses are, but if we truly believe that there is something to be learned from criticism, we will grow from it and will hopefully turn those weaknesses into strengths. If we don't accept criticism, those weaknesses in our life may get too big and irreparable. Therefore, even if a criticism seems picky or little, it's good to face the criticism now and see what needs to be fixed now, before it's too late.
There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking. (vs. 20)
This is where I'm glad that I'm an internal processor, rather than an external processor. Someone who processes information internally thinks through options and responses before saying something. Someone who processes information externally uses their words to help them process options and responses. And external thinker is usually pretty popular in staff meetings and committees, because it seems like they are more involved and engaged in the conversation. We internal thinkers can be viewed as aloof or disinterested, but that's not the case: we are simply taking in all the information given and thinking through everything before responding.
Of course, I'm sure the above proverb has nothing to do with staff meetings or the like - but being an internal thinker does have its advantages sometimes!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty-Eight
Nearing the end...
Proverbs Chapter 28:
When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But with wise and knowledgeable leaders, there is stability. (vs. 2)
I used to get Time magazine - dropped it because it's not a necessary item - thankfully, my father-in-law gets it, and when they came to visit us for Christmas, he left a few of them. One of my favorite issues every year is the "List" issue. This year's list issue included the top 10 scandals this year. There were some celebrity ones of course, but the ones that always intrigue me the most are the political scandals. Two that were mentioned were the Eliot Spitzer "madame escort" scandal that cost the New York governor his job; and the one that has hit the news quite a bit lately, with the governor of Illinois trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder. Unfortunately, in Illinois, I guess this isn't a new thing with governors; the one before the present one had a staff full of corruption and problems.
Some people may say that morality doesn't have anything to do with legislative or governor ability, but according to this verse, it does.
Young people who obey the law are wise; those who seek out worthless companions bring shame to their parents. (vs. 7)
This proverb reminds me of all the athletes that have been in the news this last year - Michael Vick, Cedric Benson (surprisingly, the Bengals picked him up - okay, no surprise there), Pacman Jones, and now Plaxico Burress - because of incredibly stupid decisions. One of the problems with these athletes is that they have surrounded themselves with people who they think are their friends, but really they are just leeches who either want to get their money, or they may be childhood friends who continue to drag their friend down with them. The companions that some of these guys hang out with are most certainly worthless, and I'm sure that when the athlete gets in trouble, their "friends" abandon ship and find someone else to feed off of.
When the wicked take charge, people hide. When the wicked meet disaster, the godly multiply. (vs. 28)
I just read a story about a man who escaped one of North Korea's prison camps - supposedly, he has been the only one who has escaped and live to tell about it. There are thousands of North Koreans who have fled their country into China and South Korea because of the wickedness of their government. This man, who now lives in South Korea, was born in a prison camp, watched his mother die by hanging, had one of his fingers cut off because he dropped a sewing machine at age 14, and has burns all over his body by being tortured. He has no money, his refugee money from South Korea has run out. He has printed something like 5000 copies of his story, about 500 have sold. He doesn't understand what it means to be loved or have goals in his life or anything. I just don't understand how this kind of stuff happens in our world today. As we become more and more "civilized," it looks like the world is becoming more and more cruel.
Proverbs Chapter 28:
When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But with wise and knowledgeable leaders, there is stability. (vs. 2)
I used to get Time magazine - dropped it because it's not a necessary item - thankfully, my father-in-law gets it, and when they came to visit us for Christmas, he left a few of them. One of my favorite issues every year is the "List" issue. This year's list issue included the top 10 scandals this year. There were some celebrity ones of course, but the ones that always intrigue me the most are the political scandals. Two that were mentioned were the Eliot Spitzer "madame escort" scandal that cost the New York governor his job; and the one that has hit the news quite a bit lately, with the governor of Illinois trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder. Unfortunately, in Illinois, I guess this isn't a new thing with governors; the one before the present one had a staff full of corruption and problems.
Some people may say that morality doesn't have anything to do with legislative or governor ability, but according to this verse, it does.
Young people who obey the law are wise; those who seek out worthless companions bring shame to their parents. (vs. 7)
This proverb reminds me of all the athletes that have been in the news this last year - Michael Vick, Cedric Benson (surprisingly, the Bengals picked him up - okay, no surprise there), Pacman Jones, and now Plaxico Burress - because of incredibly stupid decisions. One of the problems with these athletes is that they have surrounded themselves with people who they think are their friends, but really they are just leeches who either want to get their money, or they may be childhood friends who continue to drag their friend down with them. The companions that some of these guys hang out with are most certainly worthless, and I'm sure that when the athlete gets in trouble, their "friends" abandon ship and find someone else to feed off of.
When the wicked take charge, people hide. When the wicked meet disaster, the godly multiply. (vs. 28)
I just read a story about a man who escaped one of North Korea's prison camps - supposedly, he has been the only one who has escaped and live to tell about it. There are thousands of North Koreans who have fled their country into China and South Korea because of the wickedness of their government. This man, who now lives in South Korea, was born in a prison camp, watched his mother die by hanging, had one of his fingers cut off because he dropped a sewing machine at age 14, and has burns all over his body by being tortured. He has no money, his refugee money from South Korea has run out. He has printed something like 5000 copies of his story, about 500 have sold. He doesn't understand what it means to be loved or have goals in his life or anything. I just don't understand how this kind of stuff happens in our world today. As we become more and more "civilized," it looks like the world is becoming more and more cruel.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty-Seven
Proverbs Chapter 27:
Don't praise yourself; let others do it! (vs. 2)
This verse is interesting to me, because I live in a constant paradox when it comes to praise. I think that out of the "love languages" that Gary Chapman talks about in his book, the "regular praise" is the one that I most identify with. For some reason, I crave the encouragement of my wife, and even of my daughter. But at the same time, I have a hard time accepting praise - at church, when someone tells me I did a good job leading worship, or for example on my last day in Colorado, when I had to stand up in front and have the lead pastor say all kinds of good things about me and then after service with the many people who came up and told me how much they appreciated my ministry. It's strange, isn't it? I don't think I'm bad in the "praise yourself" category though. The only one I really brag about when I think I do something well is my wife.
If you shout a pleasant greeting to your neighbor too early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse! (vs. 14)
Since I don't get up early in the morning, this one isn't too hard for me. But on those occasions that I do have to get up early, I totally agree with this proverb. I will probably seem to be grumpy for the first couple of hours, so if you greet me cheerfully, I may not return the favor. But don't worry, I'll warm up after some time!
As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend. (vs. 17)
Had to include this one, since it's one of the most well-known proverbs. This verse reminds me of a song on one of my favorite CDs, which is The Fires Of Life by Cool Hand Luke. This is what the song (called Friendly Jas) says:
It was a blessed day--
The day that I met you
Though at the time
I didn’t have a clue
As iron sharpens iron so does one man another
And that’s what God intended us to do (Psalm 27:17)
Flowers fall and seasons change (Isaiah 40:8)
And you know how we treat the rain
In times of drought we pray it comes
And when it falls we turn and run
The moon is new, you’ve left your seat (I Samuel 20:18)
The time has come to go in peace (I Samuel 20:42)
With my own hand the bow was strung
The arrow shot now falls beyond (I Samuel 20:36)
I thank my God for every (Philippians 1:3)
Memory of you
The lessons learned and
The way the Spirit moved
I remember hearing “church is more than just a building”
I remember when we proved it true
Flowers fall and seasons change
And you know how we treat the rain
In times of drought we pray it comes
And when it falls we turn and run
The moon is new; you’ve left your seat
The time has come to go in peace
With my own hand the bow was strung
The arrow shot now falls beyond
That day, I could have stared at the ocean forever
With a song for every grain beneath my feet
We were so young and brilliantly naïve
To the joy and the pain and the days that we would see
Everything has changed
But our hope remains the same
I want you to know that I’ll be here
Through a hundred years of rain
Together we run into what we do not know
Trusting our God who made tomorrow
--
It's hard to find that quality of a friendship - I've had only one in my life and miss it - but it's definitely worth the hard work and time to develop a friendship like it.
Don't praise yourself; let others do it! (vs. 2)
This verse is interesting to me, because I live in a constant paradox when it comes to praise. I think that out of the "love languages" that Gary Chapman talks about in his book, the "regular praise" is the one that I most identify with. For some reason, I crave the encouragement of my wife, and even of my daughter. But at the same time, I have a hard time accepting praise - at church, when someone tells me I did a good job leading worship, or for example on my last day in Colorado, when I had to stand up in front and have the lead pastor say all kinds of good things about me and then after service with the many people who came up and told me how much they appreciated my ministry. It's strange, isn't it? I don't think I'm bad in the "praise yourself" category though. The only one I really brag about when I think I do something well is my wife.
If you shout a pleasant greeting to your neighbor too early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse! (vs. 14)
Since I don't get up early in the morning, this one isn't too hard for me. But on those occasions that I do have to get up early, I totally agree with this proverb. I will probably seem to be grumpy for the first couple of hours, so if you greet me cheerfully, I may not return the favor. But don't worry, I'll warm up after some time!
As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend. (vs. 17)
Had to include this one, since it's one of the most well-known proverbs. This verse reminds me of a song on one of my favorite CDs, which is The Fires Of Life by Cool Hand Luke. This is what the song (called Friendly Jas) says:
It was a blessed day--
The day that I met you
Though at the time
I didn’t have a clue
As iron sharpens iron so does one man another
And that’s what God intended us to do (Psalm 27:17)
Flowers fall and seasons change (Isaiah 40:8)
And you know how we treat the rain
In times of drought we pray it comes
And when it falls we turn and run
The moon is new, you’ve left your seat (I Samuel 20:18)
The time has come to go in peace (I Samuel 20:42)
With my own hand the bow was strung
The arrow shot now falls beyond (I Samuel 20:36)
I thank my God for every (Philippians 1:3)
Memory of you
The lessons learned and
The way the Spirit moved
I remember hearing “church is more than just a building”
I remember when we proved it true
Flowers fall and seasons change
And you know how we treat the rain
In times of drought we pray it comes
And when it falls we turn and run
The moon is new; you’ve left your seat
The time has come to go in peace
With my own hand the bow was strung
The arrow shot now falls beyond
That day, I could have stared at the ocean forever
With a song for every grain beneath my feet
We were so young and brilliantly naïve
To the joy and the pain and the days that we would see
Everything has changed
But our hope remains the same
I want you to know that I’ll be here
Through a hundred years of rain
Together we run into what we do not know
Trusting our God who made tomorrow
--
It's hard to find that quality of a friendship - I've had only one in my life and miss it - but it's definitely worth the hard work and time to develop a friendship like it.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty-Six
Proverbs Chapter Twenty-Six:
An employer who hires a fool or a bystander is like an archer who shoots recklessly. (vs. 10)
Which is why employers are so stinkin' careful and deliberate when hiring someone, right? Hopefully I'm the "top fool" out there!
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. (vs. 11)
I will always remember this verse because of my friend in high school. At my home church, we used to have Sunday night services, something rather typical my age and older (nowadays, does any church still do that Sunday night service where you invite a missionary you support or someone from the congregation to talk, or basically anything else you could think of that was different from Sunday morning?) - and one time one of my friends was invited to give the short talk before prayer time, I believe. He said that he was trying to find a good verse to bring to the church that night, but he kept on thinking about the verse above and so he used it. Let's just say that people laughed and I'm sure those who were there never heard that verse mentioned in church again!
Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a common clay pot. (vs. 23)
This reminds me of where we get our word "sincere". Back in biblical days, an honest potter would let the imperfections in his/her pottery show rather than covering them up. They would then stamp the words "sin cera", or "without wax" on the pot, to let everyone know that they did not use wax to fill the cracks. I think if you're a person who always uses smooth words, but you're actually not a very good person - at some point you're going to slip up and people will see your true intentions and who you really are.
An employer who hires a fool or a bystander is like an archer who shoots recklessly. (vs. 10)
Which is why employers are so stinkin' careful and deliberate when hiring someone, right? Hopefully I'm the "top fool" out there!
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. (vs. 11)
I will always remember this verse because of my friend in high school. At my home church, we used to have Sunday night services, something rather typical my age and older (nowadays, does any church still do that Sunday night service where you invite a missionary you support or someone from the congregation to talk, or basically anything else you could think of that was different from Sunday morning?) - and one time one of my friends was invited to give the short talk before prayer time, I believe. He said that he was trying to find a good verse to bring to the church that night, but he kept on thinking about the verse above and so he used it. Let's just say that people laughed and I'm sure those who were there never heard that verse mentioned in church again!
Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a common clay pot. (vs. 23)
This reminds me of where we get our word "sincere". Back in biblical days, an honest potter would let the imperfections in his/her pottery show rather than covering them up. They would then stamp the words "sin cera", or "without wax" on the pot, to let everyone know that they did not use wax to fill the cracks. I think if you're a person who always uses smooth words, but you're actually not a very good person - at some point you're going to slip up and people will see your true intentions and who you really are.
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty-Five
Merry Christmas! (Yesterday)
Proverbs Chapter 25:
Just because you see something, don't be in a hurry to go to court. You might go down before your neighbors in shameful defeat. (vs. 7-8)
That's much needed advice in our sue-happy world today. Can you imagine how much money is spent on either lawsuits, or protecting oneself from lawsuits? Do you realize that there actually was a time when a hot drink didn't have the words "Caution: May Be Hot" on them?
I looked up "silly lawsuits" on Google, and picked three of my favorites:
- Jan 2002. Police in Vermont stopped a man. After running his name, it came back that there were warrants for his arrest from Florida. Before the police could arrest him, he fled into a nearby forest (in the middle of winter). The police searched for him, but were unable to find him. Three days later, the suspect turns himself in to police and was taken to the hospital with frostbite. He ended up having several fingers and toes amputated. He is now suing the police. Why? The police didn't look for him hard enough! He stated in an interview, 'If they had searched harder, they would've found me'. He's accusing the police of dereliction of duty leading to his loss of limbs.
- A former waitress has settled her lawsuit against Hooters, the restaurant that gave her a toy Yoda doll instead of the Toyota she thought she'd won. Jodee Berry, 27, won a beer sales contest last May at the Panama City Beach Hooters. She believed she had won a new Toyota and happily was escorted to the restaurant's parking lot in a blindfold. But when the blindfold was removed, she found she had won a new toy Yoda - the little green character from the "Star Wars" movies. After the stunt, Berry quit the restaurant and filed a lawsuit against Gulf Coast Wings Inc., the restaurant's corporate owner, alleging breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation. David Noll, her attorney, said that he could not disclose the settlement's details, although he said Berry could now go to a local car dealership and "pick out whatever type of Toyota she wants".
- October 1998: Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pa., was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up, because the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation. Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found in the garage and a large bag of dry dog food. Mr. Dickson sued the homeowner's insurance, claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of a half million dollars.
Awesome.
Do you like honey? Don't eat too much of it, or it will make you sick! (vs. 16)
Solomon, Solomon. You obviously never went to Casa Bonita with their amazing sopapillas (honestly, about the only thing good about the place). If you had their sopapillas, you would have most definitely eaten too much honey.
By the way, the record for our family is still my brother Aaron with 18 sopapillas. I tried to beat it my last time there, but was unsuccessful. And actually, I did feel rather sick.
If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals on their heads, and the Lord will reward you. (vs. 21-22)
I actually know these verses quite well because (1) Paul quotes these verses in Romans 12, which contains some of the best advice, especially verses 9-21; and (2) this is one of the verses I would use whenever I would get into a debate with someone who believed that the Old Testament showed the uncompassionate, wrathful God vs. the compassionate, loving God. I would say that God has remained the same, and I would point to these verses to show that God demanded compassion of his people back then, just as he demands it of the New Testament Christians and today. And if we are created in His image, then He was a compassionate God back then too.
Proverbs Chapter 25:
Just because you see something, don't be in a hurry to go to court. You might go down before your neighbors in shameful defeat. (vs. 7-8)
That's much needed advice in our sue-happy world today. Can you imagine how much money is spent on either lawsuits, or protecting oneself from lawsuits? Do you realize that there actually was a time when a hot drink didn't have the words "Caution: May Be Hot" on them?
I looked up "silly lawsuits" on Google, and picked three of my favorites:
- Jan 2002. Police in Vermont stopped a man. After running his name, it came back that there were warrants for his arrest from Florida. Before the police could arrest him, he fled into a nearby forest (in the middle of winter). The police searched for him, but were unable to find him. Three days later, the suspect turns himself in to police and was taken to the hospital with frostbite. He ended up having several fingers and toes amputated. He is now suing the police. Why? The police didn't look for him hard enough! He stated in an interview, 'If they had searched harder, they would've found me'. He's accusing the police of dereliction of duty leading to his loss of limbs.
- A former waitress has settled her lawsuit against Hooters, the restaurant that gave her a toy Yoda doll instead of the Toyota she thought she'd won. Jodee Berry, 27, won a beer sales contest last May at the Panama City Beach Hooters. She believed she had won a new Toyota and happily was escorted to the restaurant's parking lot in a blindfold. But when the blindfold was removed, she found she had won a new toy Yoda - the little green character from the "Star Wars" movies. After the stunt, Berry quit the restaurant and filed a lawsuit against Gulf Coast Wings Inc., the restaurant's corporate owner, alleging breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation. David Noll, her attorney, said that he could not disclose the settlement's details, although he said Berry could now go to a local car dealership and "pick out whatever type of Toyota she wants".
- October 1998: Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pa., was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up, because the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation. Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found in the garage and a large bag of dry dog food. Mr. Dickson sued the homeowner's insurance, claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of a half million dollars.
Awesome.
Do you like honey? Don't eat too much of it, or it will make you sick! (vs. 16)
Solomon, Solomon. You obviously never went to Casa Bonita with their amazing sopapillas (honestly, about the only thing good about the place). If you had their sopapillas, you would have most definitely eaten too much honey.
By the way, the record for our family is still my brother Aaron with 18 sopapillas. I tried to beat it my last time there, but was unsuccessful. And actually, I did feel rather sick.
If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals on their heads, and the Lord will reward you. (vs. 21-22)
I actually know these verses quite well because (1) Paul quotes these verses in Romans 12, which contains some of the best advice, especially verses 9-21; and (2) this is one of the verses I would use whenever I would get into a debate with someone who believed that the Old Testament showed the uncompassionate, wrathful God vs. the compassionate, loving God. I would say that God has remained the same, and I would point to these verses to show that God demanded compassion of his people back then, just as he demands it of the New Testament Christians and today. And if we are created in His image, then He was a compassionate God back then too.
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty-Four
Proverbs Chapter 24:
If you fail under pressure, your strength is not very great. (vs. 10)
DUH!
But it's a good reminder. I think one of the keys to not failing under pressure is to be flexible. If you think about it, if an object is flexible, it can endure more stress to it, than something that is inflexible (within reason, of course, I know there are examples where this isn't the case.)
I had a "soft interview" a couple of weeks ago, and I was told that the position required someone with thick skin, because they had to endure the criticisms and bad comments of all that came into the church. Not that those comments and whatnot were personally for that individual - they were usually for leadership of the church - but that this individual would have to be the first person to read all of them. I can see how someone who wasn't good under stress would fail that part of their responsibilities.
I think that I'm a pretty flexible person, which was good for student ministry - because it seemed like there were situations every day that required flexibility - but not so good for worship ministry. A lot of worship team members are drawn to music and such because it's a rather inflexible proposition, and there's a certain personality that is attracted to that. So someone like me, who is flexible, can be infuriating to those kind of people, who want structure and all that.
I used to be horrible at "pressure-packed" situations (speeches in high school come to mind), it took a lot of failure to be able to endure those kind of situations.
Do not rejoice when your enemies fall into trouble. Don't be happy when they stumble. For the Lord will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them. (vs. 17-18)
This is hard for most of us - we can get a real sense of satisfaction and thoughts of comeuppance when people who are our "enemies" fall on hard times or bear the consequences of their actions. I think one of the best ways to take these verses to heart is by forgiving people for their offenses against us, and move on. I think I might have learned some of this the hard way because I have had some tough things happen in the past few churches I've been in, and it's hard to let go of those things. I sent an email to one of the people I felt wronged by, and told him that I had forgiven him and that I just needed to get stuff off of my chest and tell him what I thought he had done that was wrong but that it was okay now. He wrote me back and admitted that he had made some wrong decisions and that he wished he would have done things differently. It made me realize that a lot of times, those who wrong us really had no idea what they were doing and had no idea how much their decision would affect us. It was good clearing things up with him. It's not like we became best friends or anything, but I was able to let go of a lot of anger and resentment that was holding me back.
Of course, there's still some work needed on more recent issues. Take them one issue at a time, I guess!
If you fail under pressure, your strength is not very great. (vs. 10)
DUH!
But it's a good reminder. I think one of the keys to not failing under pressure is to be flexible. If you think about it, if an object is flexible, it can endure more stress to it, than something that is inflexible (within reason, of course, I know there are examples where this isn't the case.)
I had a "soft interview" a couple of weeks ago, and I was told that the position required someone with thick skin, because they had to endure the criticisms and bad comments of all that came into the church. Not that those comments and whatnot were personally for that individual - they were usually for leadership of the church - but that this individual would have to be the first person to read all of them. I can see how someone who wasn't good under stress would fail that part of their responsibilities.
I think that I'm a pretty flexible person, which was good for student ministry - because it seemed like there were situations every day that required flexibility - but not so good for worship ministry. A lot of worship team members are drawn to music and such because it's a rather inflexible proposition, and there's a certain personality that is attracted to that. So someone like me, who is flexible, can be infuriating to those kind of people, who want structure and all that.
I used to be horrible at "pressure-packed" situations (speeches in high school come to mind), it took a lot of failure to be able to endure those kind of situations.
Do not rejoice when your enemies fall into trouble. Don't be happy when they stumble. For the Lord will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them. (vs. 17-18)
This is hard for most of us - we can get a real sense of satisfaction and thoughts of comeuppance when people who are our "enemies" fall on hard times or bear the consequences of their actions. I think one of the best ways to take these verses to heart is by forgiving people for their offenses against us, and move on. I think I might have learned some of this the hard way because I have had some tough things happen in the past few churches I've been in, and it's hard to let go of those things. I sent an email to one of the people I felt wronged by, and told him that I had forgiven him and that I just needed to get stuff off of my chest and tell him what I thought he had done that was wrong but that it was okay now. He wrote me back and admitted that he had made some wrong decisions and that he wished he would have done things differently. It made me realize that a lot of times, those who wrong us really had no idea what they were doing and had no idea how much their decision would affect us. It was good clearing things up with him. It's not like we became best friends or anything, but I was able to let go of a lot of anger and resentment that was holding me back.
Of course, there's still some work needed on more recent issues. Take them one issue at a time, I guess!
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty-Three
Whoa, do I have some catching up to do. Christmas will do that to you.
Proverbs Chapter 23:
Don't steal the land of defenseless orphans by moving the ancient boundary markers, for their Redeemer is strong. He himself will bring their charges against you. (vs. 10-11)
These verses remind me of a story I heard when I went to a luncheon in Colorado to help raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. One of the speakers of the luncheon was Scott Lewis, an executive vice president and COO of International Justice Mission. He told a little bit of his own story, which is heart-wrenching in and of itself - but he also talked about different stories of injustice, and how those injustices were fought against and won. One of the stories involved a widow who was bullied by a local land owner, who basically took over her land and house and subjected her to slavery in order to pay him back for "taking care" of her property. Thankfully, IJM workers built a case against him, and he was jailed and the land given back to the woman. She then opened up her own business in order to support her family, and is doing well.
I know the above verses talk about orphans, and not widows, but the idea remains the same - don't deprive the needy, the weak, and the defenseless justice, and don't take advantage of their situation for your gain. In fact, the best definition of injustice I've heard is "the abuse of power."
I looked up how many times the word "redeemer" is used before these verses, and there aren't many. Obviously there are a few references to redeemer in the book of Ruth, because that's what Ruth calls Boaz - but as for God being a redeemer, it's only mentioned three times before here: once in Job (the famous "My Redeemer lives" verse) and twice in Psalms (which interestingly also calls God a Rock in both verses). I like the idea of God being this redeemer for those who are disadvantaged, abused, and weak.
Don't envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord. For surely you have a future ahead of you; your hope will not be disappointed. (vs. 17-18)
These are some good verses to pay attention to. Especially the last part. I have a hope that soon I will be employed again, and I have a hope that I can find some way to make a difference beyond myself and my family's needs. I just need to "fear" and respect God and know he has a plan.
Proverbs Chapter 23:
Don't steal the land of defenseless orphans by moving the ancient boundary markers, for their Redeemer is strong. He himself will bring their charges against you. (vs. 10-11)
These verses remind me of a story I heard when I went to a luncheon in Colorado to help raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. One of the speakers of the luncheon was Scott Lewis, an executive vice president and COO of International Justice Mission. He told a little bit of his own story, which is heart-wrenching in and of itself - but he also talked about different stories of injustice, and how those injustices were fought against and won. One of the stories involved a widow who was bullied by a local land owner, who basically took over her land and house and subjected her to slavery in order to pay him back for "taking care" of her property. Thankfully, IJM workers built a case against him, and he was jailed and the land given back to the woman. She then opened up her own business in order to support her family, and is doing well.
I know the above verses talk about orphans, and not widows, but the idea remains the same - don't deprive the needy, the weak, and the defenseless justice, and don't take advantage of their situation for your gain. In fact, the best definition of injustice I've heard is "the abuse of power."
I looked up how many times the word "redeemer" is used before these verses, and there aren't many. Obviously there are a few references to redeemer in the book of Ruth, because that's what Ruth calls Boaz - but as for God being a redeemer, it's only mentioned three times before here: once in Job (the famous "My Redeemer lives" verse) and twice in Psalms (which interestingly also calls God a Rock in both verses). I like the idea of God being this redeemer for those who are disadvantaged, abused, and weak.
Don't envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord. For surely you have a future ahead of you; your hope will not be disappointed. (vs. 17-18)
These are some good verses to pay attention to. Especially the last part. I have a hope that soon I will be employed again, and I have a hope that I can find some way to make a difference beyond myself and my family's needs. I just need to "fear" and respect God and know he has a plan.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty-Two
Proverbs Chapter Twenty-Two:
Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held in high esteem is better than having silver or gold. (vs. 1)
Or you can have it both - right Bill Gates? Well, I don't really respect his products, but I do respect the fact that he and his wife are now the biggest philanthropists to ever grace this planet.
I think I could do a good job of balancing both as well, so umm...God? What do you think?
The deceitful walk a thorny, treacherous road; whoever values life will stay away. (vs. 5)
I've noticed in my own life, that deceit is exactly as described above. Your life becomes wayyy too complicated. For example: you lie to someone about something. It may start out as something small. But then, you have to lie to cover up that lie. And then lie again about something else that's related to that lie. Pretty soon, you have to almost have this huge diagram or chart system of all the lies you've told so that you know what you've said to whom and what you haven't said to whom, and it's a lot of hard work.
Or you can just be honest. And there's a lot less to remember. Which means a lot more brain power towards good things.
A youngster's heart is filled with foolishness, but discipline will drive it away. (vs. 15)
The other day, one of my "facebook friends" - a woman who I vaguely remember from high school who remembers me way more - posted some pictures of some guys and girls who graduated with me from high school getting back together for a fun night in downtown Denver. I was looking at these pictures, and there were a couple of people I vaguely remembered by name only. And then there were a couple of people who kind of looked similar to what they looked like in high school. And then there were a bunch whose names I didn't recognize and whose faces didn't look familiar. So then I started wondering if maybe I was actually plugged into a Matrix, where I vaguely had these memories but really I was in some nasty goo with a weird contraption plugged into the back of my head. Or maybe I was really a replicant robot who was pursued by Harrison Ford and I had all these memories of my childhood, but they were really just fake memories.
And then I realized that I'm a lot older than when I graduated from high school - twenty years next year older - and that the reason I don't remember some of the people in the pictures is because a lot of stuff has happened since then. And the reason I don't recognize some of the people in the pictures is that they've gained some weight or lost some hair or gained some wrinkles. Because it's been almost twenty years. And then I started thinking about myself and I wondered if I looked twenty years older. My wife told me that we all think we look younger than we really are. But I've been told pretty much ever since I got out of high school that I look a lot younger than my age.
When I see this verse, how it talks about a youngster's heart, I wonder "When is that age officially over?" I mean, I do a lot of adult things: I pay a mortgage and I have a child and if something breaks down I fix it (okay, not really) and most of the time I have a job and make money, but not right now. But then I do some non-adult things: I still read Terry Brooks books and I play my X-Box and I dream big dreams and I say silly things to my cat and I let little things bother me and I struggle with self-esteem and basically sometimes I act like a seventh grader.
When are you no longer young? When are you supposed to stop being foolish? At what point should you stop dreaming dreams and stop thinking of lofty goals and just accept the fact that you're old and past all of that and maybe if you would have been more responsible earlier on those dreams would be realized?
Weird thoughts.
Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held in high esteem is better than having silver or gold. (vs. 1)
Or you can have it both - right Bill Gates? Well, I don't really respect his products, but I do respect the fact that he and his wife are now the biggest philanthropists to ever grace this planet.
I think I could do a good job of balancing both as well, so umm...God? What do you think?
The deceitful walk a thorny, treacherous road; whoever values life will stay away. (vs. 5)
I've noticed in my own life, that deceit is exactly as described above. Your life becomes wayyy too complicated. For example: you lie to someone about something. It may start out as something small. But then, you have to lie to cover up that lie. And then lie again about something else that's related to that lie. Pretty soon, you have to almost have this huge diagram or chart system of all the lies you've told so that you know what you've said to whom and what you haven't said to whom, and it's a lot of hard work.
Or you can just be honest. And there's a lot less to remember. Which means a lot more brain power towards good things.
A youngster's heart is filled with foolishness, but discipline will drive it away. (vs. 15)
The other day, one of my "facebook friends" - a woman who I vaguely remember from high school who remembers me way more - posted some pictures of some guys and girls who graduated with me from high school getting back together for a fun night in downtown Denver. I was looking at these pictures, and there were a couple of people I vaguely remembered by name only. And then there were a couple of people who kind of looked similar to what they looked like in high school. And then there were a bunch whose names I didn't recognize and whose faces didn't look familiar. So then I started wondering if maybe I was actually plugged into a Matrix, where I vaguely had these memories but really I was in some nasty goo with a weird contraption plugged into the back of my head. Or maybe I was really a replicant robot who was pursued by Harrison Ford and I had all these memories of my childhood, but they were really just fake memories.
And then I realized that I'm a lot older than when I graduated from high school - twenty years next year older - and that the reason I don't remember some of the people in the pictures is because a lot of stuff has happened since then. And the reason I don't recognize some of the people in the pictures is that they've gained some weight or lost some hair or gained some wrinkles. Because it's been almost twenty years. And then I started thinking about myself and I wondered if I looked twenty years older. My wife told me that we all think we look younger than we really are. But I've been told pretty much ever since I got out of high school that I look a lot younger than my age.
When I see this verse, how it talks about a youngster's heart, I wonder "When is that age officially over?" I mean, I do a lot of adult things: I pay a mortgage and I have a child and if something breaks down I fix it (okay, not really) and most of the time I have a job and make money, but not right now. But then I do some non-adult things: I still read Terry Brooks books and I play my X-Box and I dream big dreams and I say silly things to my cat and I let little things bother me and I struggle with self-esteem and basically sometimes I act like a seventh grader.
When are you no longer young? When are you supposed to stop being foolish? At what point should you stop dreaming dreams and stop thinking of lofty goals and just accept the fact that you're old and past all of that and maybe if you would have been more responsible earlier on those dreams would be realized?
Weird thoughts.
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty-One
Sorry this is late, as Christmas gets closer and family come in, it's hard to carve out some time to do this...
Proverbs Chapter 21:
The Lord is more pleased when we do what is just and right than when we give him sacrifices.
I wonder if Solomon thought of this proverb while thinking about the guy who was king right before his father David. Saul was Israel's first king, and he did a ton of things wrong - but I believe the first recorded wrong thing is in 1 Samuel 13. Israel is at war with the Philistines, and Saul is getting anxious because only a priest was supposed to make sacrifices to God, but being the superstitious guy that he is, believes that only victory can come through offering sacrifices - so he goes ahead and does it himself.
Samuel finally arrives, and is obviously displeased that Saul decided not to wait for him. In fact, as a result of this first disobedience, Samuel tells Saul that God is going to take away his kingdom from him. It looks like God is rather serious about doing what is right and just over offering him sacrifices.
Now, obviously the meaning of this proverb changes a little bit for us in our time - we don't offer burnt offerings anymore, except at tailgate parties - but the idea still stands. God would rather have us do what is right, than to give our "sacrifice" of worship. Later on, in the books of Isaiah and Amos, God calls out his people, the Israelites, and tells them he actually hates their sacrifices, their burnt offerings - because on one hand they're supposedly doing these things for God, yet on the other hand they are depriving people in their land of justice and mercy. It reminds me of something I read in a Harper's magazine article, where the governor of Alabama was trying to make the state tax code fair, because the state tax was hurting poor families and helping rich families. The Christians of Alabama for the most part fought the tax change, because it meant that they would be taxed more - even though it wasn't that much more - and as a result the law was not passed. If I remember correctly, one of the Christian organizations who lobbied against this tax increase said something to the effect of: "the good Christians of Alabama are some of the most giving people in the nation, they just don't want it coming out of their pockets." Umm, okay.
Proverbs Chapter 21:
The Lord is more pleased when we do what is just and right than when we give him sacrifices.
I wonder if Solomon thought of this proverb while thinking about the guy who was king right before his father David. Saul was Israel's first king, and he did a ton of things wrong - but I believe the first recorded wrong thing is in 1 Samuel 13. Israel is at war with the Philistines, and Saul is getting anxious because only a priest was supposed to make sacrifices to God, but being the superstitious guy that he is, believes that only victory can come through offering sacrifices - so he goes ahead and does it himself.
Samuel finally arrives, and is obviously displeased that Saul decided not to wait for him. In fact, as a result of this first disobedience, Samuel tells Saul that God is going to take away his kingdom from him. It looks like God is rather serious about doing what is right and just over offering him sacrifices.
Now, obviously the meaning of this proverb changes a little bit for us in our time - we don't offer burnt offerings anymore, except at tailgate parties - but the idea still stands. God would rather have us do what is right, than to give our "sacrifice" of worship. Later on, in the books of Isaiah and Amos, God calls out his people, the Israelites, and tells them he actually hates their sacrifices, their burnt offerings - because on one hand they're supposedly doing these things for God, yet on the other hand they are depriving people in their land of justice and mercy. It reminds me of something I read in a Harper's magazine article, where the governor of Alabama was trying to make the state tax code fair, because the state tax was hurting poor families and helping rich families. The Christians of Alabama for the most part fought the tax change, because it meant that they would be taxed more - even though it wasn't that much more - and as a result the law was not passed. If I remember correctly, one of the Christian organizations who lobbied against this tax increase said something to the effect of: "the good Christians of Alabama are some of the most giving people in the nation, they just don't want it coming out of their pockets." Umm, okay.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twenty
Proverbs Chapter Twenty:
Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling. (vs. 3)
Who knew that Mr. Miyagi could be so right? And the Kobra Kai could be so wrong? It even says it in the Book of Proverbs.
Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is really faithful? (vs. 6)
Hard to know what to say on this one. I do know that I appreciate those friends who have stuck with me, especially over this past year. The past several years have been hard on me friendship-wise. I have had some situations where people who I thought were my friends turned their back on me during real times of need, I have also had situations where people who I didn't realize were real friends helped me through some of those times. I have had really close friends of mine fade away because of time, distance, different ways of looking at things, lives going in different directions, and dumb quarrels. I am in particular grieving the loss of one friend who for the longest time was "closer than a brother." My wife asked me the other day about the last time I saw him, which was right before I left Colorado. I told her, "It just isn't the same. I don't know what happened a few years ago - maybe my perspective on things is different than his perspective on things - but it hasn't been the same since. Even when we were in different states before, we would always make sure we stayed in touch. Now, it's like the plug has been pulled on a dying friendship. Maybe it just needs to die, and either be gone for good, or maybe something will come to life."
Morbid, I know. But I do feel like there is a missing piece in my life when I lose a friend. I guess it just makes me more interested in keeping my friendships going, not taking them for granted, and being as faithful and loyal to them as I hope they are to me.
The Lord despises double standards of every kind. (vs. 10)
Yay God! We have something in common!
One of the biggest issues when it comes to double standards for me is when someone I'm working for expects more of me than themselves. I'm all for working hard and doing my best - which I strive to do - but when you get yelled at for something you do once by someone who continually does the same thing but lets it slide in their own life, well I'm not a big fan of it. I lose a lot of respect for that person. I remember one person I worked for wanted us to write down a daily schedule of the things we were doing so that he could keep tabs on his staff and make sure they were working hard and honest; but then when a leader who was over him asked him to do the same thing, he was hurt and didn't understand why that leader couldn't trust that he was doing his job.
Good to know God is not a big fan of it as well.
It is dangerous to make a rash promise to God before counting the cost. (vs. 25)
Ouch.
I have done this countless times in my life. I will ask God to get me out of a tough situation, either caused by my own stupidity or sin, or some other type of situation, and I will promise to be different, or do better, or read the Bible more, or pray more, or...or...or...you know the drill. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
This new promise usually lasts for awhile, and then it's on to life as usual.
This verse reminds me of what Jesus said when it came to counting the cost of a person's commitment before they became one of his disciples. I think I'm pretty good at haphazardly throwing out promises and commitments - perhaps like Peter - without really thinking through and deciding that I'm at that point of commitment and promise fulfillment. I'm hoping that with my own situation right now - no job and nothing on the horizon - that as I get to that desperation (and perhaps "despairation") point, I will not make glib promises to God in return for deliverance and provision.
Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling. (vs. 3)
Who knew that Mr. Miyagi could be so right? And the Kobra Kai could be so wrong? It even says it in the Book of Proverbs.
Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is really faithful? (vs. 6)
Hard to know what to say on this one. I do know that I appreciate those friends who have stuck with me, especially over this past year. The past several years have been hard on me friendship-wise. I have had some situations where people who I thought were my friends turned their back on me during real times of need, I have also had situations where people who I didn't realize were real friends helped me through some of those times. I have had really close friends of mine fade away because of time, distance, different ways of looking at things, lives going in different directions, and dumb quarrels. I am in particular grieving the loss of one friend who for the longest time was "closer than a brother." My wife asked me the other day about the last time I saw him, which was right before I left Colorado. I told her, "It just isn't the same. I don't know what happened a few years ago - maybe my perspective on things is different than his perspective on things - but it hasn't been the same since. Even when we were in different states before, we would always make sure we stayed in touch. Now, it's like the plug has been pulled on a dying friendship. Maybe it just needs to die, and either be gone for good, or maybe something will come to life."
Morbid, I know. But I do feel like there is a missing piece in my life when I lose a friend. I guess it just makes me more interested in keeping my friendships going, not taking them for granted, and being as faithful and loyal to them as I hope they are to me.
The Lord despises double standards of every kind. (vs. 10)
Yay God! We have something in common!
One of the biggest issues when it comes to double standards for me is when someone I'm working for expects more of me than themselves. I'm all for working hard and doing my best - which I strive to do - but when you get yelled at for something you do once by someone who continually does the same thing but lets it slide in their own life, well I'm not a big fan of it. I lose a lot of respect for that person. I remember one person I worked for wanted us to write down a daily schedule of the things we were doing so that he could keep tabs on his staff and make sure they were working hard and honest; but then when a leader who was over him asked him to do the same thing, he was hurt and didn't understand why that leader couldn't trust that he was doing his job.
Good to know God is not a big fan of it as well.
It is dangerous to make a rash promise to God before counting the cost. (vs. 25)
Ouch.
I have done this countless times in my life. I will ask God to get me out of a tough situation, either caused by my own stupidity or sin, or some other type of situation, and I will promise to be different, or do better, or read the Bible more, or pray more, or...or...or...you know the drill. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
This new promise usually lasts for awhile, and then it's on to life as usual.
This verse reminds me of what Jesus said when it came to counting the cost of a person's commitment before they became one of his disciples. I think I'm pretty good at haphazardly throwing out promises and commitments - perhaps like Peter - without really thinking through and deciding that I'm at that point of commitment and promise fulfillment. I'm hoping that with my own situation right now - no job and nothing on the horizon - that as I get to that desperation (and perhaps "despairation") point, I will not make glib promises to God in return for deliverance and provision.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Nineteen
Proverbs Chapter Nineteen:
Zeal without knowledge is not good; a person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way. (vs. 2)
This verse totally hits me where I'm at right now.
I have an incredible zeal to want to do something in the area of human trafficking. I feel like God is telling me to do something. For awhile I was thinking that His plan was for me to join an already-started organization. However, there is really nothing in Ohio that I can find where someone is doing something about human trafficking. So now I feel like His plan is for me to start something up. I don't think he wants me to move somewhere else; otherwise, wouldn't it have been easier for my house to sell? Or am I just looking into this too much?
So now I have this idea that he wants me to start a non-profit organization. But that's all I have so far. What is the mission of this organization? Is my goal to partner with already-started organizations? Who is my "target audience?" What am I trying to accomplish? Am I supposed to focus on human trafficking within this state? Within this country? In other countries? (I'm assuming that Cambodia is somewhere in the equation, since that's been one of the God-echoes I've been receiving for the last several months.) Is this supposed to be a hobby? Or is this an actual career change, one where I can earn a living?
That's why this is a good verse for me to read. I need to know more about starting up an organization. Which brings me to another God-thing. When I was in Colorado, I had the opportunity to reconnect with a cousin, someone I hadn't seen in almost twenty years. She and her family invited me over to their house for dinner before I left Colorado, and I was telling her about this passion God had given me. She told me that a couple of years back, she had this idea for a different "social entrepreneur" type of business, but she never really got around to starting it up or even really researching it. However, she did buy a program that would probably help me set something up. She gave it to me, and I looked at it today. It really does help you set everything up and give you a lot of information about being a social entrepreneur.
(Which begs the question: could one of the main reasons for me going back to Colorado for such a short time is so that I could reconnect with my cousin, who found me online after years of searching and somehow found me in the year I was back, and so that I could get this program from her, which will help me setup something I'm extremely passionate about? Interesting.)
I have the zeal, but I want to do it the right way. I need the knowledge. I also need to continue to pray that God would continue to guide me on this path - especially after all those verses in previous chapters of Proverbs about allowing God to direct our ways, not ourselves.
If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord - and he will repay you! (vs. 17)
Reminds me of Matthew 25, where we find out that when we help the sick, the hungry, those who are in prison - we are really helping Jesus. When we are serving others, we are serving Jesus and to me this is the highest act of worship we can give.
Discipline your children while there is hope. If you don't, you will ruin their lives. (vs. 18)
I've obviously heard this verse before, and every time I go into a store and a kid is throwing a temper tantrum because he isn't getting his way; or when I'm in a restaurant, and a child is embarrassing themselves by screaming or causing a scene; or when I'm at a park with my daughter, and another kid comes up and pushes her off the slide or something else - and yet the parents of those misbehaving children just smile and give me that "Aw shucks, kids will be kids" look - I think of the consequences of their stupidity.
Obviously we need to be kind in our discipline of our kids, and we need to find ways of discipline that work with them (for me, it was the belt; if my parents would have given me "time out" for my discipline, I would have loved being in my room by myself, thank you.) - but too many parents these days let their kids get away with so much, and then - just as the verse says - later on in life, their children haven't learned any boundaries and they amazingly become worse terrors, just in different ways.
Zeal without knowledge is not good; a person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way. (vs. 2)
This verse totally hits me where I'm at right now.
I have an incredible zeal to want to do something in the area of human trafficking. I feel like God is telling me to do something. For awhile I was thinking that His plan was for me to join an already-started organization. However, there is really nothing in Ohio that I can find where someone is doing something about human trafficking. So now I feel like His plan is for me to start something up. I don't think he wants me to move somewhere else; otherwise, wouldn't it have been easier for my house to sell? Or am I just looking into this too much?
So now I have this idea that he wants me to start a non-profit organization. But that's all I have so far. What is the mission of this organization? Is my goal to partner with already-started organizations? Who is my "target audience?" What am I trying to accomplish? Am I supposed to focus on human trafficking within this state? Within this country? In other countries? (I'm assuming that Cambodia is somewhere in the equation, since that's been one of the God-echoes I've been receiving for the last several months.) Is this supposed to be a hobby? Or is this an actual career change, one where I can earn a living?
That's why this is a good verse for me to read. I need to know more about starting up an organization. Which brings me to another God-thing. When I was in Colorado, I had the opportunity to reconnect with a cousin, someone I hadn't seen in almost twenty years. She and her family invited me over to their house for dinner before I left Colorado, and I was telling her about this passion God had given me. She told me that a couple of years back, she had this idea for a different "social entrepreneur" type of business, but she never really got around to starting it up or even really researching it. However, she did buy a program that would probably help me set something up. She gave it to me, and I looked at it today. It really does help you set everything up and give you a lot of information about being a social entrepreneur.
(Which begs the question: could one of the main reasons for me going back to Colorado for such a short time is so that I could reconnect with my cousin, who found me online after years of searching and somehow found me in the year I was back, and so that I could get this program from her, which will help me setup something I'm extremely passionate about? Interesting.)
I have the zeal, but I want to do it the right way. I need the knowledge. I also need to continue to pray that God would continue to guide me on this path - especially after all those verses in previous chapters of Proverbs about allowing God to direct our ways, not ourselves.
If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord - and he will repay you! (vs. 17)
Reminds me of Matthew 25, where we find out that when we help the sick, the hungry, those who are in prison - we are really helping Jesus. When we are serving others, we are serving Jesus and to me this is the highest act of worship we can give.
Discipline your children while there is hope. If you don't, you will ruin their lives. (vs. 18)
I've obviously heard this verse before, and every time I go into a store and a kid is throwing a temper tantrum because he isn't getting his way; or when I'm in a restaurant, and a child is embarrassing themselves by screaming or causing a scene; or when I'm at a park with my daughter, and another kid comes up and pushes her off the slide or something else - and yet the parents of those misbehaving children just smile and give me that "Aw shucks, kids will be kids" look - I think of the consequences of their stupidity.
Obviously we need to be kind in our discipline of our kids, and we need to find ways of discipline that work with them (for me, it was the belt; if my parents would have given me "time out" for my discipline, I would have loved being in my room by myself, thank you.) - but too many parents these days let their kids get away with so much, and then - just as the verse says - later on in life, their children haven't learned any boundaries and they amazingly become worse terrors, just in different ways.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Eighteen
Proverbs Chapter Eighteen:
A recluse is self-indulgent, snarling at every sound principle of conduct. (vs. 1)
I have no idea what this means. Which is why I thought it was interesting. What happens when you get to a verse, and you have no clue what it's trying to say? Do you pray that God would reveal to you what it means? Or do we just pretend we get it?
Maybe I'm just tired - but again, I have no idea what this verse is trying to say. I can be reclusive at times, so I would like to know what it means, just in case it applies to me. I'll look in a commentary and see what I can find.
Intelligent people are always open to new ideas, in fact, they look for them. (vs. 15)
Have you heard about the seven word phrase that kills a church every time it's said?
"We've never done it this way before."
(Okay, I checked again. It is seven words. Whew!)
Why is the church so afraid of change? Why is it so hard for the church to adopt new ideas, new strategies, new ways of thinking? I was talking with someone the other day, and he told me that the most controversial, most emailed topic that comes into Focus on the Family is not abortion; it's not homosexuality; it's not politics; it is church music. Why is it that when a church decides it's going to "get contemporary" or change from hymnals to powerpoint or add drums and a guitar - that such changes can split a church?
It's not like the first century church were gathered around an organ, singing hymns written by Charles Wesley out of a hymnbook!
In Isaiah somewhere (too lazy to look it up right now), God says, "Do not dwell on the past. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Do you not perceive it?"
Is it because of the memories that the past reminds us of?
It reminds me of what happened today. I put in a CD that I found in a box, and it had on it a bunch of pictures from my first student ministry (you can see them on my facebook). It got me thinking about those days, and what great memories I have of those days, and how hard it is to compare anything else ministry-wise to those days, because they were special and different and amazing and...then I realize I'm dwelling on the past. And if I compare what's happening now in my life to what happened back then, I will never get over those days and will never live in the present. I think one of the reasons I had such a hard time in Dallas - even though we did some great things in the student ministry there - is that I was always comparing those kids to the kids I had in Colorado. I was comparing the sponsors (or lack of) to the sponsors I had in Colorado. I was even comparing the trips, and Dallas was always falling short. Could it be that the reason those trips fell short in my mind is because I didn't put in a full 100% because I was comparing?
God wants to meet us in the here and now. He has provided in the past; he will provide in the future. Some great things have happened in my life in the past, great things will continue to happen in the future. He wants me here in the present, meeting with me in the here and now, growing me today, at this moment, at this time of my life.
A recluse is self-indulgent, snarling at every sound principle of conduct. (vs. 1)
I have no idea what this means. Which is why I thought it was interesting. What happens when you get to a verse, and you have no clue what it's trying to say? Do you pray that God would reveal to you what it means? Or do we just pretend we get it?
Maybe I'm just tired - but again, I have no idea what this verse is trying to say. I can be reclusive at times, so I would like to know what it means, just in case it applies to me. I'll look in a commentary and see what I can find.
Intelligent people are always open to new ideas, in fact, they look for them. (vs. 15)
Have you heard about the seven word phrase that kills a church every time it's said?
"We've never done it this way before."
(Okay, I checked again. It is seven words. Whew!)
Why is the church so afraid of change? Why is it so hard for the church to adopt new ideas, new strategies, new ways of thinking? I was talking with someone the other day, and he told me that the most controversial, most emailed topic that comes into Focus on the Family is not abortion; it's not homosexuality; it's not politics; it is church music. Why is it that when a church decides it's going to "get contemporary" or change from hymnals to powerpoint or add drums and a guitar - that such changes can split a church?
It's not like the first century church were gathered around an organ, singing hymns written by Charles Wesley out of a hymnbook!
In Isaiah somewhere (too lazy to look it up right now), God says, "Do not dwell on the past. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Do you not perceive it?"
Is it because of the memories that the past reminds us of?
It reminds me of what happened today. I put in a CD that I found in a box, and it had on it a bunch of pictures from my first student ministry (you can see them on my facebook). It got me thinking about those days, and what great memories I have of those days, and how hard it is to compare anything else ministry-wise to those days, because they were special and different and amazing and...then I realize I'm dwelling on the past. And if I compare what's happening now in my life to what happened back then, I will never get over those days and will never live in the present. I think one of the reasons I had such a hard time in Dallas - even though we did some great things in the student ministry there - is that I was always comparing those kids to the kids I had in Colorado. I was comparing the sponsors (or lack of) to the sponsors I had in Colorado. I was even comparing the trips, and Dallas was always falling short. Could it be that the reason those trips fell short in my mind is because I didn't put in a full 100% because I was comparing?
God wants to meet us in the here and now. He has provided in the past; he will provide in the future. Some great things have happened in my life in the past, great things will continue to happen in the future. He wants me here in the present, meeting with me in the here and now, growing me today, at this moment, at this time of my life.
Penn Gillette on Getting A Bible
I thought this was an interesting video. I don't know much about Penn and Teller, I know they do magic and stuff - but I've never been interested.
In his video, Penn talks about the time when somebody gave him a Bible, and how it affected him. He has an interesting take on what he called "proselytizing" (we would call it evangelism).
Anyway, check it out.
In his video, Penn talks about the time when somebody gave him a Bible, and how it affected him. He has an interesting take on what he called "proselytizing" (we would call it evangelism).
Anyway, check it out.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Seventeen
Proverbs Chapter Seventeen:
Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the Lord tests the heart. (vs. 3)
I do feel that I'm going through a testing time right now. I love the concept that just as fire brings out the impurities of silver and of gold when they are molten, so God brings out the impurities in our lives when "the heat is on." I'm reading a book by Henry Cloud called "Changes That Heal" - a book that I've had for a long time but have never read. I was going through a bunch of boxes in my closet, and a couple of books stood out to me - this one and another one called "Healing Damaged Emotions."
I think there is some stuff in my life - past and present - that I haven't really gotten around to deal with. Hurts, guilt, other stuff that needs to be dealt with before I can grow. Perhaps this is one of the reason why my life is at a standstill - so I can work through some of these issues and then grow enough to not let them affect me.
In Changes That Heal, Cloud talks about time and how we want our lives to change right away. The problem is that real life doesn't work that way. I thought this was interesting from that book:
This passage illustrates an important truth about the growth process. It cannot be willed. It can only be enhanced by adding grace, truth, and time, and then God produces the growth. If we are depressed, for example, it does not good to try to be "undepressed." It does help, however, to cultivate the soil of our soul with the nutrients of grace, truth, and time. Only then will be transformed to greater and greater stages of joy.
Going through a testing, fiery time is not fun - but it helps purify us and helps us deal with our impurities.
Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who rejoice at the misfortune of others will be punished. (vs. 5)
I wish that the oppressors of the last several years, in places like Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, and now Zimbabwe, could have read this verse and taken it to heart before doing the stuff they have done. Of course, some of these oppressors were supposed Christians who probably had read the book of Proverbs sometime in their lives. In Rwanda, Hutu priests hacked their Tutsi neighbors to death with machetes. Tutsis fled to churches, where they were burned alive.
There is a DVD out that I need to watch called "On Our Watch." This is the description of the DVD:
The world said "Never Again!" after the Holocaust and yet FRONTLINE asks why the genocide in Darfur was allowed. Meticulously chronicled, endlessly debated at the UN, and allowed to proceed unabated for years, more than 200,000 killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes. As governments failed to act, private citizens and celebrities protest the carnage. FRONTLINE profiles the activists, including actress Mia Farrow, to chronicle devastation.
Disregarding another's faults preserves love; telling about them separates close friends. (vs. 9)
Good advice, don't you think? In a healthy marriage, we should disregard the other person's faults because we know our faults as well and we know they disregard ours. And yet still love us.
A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need. (vs. 17)
One of the things that I want to change about myself (which I know will take time, is that I want to be a better friend to my friends. I was thinking about this the other day when I was at a friend's house. This person volunteered on my worship team sacrificially and gave his time to help me out whenever he could. And yet I have the opportunity now to do the same for him and yet I find myself making excuses. He is my friend, and I need to help when I can. It's what true friends do.
The other part about this verse is that sometimes I don't let my friends help me in my time of need. For example, this past year I moved to Colorado and I had some stuff I needed to unload from my car to the house I was staying, and one of my friends asked me if I needed help. I could have used the help, I was tired from the drive and kind of sick. But I downplayed everything and told him I would be fine. I gave up a great opportunity for my friend to help me, because that's what friends do, because I didn't want to inconvenience him. Which is another fault of mine - not asking for help because I don't want to inconvenience someone. Sigh...another thing to work on.
Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the Lord tests the heart. (vs. 3)
I do feel that I'm going through a testing time right now. I love the concept that just as fire brings out the impurities of silver and of gold when they are molten, so God brings out the impurities in our lives when "the heat is on." I'm reading a book by Henry Cloud called "Changes That Heal" - a book that I've had for a long time but have never read. I was going through a bunch of boxes in my closet, and a couple of books stood out to me - this one and another one called "Healing Damaged Emotions."
I think there is some stuff in my life - past and present - that I haven't really gotten around to deal with. Hurts, guilt, other stuff that needs to be dealt with before I can grow. Perhaps this is one of the reason why my life is at a standstill - so I can work through some of these issues and then grow enough to not let them affect me.
In Changes That Heal, Cloud talks about time and how we want our lives to change right away. The problem is that real life doesn't work that way. I thought this was interesting from that book:
This passage illustrates an important truth about the growth process. It cannot be willed. It can only be enhanced by adding grace, truth, and time, and then God produces the growth. If we are depressed, for example, it does not good to try to be "undepressed." It does help, however, to cultivate the soil of our soul with the nutrients of grace, truth, and time. Only then will be transformed to greater and greater stages of joy.
Going through a testing, fiery time is not fun - but it helps purify us and helps us deal with our impurities.
Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who rejoice at the misfortune of others will be punished. (vs. 5)
I wish that the oppressors of the last several years, in places like Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, and now Zimbabwe, could have read this verse and taken it to heart before doing the stuff they have done. Of course, some of these oppressors were supposed Christians who probably had read the book of Proverbs sometime in their lives. In Rwanda, Hutu priests hacked their Tutsi neighbors to death with machetes. Tutsis fled to churches, where they were burned alive.
There is a DVD out that I need to watch called "On Our Watch." This is the description of the DVD:
The world said "Never Again!" after the Holocaust and yet FRONTLINE asks why the genocide in Darfur was allowed. Meticulously chronicled, endlessly debated at the UN, and allowed to proceed unabated for years, more than 200,000 killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes. As governments failed to act, private citizens and celebrities protest the carnage. FRONTLINE profiles the activists, including actress Mia Farrow, to chronicle devastation.
Disregarding another's faults preserves love; telling about them separates close friends. (vs. 9)
Good advice, don't you think? In a healthy marriage, we should disregard the other person's faults because we know our faults as well and we know they disregard ours. And yet still love us.
A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need. (vs. 17)
One of the things that I want to change about myself (which I know will take time, is that I want to be a better friend to my friends. I was thinking about this the other day when I was at a friend's house. This person volunteered on my worship team sacrificially and gave his time to help me out whenever he could. And yet I have the opportunity now to do the same for him and yet I find myself making excuses. He is my friend, and I need to help when I can. It's what true friends do.
The other part about this verse is that sometimes I don't let my friends help me in my time of need. For example, this past year I moved to Colorado and I had some stuff I needed to unload from my car to the house I was staying, and one of my friends asked me if I needed help. I could have used the help, I was tired from the drive and kind of sick. But I downplayed everything and told him I would be fine. I gave up a great opportunity for my friend to help me, because that's what friends do, because I didn't want to inconvenience him. Which is another fault of mine - not asking for help because I don't want to inconvenience someone. Sigh...another thing to work on.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Sixteen
Proverbs Chapter Sixteen:
People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. (vs. 2)
I thought this was an interesting verse. I'm trying to figure out what the writer meant: does he/she mean that sometimes we may even think we're doing something right, but God knows the real intentions in our hearts, intentions that we may not even know are in there? Does it mean that we justify ourselves and think we are pure, by either (1) weighing our purity vs. someone else, or (2) honestly thinking we have it all together?
Sometimes I wish I could ask the writer of Proverbs what they truly meant behind what they said.
Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. (vs. 18)
For some reason, this verse reminds me of Tom Cruise. I happened to see a trailer for his new movie coming out on Friday, so that could be a reason as well. I read on Yahoo! News that after a few years, he has finally come out and admitted that he regrets treating Matt Lauer badly and talking down to him when the subject of psychiatry came up in their interview. I never really saw the interview, only snippets, but it was amazing how condescending he was of people with depression and people who needed help psychologically. And I think that this attitude he displayed - not to mention the erratic behavior he showed on Oprah - has led to a definite drop in his appeal and popularity as an actor. I hope that his regret is not due to a publicist telling him it would be good for his career, that he truly and honestly feels that he was wrong to act the way he did.
There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. (vs. 25)
I have always heard this verse used in the context of salvation and heaven and hell, but is this really what Solomon meant? If you read certain scholars, they make the claim that in the OT, there really isn't a well-developed "theology" of hell, eternal damnation, and eternal punishment for sins. I'll have to dig deeper into this, but if anyone else has an opinion on what this verse really means, I would love to hear it.
Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life. (vs. 31)
Hmm. Okay.
I now have a few gray hairs - mostly in the sides of my hair. Perhaps I'll look like the dude from The Fantastic Four before going completely gray. I'm not sure about that last part of the verse, sounds kind of sketchy to me. There are a lot of people with gray hair that I would not put into the "godly life" category.
People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. (vs. 2)
I thought this was an interesting verse. I'm trying to figure out what the writer meant: does he/she mean that sometimes we may even think we're doing something right, but God knows the real intentions in our hearts, intentions that we may not even know are in there? Does it mean that we justify ourselves and think we are pure, by either (1) weighing our purity vs. someone else, or (2) honestly thinking we have it all together?
Sometimes I wish I could ask the writer of Proverbs what they truly meant behind what they said.
Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. (vs. 18)
For some reason, this verse reminds me of Tom Cruise. I happened to see a trailer for his new movie coming out on Friday, so that could be a reason as well. I read on Yahoo! News that after a few years, he has finally come out and admitted that he regrets treating Matt Lauer badly and talking down to him when the subject of psychiatry came up in their interview. I never really saw the interview, only snippets, but it was amazing how condescending he was of people with depression and people who needed help psychologically. And I think that this attitude he displayed - not to mention the erratic behavior he showed on Oprah - has led to a definite drop in his appeal and popularity as an actor. I hope that his regret is not due to a publicist telling him it would be good for his career, that he truly and honestly feels that he was wrong to act the way he did.
There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. (vs. 25)
I have always heard this verse used in the context of salvation and heaven and hell, but is this really what Solomon meant? If you read certain scholars, they make the claim that in the OT, there really isn't a well-developed "theology" of hell, eternal damnation, and eternal punishment for sins. I'll have to dig deeper into this, but if anyone else has an opinion on what this verse really means, I would love to hear it.
Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life. (vs. 31)
Hmm. Okay.
I now have a few gray hairs - mostly in the sides of my hair. Perhaps I'll look like the dude from The Fantastic Four before going completely gray. I'm not sure about that last part of the verse, sounds kind of sketchy to me. There are a lot of people with gray hair that I would not put into the "godly life" category.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Fifteen
Proverbs Chapter Fifteen:
Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. (vs. 4)
I thought it was interesting that this proverb contrasts "gentle words" with "deceitful tongue". Does this mean that Solomon, when he says "gentle words", really means "truthful words?" Because if that's the case, then what I've always thought about this verse is wrong. It then reminds me of the verse in the New Testament that tells us we need to speak the truth in love. Both parts of that instruction, speaking the truth, and in love, have to be there for us to do what is right. Unfortunately, I know there have been times in my life when I've done one of those parts without the other part.
The second half of this verse is interesting to me as well. As a parent, there are times when you feel like you have to be a little deceitful in order for your child to not freak out or whatever. Case in point: my daughter likes school, but for some reason - which may have to do with the fact that this is her fourth school in a year - she is clingy to my wife and doesn't want to leave her to walk down the stairs to her classroom. My wife tells her that she'll be waiting for her in the parking lot until school is over.
This isn't true.
But if my wife told the truth - that she is leaving right after our daughter goes into her classroom - she would probably freak out and not want to go to school. We are being deceitful. But is it sometimes okay to be deceitful, like in this situation?
Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time! (vs. 23)
Wouldn't our lives be a whole lot easier if we could actually say the right thing at the right time all the time? It reminds me of one of my friends who in college always stuck his foot in his mouth. He was always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. One time we walked into an ice-cream shop, and we noticed that the specialty flavor that month was pumpkin ice cream, and he blurts out "Pumpkin ice cream? That's disgusting! Who in their right minds would eat pumpkin ice cream. You would have to be a complete moron..." and then he turned around and there was a family of four who all had big bowls of pumpkin ice cream looking at him.
There have been times in my life when I didn't know what to say to a person - like when a family member had died or they came to me for advice and I honestly had no wise words to say to them. Other times, like my friend, I have put my foot in my mouth, which at certain times were just embarrassing moments, and at other times actually have strained friendships.
I can think of a couple of ways to try and say the right thing at the right time all the time: (1) think before speaking - which for me is possibly easier because I'm an internal thinker anyway (in other words, I process things internally before I speak out vs. someone who processes things externally and uses conversation to solve problems and figure out answers); (2) don't say anything most of the time. That would be hard for a lot of people. Perhaps another way is to learn how to pantomime. All though most people hate mimes. I guess I'll go with number one!
Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. (vs. 4)
I thought it was interesting that this proverb contrasts "gentle words" with "deceitful tongue". Does this mean that Solomon, when he says "gentle words", really means "truthful words?" Because if that's the case, then what I've always thought about this verse is wrong. It then reminds me of the verse in the New Testament that tells us we need to speak the truth in love. Both parts of that instruction, speaking the truth, and in love, have to be there for us to do what is right. Unfortunately, I know there have been times in my life when I've done one of those parts without the other part.
The second half of this verse is interesting to me as well. As a parent, there are times when you feel like you have to be a little deceitful in order for your child to not freak out or whatever. Case in point: my daughter likes school, but for some reason - which may have to do with the fact that this is her fourth school in a year - she is clingy to my wife and doesn't want to leave her to walk down the stairs to her classroom. My wife tells her that she'll be waiting for her in the parking lot until school is over.
This isn't true.
But if my wife told the truth - that she is leaving right after our daughter goes into her classroom - she would probably freak out and not want to go to school. We are being deceitful. But is it sometimes okay to be deceitful, like in this situation?
Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time! (vs. 23)
Wouldn't our lives be a whole lot easier if we could actually say the right thing at the right time all the time? It reminds me of one of my friends who in college always stuck his foot in his mouth. He was always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. One time we walked into an ice-cream shop, and we noticed that the specialty flavor that month was pumpkin ice cream, and he blurts out "Pumpkin ice cream? That's disgusting! Who in their right minds would eat pumpkin ice cream. You would have to be a complete moron..." and then he turned around and there was a family of four who all had big bowls of pumpkin ice cream looking at him.
There have been times in my life when I didn't know what to say to a person - like when a family member had died or they came to me for advice and I honestly had no wise words to say to them. Other times, like my friend, I have put my foot in my mouth, which at certain times were just embarrassing moments, and at other times actually have strained friendships.
I can think of a couple of ways to try and say the right thing at the right time all the time: (1) think before speaking - which for me is possibly easier because I'm an internal thinker anyway (in other words, I process things internally before I speak out vs. someone who processes things externally and uses conversation to solve problems and figure out answers); (2) don't say anything most of the time. That would be hard for a lot of people. Perhaps another way is to learn how to pantomime. All though most people hate mimes. I guess I'll go with number one!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Fourteen
Proverbs Chapter Fourteen:
Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy. (vs. 10)
Such a true verse. Such a true verse! It reminds me that I can sympathize with what people are going or have gone through, but ultimately, I will not truly or fully understand their situation. And the same goes in reverse: I cannot expect someone else to fully understand what I've been through or what I'm going through at the time, so I should not be disappointed that that person doesn't really "get it."
It's also a reminder not to judge others. I heard a great message on this my last Sunday in Colorado. I went to my brother's church in Colorado - a truly amazing church. (I went to another amazing church here in Ohio this morning, which I will blog about either tonight or tomorrow) You can listen to the message here. It was a good reminder that it's not up to me to judge others - and this verse tells me that I'm never going to fully understand why someone does what they do, or why someone acts the way they do - because I can't fully understand what they've been through. I can't really examine fully someone's heart and see the bitterness that it contains, or the measure of joy that it has. If I can't judge someone's heart, why judge their actions then? (Of course, we are supposed to not be judgmental, but we can help correct someone - hopefully we can know when we are supposed to.)
The poor are despised even by their neighbors, while the rich have many "friends." It is sin to despise one's neighbors; blessed are those who help the poor. Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who help the poor honor him. (vs. 20-21, 31)
I've seen the whole neighbor thing in this passage taken out of context - obviously what Solomon is talking about here is not just the "neighbor" down the street (therefore, if we live in a rich neighborhood, we may think that this does not apply to us); it's talking about everyone. Even more so in our time; where our neighbor in another country doesn't really seem that far away because of the technological advances we have made. We can instantly talk to someone halfway across the world; we can fly across the world in less than a day.
When you read the Old Testament, as well as the words of Jesus, you begin to understand how the poor are truly near the heart of God. And if our goal as Christians is to become "little Christs", in other words Christlikeness; then we will serve the poor and honor the One who loves them with all His heart.
Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy. (vs. 10)
Such a true verse. Such a true verse! It reminds me that I can sympathize with what people are going or have gone through, but ultimately, I will not truly or fully understand their situation. And the same goes in reverse: I cannot expect someone else to fully understand what I've been through or what I'm going through at the time, so I should not be disappointed that that person doesn't really "get it."
It's also a reminder not to judge others. I heard a great message on this my last Sunday in Colorado. I went to my brother's church in Colorado - a truly amazing church. (I went to another amazing church here in Ohio this morning, which I will blog about either tonight or tomorrow) You can listen to the message here. It was a good reminder that it's not up to me to judge others - and this verse tells me that I'm never going to fully understand why someone does what they do, or why someone acts the way they do - because I can't fully understand what they've been through. I can't really examine fully someone's heart and see the bitterness that it contains, or the measure of joy that it has. If I can't judge someone's heart, why judge their actions then? (Of course, we are supposed to not be judgmental, but we can help correct someone - hopefully we can know when we are supposed to.)
The poor are despised even by their neighbors, while the rich have many "friends." It is sin to despise one's neighbors; blessed are those who help the poor. Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who help the poor honor him. (vs. 20-21, 31)
I've seen the whole neighbor thing in this passage taken out of context - obviously what Solomon is talking about here is not just the "neighbor" down the street (therefore, if we live in a rich neighborhood, we may think that this does not apply to us); it's talking about everyone. Even more so in our time; where our neighbor in another country doesn't really seem that far away because of the technological advances we have made. We can instantly talk to someone halfway across the world; we can fly across the world in less than a day.
When you read the Old Testament, as well as the words of Jesus, you begin to understand how the poor are truly near the heart of God. And if our goal as Christians is to become "little Christs", in other words Christlikeness; then we will serve the poor and honor the One who loves them with all His heart.
Proverbs Experiment: Day Thirteen
Proverbs Chapter Thirteen:
Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied. (vs.4)
I'm sure you have to keep this in context with the type of society Solomon was in when he wrote this, because I know many very hard-working people who don't make much and so they really don't prosper. I was actually thinking about this the other day, because of two reasons.
1) I was re-reading Fight Club (interesting novel to say the least) and in one of the chapters, the members of Project Mayhem decide to teach a lesson to a police commissioner who was trying to shut down the fight clubs in his city. This is what one of the "teachers" says to him:
"Remember this, the people you're trying to step on, we're everyone you depend on. We're the people who do your laundry and cook your food and serve your dinner. We make your bed. We guard you while you're asleep. We drive the ambulances. We direct your call. We are cooks and taxi drivers and we know everything about you. We process your insurance claims and credit card charges. We control every part of your life. We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we'll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won't. And we're just learning this face, so don't (mess) with us."
2) I was reading a debate between a few people about immigration - one group wanted all the illegal immigrants kicked out, the other group didn't. The second group made the point that if all the illegal immigrants were kicked out, there would be a bunch of thankless, menial jobs that no one would take because they pay really badly and the work is really hard - and the rest of us would say "no thanks" because those jobs are "beneath us" which means a lot of things would fall through the cracks. In other words, our economy is built on the backs of very hard workers who do the jobs we don't want to do, but we thrive because of it, and they are simply surviving.
I know that there are a lot of hard workers who do end up getting rich and profiting by their hard work - there are some in my family, in fact - but it makes one wonder about the state of our nation when some of our hardest workers get next to nothing, while trust fund babies and people who just happened to be at the right place at the right time get rich without working for it.
Wealth from get-rich schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows. (vs. 11)
This verse came to my attention, because I'm looking for a job, and I would say at least half of the jobs that are on job websites are these "get rich quick by using the internet" schemes. I even got suckered into an interview where I thought I was interviewing for a position, but it ended up being a pyramid scheme to sell some kind of health juice. I'm now even being spammed with some of these "jobs". I hope I find a job soon, because it's rather unsettling to me to see how many people are hoping that some sucker will apply to one of their "job offers" so they can profit off of them.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy. (vs. 12)
VERY INTERESTING verse. I think I felt some of what the writer is saying in this verse this past year. I had the opportunity to go back to my home state, work with someone who I trust and respect, and be with some of the people I've known for years. It seemed like a dream opportunity, and a dream that I've been dreaming about for several years came true.
Unfortunately the dream didn't last.
And I'm still kind of dealing with a sick heart. I know that I'm supposed to be where I'm at now, because it seemed like all the doors that were open in Colorado shut rather firmly; but when you've hoped to do something for so long, got to do it, but not for as long as you thought - it is disheartening.
My prayer is that another dream of mine - to work for an organization that fights trafficking - will be a dream that comes to fruition and is long-lasting.
Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied. (vs.4)
I'm sure you have to keep this in context with the type of society Solomon was in when he wrote this, because I know many very hard-working people who don't make much and so they really don't prosper. I was actually thinking about this the other day, because of two reasons.
1) I was re-reading Fight Club (interesting novel to say the least) and in one of the chapters, the members of Project Mayhem decide to teach a lesson to a police commissioner who was trying to shut down the fight clubs in his city. This is what one of the "teachers" says to him:
"Remember this, the people you're trying to step on, we're everyone you depend on. We're the people who do your laundry and cook your food and serve your dinner. We make your bed. We guard you while you're asleep. We drive the ambulances. We direct your call. We are cooks and taxi drivers and we know everything about you. We process your insurance claims and credit card charges. We control every part of your life. We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we'll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won't. And we're just learning this face, so don't (mess) with us."
2) I was reading a debate between a few people about immigration - one group wanted all the illegal immigrants kicked out, the other group didn't. The second group made the point that if all the illegal immigrants were kicked out, there would be a bunch of thankless, menial jobs that no one would take because they pay really badly and the work is really hard - and the rest of us would say "no thanks" because those jobs are "beneath us" which means a lot of things would fall through the cracks. In other words, our economy is built on the backs of very hard workers who do the jobs we don't want to do, but we thrive because of it, and they are simply surviving.
I know that there are a lot of hard workers who do end up getting rich and profiting by their hard work - there are some in my family, in fact - but it makes one wonder about the state of our nation when some of our hardest workers get next to nothing, while trust fund babies and people who just happened to be at the right place at the right time get rich without working for it.
Wealth from get-rich schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows. (vs. 11)
This verse came to my attention, because I'm looking for a job, and I would say at least half of the jobs that are on job websites are these "get rich quick by using the internet" schemes. I even got suckered into an interview where I thought I was interviewing for a position, but it ended up being a pyramid scheme to sell some kind of health juice. I'm now even being spammed with some of these "jobs". I hope I find a job soon, because it's rather unsettling to me to see how many people are hoping that some sucker will apply to one of their "job offers" so they can profit off of them.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy. (vs. 12)
VERY INTERESTING verse. I think I felt some of what the writer is saying in this verse this past year. I had the opportunity to go back to my home state, work with someone who I trust and respect, and be with some of the people I've known for years. It seemed like a dream opportunity, and a dream that I've been dreaming about for several years came true.
Unfortunately the dream didn't last.
And I'm still kind of dealing with a sick heart. I know that I'm supposed to be where I'm at now, because it seemed like all the doors that were open in Colorado shut rather firmly; but when you've hoped to do something for so long, got to do it, but not for as long as you thought - it is disheartening.
My prayer is that another dream of mine - to work for an organization that fights trafficking - will be a dream that comes to fruition and is long-lasting.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Twelve
Proverbs Chapter Twelve:
To learn, you must love discipline, it is stupid to hate correction. (vs.1)
Argh, thanks Solomon. I was doing pretty good with all of this proverbs stuff, and then you have to throw this one out there.
I hate being wrong.
I hate being corrected.
But it's stupid.
I'm also a wuss when it comes to being disciplined. I remember when I was two weeks from graduating from college, and I did something pretty stupid - which cost me my R.A. job for the rest of the year, which meant I owed the school for the last two weeks of the year, which meant I didn't get my diploma at graduation, just a diploma cover with a slip of paper in it that said, "Your diploma is not here because you still owe the financial office. Please stop by and make arrangements." That wasn't the worst part, though. The worst part was being in a meeting with several higher-ups at the college and have them debate (while I was in the room) what should happen to me. Should I get expelled (the vote was close)? Should I pay a hefty fine (I did)? Should I clean the entire dorms everyday for the last two weeks, even with finals and final papers and everything (yep)? It was horrible. I felt like a seven year old kid all over again.
I also grew up with the label "gifted and talented", so from my early school days, I've had this thing inside me that says that I have to know all the answers, I have to get all the answers right, I can't say anything wrong, I can't mispronounce anything, etc. etc. etc. Which makes it pretty darn hard for me when I do mess up. I can seriously go off on myself for days if I screw up just a little thing.
Maybe I need to put this on my list of things I want to change about myself - a list I just recently came up with. I'm not sure if I'm going through this soul-searching time because I'm out of a job and feeling pretty small self-image-wise, but it's causing me to really evaluate my life. I guess I can add one more thing to the list that I have (five things already on it).
A worthy wife is her husband's joy and crown; a shameful wife saps his strength. (vs. 4)
As I am fast approaching my twelfth wedding anniversary, this verse stands out. There are many amazing things about my wife. But one of them is how supportive she is of me and how she is my biggest fan and supporter. A word to the wise: if you say something bad about me, don't let me wife hear it. She will tell you off! I am so thankful to her, and in times like these right now, she has really helped me stay out of the self-pity party pit (try saying that five times fast) that I can throw myself into rather quickly.
She definitely strengthens me. There have been people in my life who have been strength-sappers and have made me feel like I'm either an idiot or I can't do anything, but she is not one of them.
A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted. (vs. 16)
I'm pretty good at this. But probably not for the reasons that Solomon was thinking of when he wrote this. My reasons:
1. I lack the "quick comeback" part of the brain. Fifteen minutes after the insult, I can give you three or four amazing comebacks. But not on the spot.
2. I'm not good at one-on-one confrontation if someone is confronting me. The other way, no problem - but if someone gets in my face and insults me or is mad at me, I'm not good at reacting. At all. Which I guess makes me look slow-tempered.
3. My short-term memory is really bad since I had brain surgery, which means if you insult me, I may forget what you said right after you said it. Which is good I guess because "I don't keep record of wrongs", but it's more because of my brain problem, not because I've developed patience or anything in my life.
The only time this doesn't apply - you know, the whole non-quick-tempered thing - is when someone insults me for being wrong or corrects me for a mistake I've made (see above).
To learn, you must love discipline, it is stupid to hate correction. (vs.1)
Argh, thanks Solomon. I was doing pretty good with all of this proverbs stuff, and then you have to throw this one out there.
I hate being wrong.
I hate being corrected.
But it's stupid.
I'm also a wuss when it comes to being disciplined. I remember when I was two weeks from graduating from college, and I did something pretty stupid - which cost me my R.A. job for the rest of the year, which meant I owed the school for the last two weeks of the year, which meant I didn't get my diploma at graduation, just a diploma cover with a slip of paper in it that said, "Your diploma is not here because you still owe the financial office. Please stop by and make arrangements." That wasn't the worst part, though. The worst part was being in a meeting with several higher-ups at the college and have them debate (while I was in the room) what should happen to me. Should I get expelled (the vote was close)? Should I pay a hefty fine (I did)? Should I clean the entire dorms everyday for the last two weeks, even with finals and final papers and everything (yep)? It was horrible. I felt like a seven year old kid all over again.
I also grew up with the label "gifted and talented", so from my early school days, I've had this thing inside me that says that I have to know all the answers, I have to get all the answers right, I can't say anything wrong, I can't mispronounce anything, etc. etc. etc. Which makes it pretty darn hard for me when I do mess up. I can seriously go off on myself for days if I screw up just a little thing.
Maybe I need to put this on my list of things I want to change about myself - a list I just recently came up with. I'm not sure if I'm going through this soul-searching time because I'm out of a job and feeling pretty small self-image-wise, but it's causing me to really evaluate my life. I guess I can add one more thing to the list that I have (five things already on it).
A worthy wife is her husband's joy and crown; a shameful wife saps his strength. (vs. 4)
As I am fast approaching my twelfth wedding anniversary, this verse stands out. There are many amazing things about my wife. But one of them is how supportive she is of me and how she is my biggest fan and supporter. A word to the wise: if you say something bad about me, don't let me wife hear it. She will tell you off! I am so thankful to her, and in times like these right now, she has really helped me stay out of the self-pity party pit (try saying that five times fast) that I can throw myself into rather quickly.
She definitely strengthens me. There have been people in my life who have been strength-sappers and have made me feel like I'm either an idiot or I can't do anything, but she is not one of them.
A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted. (vs. 16)
I'm pretty good at this. But probably not for the reasons that Solomon was thinking of when he wrote this. My reasons:
1. I lack the "quick comeback" part of the brain. Fifteen minutes after the insult, I can give you three or four amazing comebacks. But not on the spot.
2. I'm not good at one-on-one confrontation if someone is confronting me. The other way, no problem - but if someone gets in my face and insults me or is mad at me, I'm not good at reacting. At all. Which I guess makes me look slow-tempered.
3. My short-term memory is really bad since I had brain surgery, which means if you insult me, I may forget what you said right after you said it. Which is good I guess because "I don't keep record of wrongs", but it's more because of my brain problem, not because I've developed patience or anything in my life.
The only time this doesn't apply - you know, the whole non-quick-tempered thing - is when someone insults me for being wrong or corrects me for a mistake I've made (see above).
Free Christmas Album
I'm always a sucker for new Christmas albums - and free Christmas albums at that - so I was excited to find out about this one.
The Violet Burning is a band that has been around for a long long time. They have in their CD discography one of my favorite worship CDs of all time, Faith And Devotions of a Satellite Heart. The Blood of Jesus is one of my favorite worship songs, which came off of that CD.
Anyway, if you go here, you can get their new Christmas CD absolutely free. Enjoy!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Eleven
Proverbs Chapter Eleven:
The Lord hates cheating, but he delights in honesty. Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Good people are guided by their honesty; treacherous people are destroyed by their dishonesty. Riches won't help on the day of judgment, but right living is a safeguard against death. The godly are directed by their honesty, the wicked fall beneath their load of sin. (vs. 1-5)
Reading the first five verses of Proverbs 11 immediately brought to my mind the financial situation of our country right now. There are obviously many reasons why it looks like we are heading into a recession, but one of the main reasons is the greed and dishonesty prevalent in some of our companies and financial institutions. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Decisions made by CEO's of large companies, largely fueled by greed and the desire for more stock options and bigger year-end bonuses don't just have a trickle down effect upon their workers and upon the rest of us; these days it's more like a waterfall of problems. I remember reading somewhere that in 1982, a CEO of a corporation made on average 42 times more than that of the average worker in the corporation. In 2004 (the last data I could find), that number became 431-to-1.
On one hand, I believe that companies in America should have some freedoms to running their business the way they want to (within reason of course). On the other hand, there is so much corruption and greed these days, that we cannot trust that people will make the right decisions that will benefit others and not just themselves. We have seen examples of corporations that have been destroyed by the greed and dishonesty of upper management (see Enron); yet others get away scott free. I guess it's good to know that at some point, there will be responsibility for the actions of the greedy and wicked. Sometimes I wish those responsibilities would come sooner - and perhaps they won't even happen in this life - but it's reassuring to know that it will happen someday.
Without wise leadership, a nation falls; with many counselors, there is safety (vs. 14).
I remember when I was at a church in Dallas, we had these round table discussions, where a topic would be picked, and then we would discuss (sometimes argue) the topic at hand. Someone would take notes, and this round table discussion would then be put in the monthly newsletter. I don't remember the topic that was discussed one day, but I remember the singles minister talking about how in the Bible, and beyond the Bible, there always seemed to be a pattern with nations - and that ultimately, those nations would fall because of the corrupt leadership. It happened with Rome, it happened with Ancient Greece, we've seen it happen even in the last century with a few nations who have fallen apart because of corrupt leadership.
We see it happen in churches as well - where the leadership of the church made poor decisions, and as a result, the church falls apart underneath the weight of those decisions.
I wonder if wisdom is a characteristic that people look for when they are electing or hiring their leaders. I think that in the candidates that we had for president this year, we saw examples of wisdom and foolishness from both. Both made wise and foolish decisions in their pasts, and both made wise and foolish decisions during the campaign. I think it's good in churches as well to evaluate the decisions made by the leadership. Are those decisions mostly wise and godly, or are they mostly foolish and self-seeking? This could be a great standard by which churches can hold their leadership to.
The Lord hates cheating, but he delights in honesty. Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Good people are guided by their honesty; treacherous people are destroyed by their dishonesty. Riches won't help on the day of judgment, but right living is a safeguard against death. The godly are directed by their honesty, the wicked fall beneath their load of sin. (vs. 1-5)
Reading the first five verses of Proverbs 11 immediately brought to my mind the financial situation of our country right now. There are obviously many reasons why it looks like we are heading into a recession, but one of the main reasons is the greed and dishonesty prevalent in some of our companies and financial institutions. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Decisions made by CEO's of large companies, largely fueled by greed and the desire for more stock options and bigger year-end bonuses don't just have a trickle down effect upon their workers and upon the rest of us; these days it's more like a waterfall of problems. I remember reading somewhere that in 1982, a CEO of a corporation made on average 42 times more than that of the average worker in the corporation. In 2004 (the last data I could find), that number became 431-to-1.
On one hand, I believe that companies in America should have some freedoms to running their business the way they want to (within reason of course). On the other hand, there is so much corruption and greed these days, that we cannot trust that people will make the right decisions that will benefit others and not just themselves. We have seen examples of corporations that have been destroyed by the greed and dishonesty of upper management (see Enron); yet others get away scott free. I guess it's good to know that at some point, there will be responsibility for the actions of the greedy and wicked. Sometimes I wish those responsibilities would come sooner - and perhaps they won't even happen in this life - but it's reassuring to know that it will happen someday.
Without wise leadership, a nation falls; with many counselors, there is safety (vs. 14).
I remember when I was at a church in Dallas, we had these round table discussions, where a topic would be picked, and then we would discuss (sometimes argue) the topic at hand. Someone would take notes, and this round table discussion would then be put in the monthly newsletter. I don't remember the topic that was discussed one day, but I remember the singles minister talking about how in the Bible, and beyond the Bible, there always seemed to be a pattern with nations - and that ultimately, those nations would fall because of the corrupt leadership. It happened with Rome, it happened with Ancient Greece, we've seen it happen even in the last century with a few nations who have fallen apart because of corrupt leadership.
We see it happen in churches as well - where the leadership of the church made poor decisions, and as a result, the church falls apart underneath the weight of those decisions.
I wonder if wisdom is a characteristic that people look for when they are electing or hiring their leaders. I think that in the candidates that we had for president this year, we saw examples of wisdom and foolishness from both. Both made wise and foolish decisions in their pasts, and both made wise and foolish decisions during the campaign. I think it's good in churches as well to evaluate the decisions made by the leadership. Are those decisions mostly wise and godly, or are they mostly foolish and self-seeking? This could be a great standard by which churches can hold their leadership to.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Ten
It looks like we're going away with the chapters that have themes to them, and are now dealing with chapters where each verse has a different theme.
Proverbs Chapter Ten:
The Lord will not let the godly starve to death, but he refuses to satisfy the craving of the wicked. (vs. 3)
This promise seems very real to me right now. :^) It looks like what we have savings-wise will last us for another month, but after that, yikes!
People with integrity have firm footing, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall. (vs. 9)
This verse immediately brings to mind the story that is the main headline in the news: that the governor from Illinois was caught trying to sell Barack Obama's senate seat to the higher bidder, among other things. This is now the third or fourth governor from Illinois who has been caught doing something illegal. I think that when you lack integrity, you have to hide who you really are, and that hole that you hide in gets deeper and deeper as you continue to spin lies, and then one day someone finds that hole and what started out as a small lapse in judgment has turned into a lifestyle of lies, deceit and a lack of integrity. Which should be a sobering reminder to all of us that if we do right in the small things, we will live a life of integrity. But if we don't do what is right in the small things, it's going to get much worse!
Don't talk too much, for it fosters sin. Be sensible and turn off the flow! (vs. 19)
I can say A LOT about this subject, but I'll just let the verse speak for itself. ;^)
Proverbs Chapter Ten:
The Lord will not let the godly starve to death, but he refuses to satisfy the craving of the wicked. (vs. 3)
This promise seems very real to me right now. :^) It looks like what we have savings-wise will last us for another month, but after that, yikes!
People with integrity have firm footing, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall. (vs. 9)
This verse immediately brings to mind the story that is the main headline in the news: that the governor from Illinois was caught trying to sell Barack Obama's senate seat to the higher bidder, among other things. This is now the third or fourth governor from Illinois who has been caught doing something illegal. I think that when you lack integrity, you have to hide who you really are, and that hole that you hide in gets deeper and deeper as you continue to spin lies, and then one day someone finds that hole and what started out as a small lapse in judgment has turned into a lifestyle of lies, deceit and a lack of integrity. Which should be a sobering reminder to all of us that if we do right in the small things, we will live a life of integrity. But if we don't do what is right in the small things, it's going to get much worse!
Don't talk too much, for it fosters sin. Be sensible and turn off the flow! (vs. 19)
I can say A LOT about this subject, but I'll just let the verse speak for itself. ;^)
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Nine
Proverbs Chapter Nine:
Anyone who rebukes a mocker will get a smart retort. Anyone who rebukes the wicked will get hurt. So don't bother rebuking mockers, they will only hate you. But the wise, when rebuked, will love you all the more. (vs. 7-8)
I'm pretty sure we have all faced this situation before: arguments with someone that got you absolutely nowhere. No matter what you said, no matter how well-reasoned your argument was - the other person thought they were right.
Back in my early ministry days, I faced this on a regular basis with a guy I'll call Don.
Don knew everything about the Bible. He knew everything about Christianity. He knew what was right, what was wrong. His way of winning debates and arguments was to talk louder and faster than you. Don, when it was his turn to lead the singles group I was in, always picked some obscure passage in the Bible to talk about or some topic that was on his mind that the rest of us didn't really concern ourselves over, like the Masons or the OT sacrificial system. He would preach to us for about forty minutes, ask for questions, and then pick apart each person's question in a belittling, "I know more than you know" kind of way.
I will always remember hanging out with Don and some others at the local Dairy Queen one night after singles group. Usually I could avoid the one-on-one arguments that Don liked to have, but this time we both got our ice cream first. Don asked me a question starting with the phrase, "What do you think about...?" When I told him what I thought about it, he said, "That's the wrong answer," and then proceeded for the next five minutes to tell me what the right answer was. He did this for about half an hour until I mumbled something about needing to pick up something at the grocery store and made my exit. Don was the most conservative person politically I had ever met, and he labeled anyone who didn't agree with his political views as a "flaming liberal."
I hadn't thought of Don much over the last ten years, but when I was in Colorado, I happened to hear a news story on the radio about a high school kid who was suspended from school because he wore a "Nobama" shirt. When they interviewed the kid, and said his name (which is a very very unusual name), I knew it was Don's son. The words that came out of his mouth on the radio were exactly the words Don would have said ten years before.
Like father, like son. Sad, really.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in understanding. (vs. 10)
Walter Brueggemann once said that wisdom ends in doxology (or praise), but then goes on to say this:
"only if long-term, patient, discerning attentiveness begins in the right way at the right place. In order to end in praise, wisdom must begin in obedience. "
To me, that's what fearing God is all about. That we show that we fear God by obeying what He tells us to do. In this passage, "fearing God" does not mean "to be afraid of," it means to show respect, awe and reverence for. We show that we respect God by doing what He has commanded us to do. And when we do these things, we show that we are wise and that we are making the right decisions in our life.
Anyone who rebukes a mocker will get a smart retort. Anyone who rebukes the wicked will get hurt. So don't bother rebuking mockers, they will only hate you. But the wise, when rebuked, will love you all the more. (vs. 7-8)
I'm pretty sure we have all faced this situation before: arguments with someone that got you absolutely nowhere. No matter what you said, no matter how well-reasoned your argument was - the other person thought they were right.
Back in my early ministry days, I faced this on a regular basis with a guy I'll call Don.
Don knew everything about the Bible. He knew everything about Christianity. He knew what was right, what was wrong. His way of winning debates and arguments was to talk louder and faster than you. Don, when it was his turn to lead the singles group I was in, always picked some obscure passage in the Bible to talk about or some topic that was on his mind that the rest of us didn't really concern ourselves over, like the Masons or the OT sacrificial system. He would preach to us for about forty minutes, ask for questions, and then pick apart each person's question in a belittling, "I know more than you know" kind of way.
I will always remember hanging out with Don and some others at the local Dairy Queen one night after singles group. Usually I could avoid the one-on-one arguments that Don liked to have, but this time we both got our ice cream first. Don asked me a question starting with the phrase, "What do you think about...?" When I told him what I thought about it, he said, "That's the wrong answer," and then proceeded for the next five minutes to tell me what the right answer was. He did this for about half an hour until I mumbled something about needing to pick up something at the grocery store and made my exit. Don was the most conservative person politically I had ever met, and he labeled anyone who didn't agree with his political views as a "flaming liberal."
I hadn't thought of Don much over the last ten years, but when I was in Colorado, I happened to hear a news story on the radio about a high school kid who was suspended from school because he wore a "Nobama" shirt. When they interviewed the kid, and said his name (which is a very very unusual name), I knew it was Don's son. The words that came out of his mouth on the radio were exactly the words Don would have said ten years before.
Like father, like son. Sad, really.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in understanding. (vs. 10)
Walter Brueggemann once said that wisdom ends in doxology (or praise), but then goes on to say this:
"only if long-term, patient, discerning attentiveness begins in the right way at the right place. In order to end in praise, wisdom must begin in obedience. "
To me, that's what fearing God is all about. That we show that we fear God by obeying what He tells us to do. In this passage, "fearing God" does not mean "to be afraid of," it means to show respect, awe and reverence for. We show that we respect God by doing what He has commanded us to do. And when we do these things, we show that we are wise and that we are making the right decisions in our life.
Proverbs Experiment: Day Eight
Oops! It's getting harder to keep up!
Proverbs Chapter Eight:
Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge over pure gold. For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can be compared with it. (vs. 10-11)
These verses totally remind me of this song that we used to do back when I was in college, and even when I interned in Tucson:
Lord, you are more beautiful than silver
Lord, you are more precious than gold
Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds
And nothing I desire compares with You
Ha, that brings back memories of old school songs we used to do back then. At the college I went to, we had chapel every Wednesday and Thursday - attendance was mandatory - and then we had Tuesday night dorm devotions, which was not mandatory. The chapels had some good speakers, but the music was pretty stale. Tuesday nights, though, had worship bands made up of students, or worship bands from other churches, and it was much more rockin'. I enjoyed Tuesday nights much more than Wednesday or Thursday. Of course, now if you played those songs in church, it would seem to be more like the chapel back then than the worship we have now. Funny how perspective changes over fifteen years.
What does that really have to do with the passage above? Nothing. But to be honest, there's not a lot in this chapter that I haven't already talked about before. :^)
Proverbs Chapter Eight:
Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge over pure gold. For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can be compared with it. (vs. 10-11)
These verses totally remind me of this song that we used to do back when I was in college, and even when I interned in Tucson:
Lord, you are more beautiful than silver
Lord, you are more precious than gold
Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds
And nothing I desire compares with You
Ha, that brings back memories of old school songs we used to do back then. At the college I went to, we had chapel every Wednesday and Thursday - attendance was mandatory - and then we had Tuesday night dorm devotions, which was not mandatory. The chapels had some good speakers, but the music was pretty stale. Tuesday nights, though, had worship bands made up of students, or worship bands from other churches, and it was much more rockin'. I enjoyed Tuesday nights much more than Wednesday or Thursday. Of course, now if you played those songs in church, it would seem to be more like the chapel back then than the worship we have now. Funny how perspective changes over fifteen years.
What does that really have to do with the passage above? Nothing. But to be honest, there's not a lot in this chapter that I haven't already talked about before. :^)
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Seven
Proverbs Chapter Seven:
Follow my advice, my son; always treasure my commands. Obey them and live! Guard my teachings as your most precious possession. Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. (vs. 1-3)
I love these verses. I don't know how many times the writer has said to do something as a reminder of his words, but it seems like a lot already. For those of us with memory problems, it's probably a good idea to do something to remind ourselves of certain things. One of my favorite movies of all time is Memento - in that movie, the main character has a memory problem, and any important information he wants to remember he has tattooed on himself. I don't have an tattoos, but I do have a pack of verses that I carry with me most of the time in order to remind myself of God's provision, his faithfulness, and his love for me.
As a father, these verses above carry a lot of weight, because I can see myself saying the same thing to my daughter when she gets older and has to make some tough choices. Again, I wish that my father would have schooled me more in life education and would have asked for me to remember his words of wisdom; unfortunately I did not get that schooling.
Because of that, I had always hoped to have a mentor. Someone who would come along side me, see me as someone worthy of sharing wisdom and experience with, someone I could trust. Unfortunately that has not happened either. I've even asked certain people I have respected to be a mentor to me, but they have always been too busy to do so. Now that I'm getting close to forty, I might have missed that window of opportunity. Now perhaps I need to find a couple of younger guys to mentor, to share my life experiences with, to share my wisdom with - so that in case they didn't receive any wisdom from their parents, they can receive some wisdom from someone who cares about them, who wants to see them succeed in life.
He followed her at once, like an ox going to the slaughter or like a trapped stag, awaiting the arrow that would pierce its heart. He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life. (vs. 22-23)
I know a lot of ministers who have been undone by immorality.
There have been a few who I graduated with who had incredible promise and incredible passion for God, who traded all of that for one night of sin.
I remember someone who used to speak at a summer conference that my student ministry would go to - someone who was an amazing speaker and had us all on the edge of our seats, sometimes in tears - who traded his speaking gift and his passion for sharing God's Word for an affair with one of the high school students he was entrusted to minister to.
We've all heard the news stories of "famous" ministers who have traded their fame and popularity for sin and the demise of their ministry.
And Satan just sits back and laughs.
One of the problems with being "successful" in ministry is that you begin to think that you're untouchable. So many people love you, so many people depend on you for their relationship with Christ. You being to think that you're almost god-like. I haven't experienced that much in the last several years, but I know in my first two ministries, that there was a temptation that when your youth ministry was growing like crazy, and when amazing things were happening, to take the credit for it and receive the adulation that we all crave, we all desire. Thankfully, my self-esteem also wasn't (and isn't) that great, so I could never take the credit for what was happening; I truly believed it was God, and not me, that was growing my ministry. Thankfully, I didn't run into that as much as I could have back then.
At one of the churches I was at, this last year has been hard on the youth ministry, as they've had not one, but two student ministers fall because of infidelity issues. The issues I faced when I was there has probably compounded now because it's much larger; I'm sure the pressure on the ministers there is very great. That's why reading Proverbs would probably be good for anyone in leadership; as the first verses said, they remind us to be wise and not fall into foolish temptations and situations.
Follow my advice, my son; always treasure my commands. Obey them and live! Guard my teachings as your most precious possession. Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. (vs. 1-3)
I love these verses. I don't know how many times the writer has said to do something as a reminder of his words, but it seems like a lot already. For those of us with memory problems, it's probably a good idea to do something to remind ourselves of certain things. One of my favorite movies of all time is Memento - in that movie, the main character has a memory problem, and any important information he wants to remember he has tattooed on himself. I don't have an tattoos, but I do have a pack of verses that I carry with me most of the time in order to remind myself of God's provision, his faithfulness, and his love for me.
As a father, these verses above carry a lot of weight, because I can see myself saying the same thing to my daughter when she gets older and has to make some tough choices. Again, I wish that my father would have schooled me more in life education and would have asked for me to remember his words of wisdom; unfortunately I did not get that schooling.
Because of that, I had always hoped to have a mentor. Someone who would come along side me, see me as someone worthy of sharing wisdom and experience with, someone I could trust. Unfortunately that has not happened either. I've even asked certain people I have respected to be a mentor to me, but they have always been too busy to do so. Now that I'm getting close to forty, I might have missed that window of opportunity. Now perhaps I need to find a couple of younger guys to mentor, to share my life experiences with, to share my wisdom with - so that in case they didn't receive any wisdom from their parents, they can receive some wisdom from someone who cares about them, who wants to see them succeed in life.
He followed her at once, like an ox going to the slaughter or like a trapped stag, awaiting the arrow that would pierce its heart. He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life. (vs. 22-23)
I know a lot of ministers who have been undone by immorality.
There have been a few who I graduated with who had incredible promise and incredible passion for God, who traded all of that for one night of sin.
I remember someone who used to speak at a summer conference that my student ministry would go to - someone who was an amazing speaker and had us all on the edge of our seats, sometimes in tears - who traded his speaking gift and his passion for sharing God's Word for an affair with one of the high school students he was entrusted to minister to.
We've all heard the news stories of "famous" ministers who have traded their fame and popularity for sin and the demise of their ministry.
And Satan just sits back and laughs.
One of the problems with being "successful" in ministry is that you begin to think that you're untouchable. So many people love you, so many people depend on you for their relationship with Christ. You being to think that you're almost god-like. I haven't experienced that much in the last several years, but I know in my first two ministries, that there was a temptation that when your youth ministry was growing like crazy, and when amazing things were happening, to take the credit for it and receive the adulation that we all crave, we all desire. Thankfully, my self-esteem also wasn't (and isn't) that great, so I could never take the credit for what was happening; I truly believed it was God, and not me, that was growing my ministry. Thankfully, I didn't run into that as much as I could have back then.
At one of the churches I was at, this last year has been hard on the youth ministry, as they've had not one, but two student ministers fall because of infidelity issues. The issues I faced when I was there has probably compounded now because it's much larger; I'm sure the pressure on the ministers there is very great. That's why reading Proverbs would probably be good for anyone in leadership; as the first verses said, they remind us to be wise and not fall into foolish temptations and situations.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Six
Writing this actually on Day Seven, but oh well...
Proverbs Chapter Six:
Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! (vs.6)
My daughter has this computer game that she got from Chick Fil-A. At first she was kind of annoyed with the kids' meals at Chick Fil-A because they are usually games or books and not actual toys (although right now McDonald's has My Little Ponies and that's the only place she wants to go!) - but the two games we got last year from there are pretty good. One is an Artist Game, where you get to draw things and make movies and all kinds of stuff. The other one is an Animal Adventure Game, where you go to different locations around the world and learn about different animals. Last year, in preschool, her teacher was talking about bats, and how they spot prey and everything, and my daughter raised her hand and said, "I know what that's called Ms. Stephanie. It's called "echolocation." She didn't learn it from me (I had no idea what it was called), she learned it from this game!
The Animal Adventure game spends quite a bit of time teaching about leafcutter ants. It's rather interesting, all the info you learn about these ants. One thing is sure about them: they don't stop doing what they are supposed to be doing! If your a worker ant that is supposed to collect leaves, you keep doing it. If you're an ant that is supposed to make the leaf paste, you keep doing it. If you are the one that is supposed to bring the paste down to the lower levels of the ant hole in order to grow the fungus, you keep doing it! (See, now you've learned a little bit about ants -good huh!)
The above verse is a good reminder that work is good. It's not that fun sometimes, and it can be tedious (I just finished painting our master bedroom, and decided to tape the ceiling and floorboards and everything before painting; I'm glad I did, but it took forever!) but we are not supposed to be lazy.
I can easily fall into laziness, however. Whether it be the baseball game on the X-Box, or whether it be watching a T.V. show, or whether it be hanging out at Barnes and Noble, I can become a lazybones in no time. One thing I'm trying to do during this time of having no job is keeping myself busy - like with paint projects - so that once I do get a job, I still have the work ethic thing going.
There are six things the Lord hates - no, seven things he detests:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord among brothers. (vs. 16-19)
No mincing words here. You don't have to wonder, "What does God hate?" Here's your answer right here.
I thought it was interesting that the first five things all involve a body part. Pretty easy way to remember this list.
A few interesting things:
- interesting that pride is the first on the list, since pride was the downfall of Satan and his angels; and you could say that pride was the downfall of us as well ("You shall be like God himself" was the temptation that Adam and Eve succumbed to.)
- a heart that plots evil is in the middle of the list. Why can't I stop thinking of Dr. Evil when I read this one on the list?
- interesting that there are two on the list that relate to the tongue - lying with the tongue, and bearing false witness with the tongue.
- I'm not surprised that the last one is on this list. There are way too many churches that are torn apart by people who cause disunity in the body of Christ. Although I think this can be taken out of context (sometimes, people need to be held accountable for their actions, like leaders, and bringing this to the forefront of a church community can cause there to be a split of opinion. Hopefully that's not the case, but it happens), it hurts the witness of a church in its community when someone ruins the church through division.
Proverbs Chapter Six:
Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! (vs.6)
My daughter has this computer game that she got from Chick Fil-A. At first she was kind of annoyed with the kids' meals at Chick Fil-A because they are usually games or books and not actual toys (although right now McDonald's has My Little Ponies and that's the only place she wants to go!) - but the two games we got last year from there are pretty good. One is an Artist Game, where you get to draw things and make movies and all kinds of stuff. The other one is an Animal Adventure Game, where you go to different locations around the world and learn about different animals. Last year, in preschool, her teacher was talking about bats, and how they spot prey and everything, and my daughter raised her hand and said, "I know what that's called Ms. Stephanie. It's called "echolocation." She didn't learn it from me (I had no idea what it was called), she learned it from this game!
The Animal Adventure game spends quite a bit of time teaching about leafcutter ants. It's rather interesting, all the info you learn about these ants. One thing is sure about them: they don't stop doing what they are supposed to be doing! If your a worker ant that is supposed to collect leaves, you keep doing it. If you're an ant that is supposed to make the leaf paste, you keep doing it. If you are the one that is supposed to bring the paste down to the lower levels of the ant hole in order to grow the fungus, you keep doing it! (See, now you've learned a little bit about ants -good huh!)
The above verse is a good reminder that work is good. It's not that fun sometimes, and it can be tedious (I just finished painting our master bedroom, and decided to tape the ceiling and floorboards and everything before painting; I'm glad I did, but it took forever!) but we are not supposed to be lazy.
I can easily fall into laziness, however. Whether it be the baseball game on the X-Box, or whether it be watching a T.V. show, or whether it be hanging out at Barnes and Noble, I can become a lazybones in no time. One thing I'm trying to do during this time of having no job is keeping myself busy - like with paint projects - so that once I do get a job, I still have the work ethic thing going.
There are six things the Lord hates - no, seven things he detests:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord among brothers. (vs. 16-19)
No mincing words here. You don't have to wonder, "What does God hate?" Here's your answer right here.
I thought it was interesting that the first five things all involve a body part. Pretty easy way to remember this list.
A few interesting things:
- interesting that pride is the first on the list, since pride was the downfall of Satan and his angels; and you could say that pride was the downfall of us as well ("You shall be like God himself" was the temptation that Adam and Eve succumbed to.)
- a heart that plots evil is in the middle of the list. Why can't I stop thinking of Dr. Evil when I read this one on the list?
- interesting that there are two on the list that relate to the tongue - lying with the tongue, and bearing false witness with the tongue.
- I'm not surprised that the last one is on this list. There are way too many churches that are torn apart by people who cause disunity in the body of Christ. Although I think this can be taken out of context (sometimes, people need to be held accountable for their actions, like leaders, and bringing this to the forefront of a church community can cause there to be a split of opinion. Hopefully that's not the case, but it happens), it hurts the witness of a church in its community when someone ruins the church through division.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Five
Proverbs Chapter Five:
For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end she is as bitter as poison, as dangerous as a double-edged sword. (vs. 3-4)
This was a pretty hard chapter to find stuff to write about, because most of it is either about staying away from immoral women, or about "enjoying" your wife. The second advice is probably a good idea, although I do know that just getting married doesn't solve a person's problems. If they struggle with lust or immorality, it's not going to change if they get married. I just know too many people who have relied on marriage to be their "savior" from their problems, and perhaps for awhile it helped them with temptations or whatever, but it certainly doesn't last.
However, I guess everyone can get something out of the above verses, even if one knows an "immoral woman" or "immoral man" or not. Because really what it is saying is to look past how someone treats you, or the way someone talks to you, and realize that sometimes there are other intentions behind the front that a person puts up. I'm not saying to be overly cautious with everyone - but especially with someone of the opposite sex, it's a good idea to be careful.
Of course, as I read through the entire section of this warning against immoral women, I can see myself going to the same lengths to warn my daughter as she gets older. When I read the section at first, I thought, "Overkill!" but I'm pretty sure I'll be pretty overkill in my warning as well.
For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness. (vs. 21-23)
The first verse above reminds me of the book "Who You Are When No One Is Looking" by Bill Hybels. No matter what we do, no matter how hidden we think our sins are, there is One who is always aware of our actions.
This reminds me of church camp.
In college, I had the opportunity to be on a camp team for our school, which meant I traveled around the West during the summer going to camps and promoting our college, as well as helping out wherever possible. At one church camp, I remember one of the speakers talking about our sins and that when we get to heaven, there's going to be this big screen and everyone will be gathered around, and God will show our lives, all the things we've done and failed to do, on a screen for everyone.
Talk about a Debbie Downer.
And then at another church camp, another speaker got up and talked about how when we got to heaven, we would stand before God, and He would have this big list of the sins we had done, and at the time he would announce those sins to everyone, Jesus would stand up, take the list, and rip it up and say to God, "This is paid in full."
Hmm. Which one do we all hope for? The second one of course. I'm not sure which is correct, or if there is a third option out there. There are some verses that point to judgment even for Christians in heaven, and there are some verses that point to God completely forgetting our sins (as far as the east is from the west, so I have removed your transgressions from me...). I don't have the answer. But the truth is that whether God displays it for everyone, or he deliberately chooses to forget our sins - He knows our hearts. He knows our failures. To live knowing this and realizing that the One who loves us more than any other knows what we do but loves us anyways, should help us battle the things that drag us down, that catch us and trap us.
For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end she is as bitter as poison, as dangerous as a double-edged sword. (vs. 3-4)
This was a pretty hard chapter to find stuff to write about, because most of it is either about staying away from immoral women, or about "enjoying" your wife. The second advice is probably a good idea, although I do know that just getting married doesn't solve a person's problems. If they struggle with lust or immorality, it's not going to change if they get married. I just know too many people who have relied on marriage to be their "savior" from their problems, and perhaps for awhile it helped them with temptations or whatever, but it certainly doesn't last.
However, I guess everyone can get something out of the above verses, even if one knows an "immoral woman" or "immoral man" or not. Because really what it is saying is to look past how someone treats you, or the way someone talks to you, and realize that sometimes there are other intentions behind the front that a person puts up. I'm not saying to be overly cautious with everyone - but especially with someone of the opposite sex, it's a good idea to be careful.
Of course, as I read through the entire section of this warning against immoral women, I can see myself going to the same lengths to warn my daughter as she gets older. When I read the section at first, I thought, "Overkill!" but I'm pretty sure I'll be pretty overkill in my warning as well.
For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness. (vs. 21-23)
The first verse above reminds me of the book "Who You Are When No One Is Looking" by Bill Hybels. No matter what we do, no matter how hidden we think our sins are, there is One who is always aware of our actions.
This reminds me of church camp.
In college, I had the opportunity to be on a camp team for our school, which meant I traveled around the West during the summer going to camps and promoting our college, as well as helping out wherever possible. At one church camp, I remember one of the speakers talking about our sins and that when we get to heaven, there's going to be this big screen and everyone will be gathered around, and God will show our lives, all the things we've done and failed to do, on a screen for everyone.
Talk about a Debbie Downer.
And then at another church camp, another speaker got up and talked about how when we got to heaven, we would stand before God, and He would have this big list of the sins we had done, and at the time he would announce those sins to everyone, Jesus would stand up, take the list, and rip it up and say to God, "This is paid in full."
Hmm. Which one do we all hope for? The second one of course. I'm not sure which is correct, or if there is a third option out there. There are some verses that point to judgment even for Christians in heaven, and there are some verses that point to God completely forgetting our sins (as far as the east is from the west, so I have removed your transgressions from me...). I don't have the answer. But the truth is that whether God displays it for everyone, or he deliberately chooses to forget our sins - He knows our hearts. He knows our failures. To live knowing this and realizing that the One who loves us more than any other knows what we do but loves us anyways, should help us battle the things that drag us down, that catch us and trap us.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Four
Proverbs Chapter Four:
The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day. (vs. 18)
If you haven't figured out, I'm fascinated with the words "light" and "shine". A couple of years ago, I directed a Christmas performance called Shine, which was a fun (and hard) thing to put together. The name of my other blog is called the Re:light Campaign, which was created to help rekindle the fire of hope in the hearts of those who have been trafficked and/or sold into slavery, as well as relighting a passion in the hearts of followers of God to do something about it. On the back of one of the t-shirts I have designed, I used Isaiah 58:10 as the key verse: "Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be bright as noon." A couple of my favorite worship songs deal with the idea of light and shining (one of them, Mighty To Save, says, "Shine your light and let the whole world see...")
That's why verse 18 drew my attention. We as people who follow God have the opportunity to let our light shine in so many dark places. If you've ever noticed, just a little light can light up a lot of darkness; unfortunately, we can become so busy with fighting battles within our churches, and with focusing on ourselves, that we don't take the opportunity to shine our light.
When I drove back to Ohio from Colorado, I was in Illinois when the sun started coming up in the morning. At the same time this was happening, there was a pretty dense fog all over. This fog started in MIssouri, and almost caused me to hit a deer that decided that being in the middle lane of I-70 was the best place for him to be. When the sun started coming up, and it hit this fog, I noticed two things happening: One is that the water droplets in the fog was causing the light coming from the sun to intensify, which was pretty cool. It felt like I was driving into heaven or something, because there was light all around me. The second thing that happened was that the light from the sun started to make the fog dissipate. It was pretty amazing to see the light from the sun disperse everywhere around me.
This is what happens when we let our light shine - it disperses into the darkness around us and lights up more than we could ever imagine.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (vs. 23)
There is an amazing book that I read at least once a year, by a man named Gordon MacDonald. You may have read his book "Ordering Your Private World", I know a lot of people who have. I don't remember when or where I picked up another book of his, called "The Life God Blesses," but I know that it has been a book that has really helped me understand how important it is to "live with more weight below the waterline then above it." Confusing, huh? Well, I've only sailed on a sailboat a couple of times in my life, so I didn't understand this concept until I read it in this book. In order for a sailboat to maintain a steady course, and in order for it not to capsize but to harness the tremendous power of the wind, there must be more weight below the waterline than there is above it.
MacDonald tells of a time when he explained this to someone who thought they had it all: success, achievement, bells and whistles, and yet still felt empty. He writes:
"He nods reflectively as he begins to perceive that he may have spent his years building up the rigging, the sails, and the mast of life. The good life: it's all there to be admired and enjoyed. But there's almost nothing below the waterline! Something deep within is empty, alone. For the first time in our conversations we have reached a point where we can begin to talk about a most mysterious dimension of life: the soul - the inner "place" that defies the best efforts of philosophers and theologians who seek a satisfying definition.
The soul, I suggest to him, is somewhere below the personal waterline. And it is easily ignored until the storms of life arise. And if there is no weight at the level of the soul, there is little to promise survival."
This is what it means, in my opinion, to guard your heart. To build up your soul. To develop weight below the waterline of your life. We spend most of our lives trying to achieve the outer trappings of success and fortune and we spend less of our lives on building the inner life, the weight below the waterline.
As Thomas Kelly writes,
"We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow...We have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that center. We have seen and known some people who have found this deep Center of living, where the fretful calls of life are integrated, where NO as well as YES can be said with confidence."
When we guard our hearts, when we work on the weight of our lives below the waterline, it helps us see what God wants for our lives. And because our priorities are in order, we can say Yes to what truly is important and No to that which is not important.
The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day. (vs. 18)
If you haven't figured out, I'm fascinated with the words "light" and "shine". A couple of years ago, I directed a Christmas performance called Shine, which was a fun (and hard) thing to put together. The name of my other blog is called the Re:light Campaign, which was created to help rekindle the fire of hope in the hearts of those who have been trafficked and/or sold into slavery, as well as relighting a passion in the hearts of followers of God to do something about it. On the back of one of the t-shirts I have designed, I used Isaiah 58:10 as the key verse: "Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be bright as noon." A couple of my favorite worship songs deal with the idea of light and shining (one of them, Mighty To Save, says, "Shine your light and let the whole world see...")
That's why verse 18 drew my attention. We as people who follow God have the opportunity to let our light shine in so many dark places. If you've ever noticed, just a little light can light up a lot of darkness; unfortunately, we can become so busy with fighting battles within our churches, and with focusing on ourselves, that we don't take the opportunity to shine our light.
When I drove back to Ohio from Colorado, I was in Illinois when the sun started coming up in the morning. At the same time this was happening, there was a pretty dense fog all over. This fog started in MIssouri, and almost caused me to hit a deer that decided that being in the middle lane of I-70 was the best place for him to be. When the sun started coming up, and it hit this fog, I noticed two things happening: One is that the water droplets in the fog was causing the light coming from the sun to intensify, which was pretty cool. It felt like I was driving into heaven or something, because there was light all around me. The second thing that happened was that the light from the sun started to make the fog dissipate. It was pretty amazing to see the light from the sun disperse everywhere around me.
This is what happens when we let our light shine - it disperses into the darkness around us and lights up more than we could ever imagine.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (vs. 23)
There is an amazing book that I read at least once a year, by a man named Gordon MacDonald. You may have read his book "Ordering Your Private World", I know a lot of people who have. I don't remember when or where I picked up another book of his, called "The Life God Blesses," but I know that it has been a book that has really helped me understand how important it is to "live with more weight below the waterline then above it." Confusing, huh? Well, I've only sailed on a sailboat a couple of times in my life, so I didn't understand this concept until I read it in this book. In order for a sailboat to maintain a steady course, and in order for it not to capsize but to harness the tremendous power of the wind, there must be more weight below the waterline than there is above it.
MacDonald tells of a time when he explained this to someone who thought they had it all: success, achievement, bells and whistles, and yet still felt empty. He writes:
"He nods reflectively as he begins to perceive that he may have spent his years building up the rigging, the sails, and the mast of life. The good life: it's all there to be admired and enjoyed. But there's almost nothing below the waterline! Something deep within is empty, alone. For the first time in our conversations we have reached a point where we can begin to talk about a most mysterious dimension of life: the soul - the inner "place" that defies the best efforts of philosophers and theologians who seek a satisfying definition.
The soul, I suggest to him, is somewhere below the personal waterline. And it is easily ignored until the storms of life arise. And if there is no weight at the level of the soul, there is little to promise survival."
This is what it means, in my opinion, to guard your heart. To build up your soul. To develop weight below the waterline of your life. We spend most of our lives trying to achieve the outer trappings of success and fortune and we spend less of our lives on building the inner life, the weight below the waterline.
As Thomas Kelly writes,
"We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow...We have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that center. We have seen and known some people who have found this deep Center of living, where the fretful calls of life are integrated, where NO as well as YES can be said with confidence."
When we guard our hearts, when we work on the weight of our lives below the waterline, it helps us see what God wants for our lives. And because our priorities are in order, we can say Yes to what truly is important and No to that which is not important.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Proverbs Experiment: Day Three
Proverbs Chapter Three:
Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation. (vs. 3-4)
Have you ever noticed that kindness is catchy? It's infectious? A few weeks ago I remember seeing a commercial for I think an insurance company. It takes place at a county fair and it starts out with one person showing kindness to another person. In the background you see another person watch the whole thing take place, and then they show kindness to someone else, with someone else watching in the background, and it continues and continues. One person's kindness has the chance to actually bless a bunch of other people, not only the one person they showed kindness to. Something to remember when you have that decision of showing kindness or grumpiness (which probably works the same way, only negatively).
Speaking of kindness, yesterday we went to have our daughter's eyes checked, because she's been squinting a lot. Sure enough, she needs glasses. I was hoping that was one trait I wasn't passing on to her, because I got glasses when I was three years old. At least it didn't hit her that young, but still, I'm sad that she has to get glasses. Anyway, the eye doctor was a very kind older gentleman. He was very sweet with her, and asked me a ton of questions about our lives, and when he found out I was looking for a job, he started asking questions about that. He even took down my name and number and told me that he would talk to some people he knew who were looking for people to hire and that he would get back to me. Someone I didn't even know! That's a great example of kindness - going out of your way for a stranger.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend upon your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (vs. 5-6)
Most Christians know these verses. Or at least have heard them before. Today, as I read them, it reminded me of my proclivity to jumping out ahead of what God has planned for me, and figuring it out myself. Not this time, hopefully. It's hard to wait on God's timing and for God to show me what to do, however. And sometimes it's hard to know for sure that he's leading you down a certain path. I know He has called me to do something about child trafficking and child slavery, but I'm unsure about exactly what that means. Do I change careers completely and do this as a career? Is it supposed to be a side hobby? Do I look for an already established organization and join it, or do I start something on my own? The problem sometimes is that when you get the main answer (Yes, you're supposed to be doing something about this...), a thousand more questions pop up. I guess that's where trust comes in. Trust that God will answer those questions, one at a time, at His own choosing, in His own timing.
However, trusting in God doesn't mean inactivity. I watched this short sermon video of this preacher at a large church, and he was talking about Abraham and Sarah and how God told Sarah she was going to become pregnant. Obviously, for the pregnancy to happen, Abraham and Sarah needed to do something. If you know what I mean. Sarah wasn't going to automatically become pregnant - she had to act on what God told her was going to happen.
(It was much more comical and better done by the preacher himself.)
Knowing that fine line between waiting for God to show you the path, and starting to walk down that path, is hard. Or as one person has said, "There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."
Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it's in your power to help them. (vs. 27)
And for commentary on this verse, I quote Mark Buchanan in his amazing book "Your God Is Too Safe":
"The deeper difference between Jesus' ethic and that of the Pharisees was this: The Pharisees had an ethic of avoidance, and Jesus had an ethic of involvement. The Pharisee's question was not "How can I glorify God?" It was "How can I avoid bringing disgrace to God?" This degenerated into a concern not with God, but with self - with image, reputation, procedure. They didn't ask, "How can I make others clean?" They asked, "How can I keep myself from getting dirty?" They did not seek to rescue sinners, only to avoid sinning.
Jesus, in sharp contrast, got involved. He sought always and in all ways to help, to heal, to save, to restore. Rather than running from evil, He ran toward the good. And evil, in fear, fled. Christ's ethic sends us into the gray: It is about restoration, about healing the brokenness. Frequently, Jesus issued a sharp command: "Go!"...
I once spoke to a group of young people and asked them to define a Christian. Here's what they said: A Christian is someone who doesn't smoke, doesn't drink or do drugs, doesn't have sex until marriage, doesn't use bad language. Of course, I am not suggesting a Christian does these things. But it's tragic that we instinctively define Christians by what they are not, by what they avoid. It's like being asked to draw a picture of someone and instead drawing everything around the person and leaving the portrait blank. In saying what Christians are not, we merely sketch the air around them. Christ never did that. In Matthew 25, Christ, regnant and fierce, divides sheep from the goats. How does He tell them apart? How does He separate true followers from false ones? He does not identify His disciples as those who didn't drink and didn't chew and didn't go with girls who do. What He says is, You are My disciple if I came to you naked and you clothed Me, came to you hungry and you fed Me, was in prison and you visited Me...
We are known by our fruits, not by our lack of tree fungus or leaf rot. We need to restore this ethic in our hearts and homes and churches."
This proverb is an amazing one. And once again a reminder for me to DO SOMETHING.
Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation. (vs. 3-4)
Have you ever noticed that kindness is catchy? It's infectious? A few weeks ago I remember seeing a commercial for I think an insurance company. It takes place at a county fair and it starts out with one person showing kindness to another person. In the background you see another person watch the whole thing take place, and then they show kindness to someone else, with someone else watching in the background, and it continues and continues. One person's kindness has the chance to actually bless a bunch of other people, not only the one person they showed kindness to. Something to remember when you have that decision of showing kindness or grumpiness (which probably works the same way, only negatively).
Speaking of kindness, yesterday we went to have our daughter's eyes checked, because she's been squinting a lot. Sure enough, she needs glasses. I was hoping that was one trait I wasn't passing on to her, because I got glasses when I was three years old. At least it didn't hit her that young, but still, I'm sad that she has to get glasses. Anyway, the eye doctor was a very kind older gentleman. He was very sweet with her, and asked me a ton of questions about our lives, and when he found out I was looking for a job, he started asking questions about that. He even took down my name and number and told me that he would talk to some people he knew who were looking for people to hire and that he would get back to me. Someone I didn't even know! That's a great example of kindness - going out of your way for a stranger.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend upon your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (vs. 5-6)
Most Christians know these verses. Or at least have heard them before. Today, as I read them, it reminded me of my proclivity to jumping out ahead of what God has planned for me, and figuring it out myself. Not this time, hopefully. It's hard to wait on God's timing and for God to show me what to do, however. And sometimes it's hard to know for sure that he's leading you down a certain path. I know He has called me to do something about child trafficking and child slavery, but I'm unsure about exactly what that means. Do I change careers completely and do this as a career? Is it supposed to be a side hobby? Do I look for an already established organization and join it, or do I start something on my own? The problem sometimes is that when you get the main answer (Yes, you're supposed to be doing something about this...), a thousand more questions pop up. I guess that's where trust comes in. Trust that God will answer those questions, one at a time, at His own choosing, in His own timing.
However, trusting in God doesn't mean inactivity. I watched this short sermon video of this preacher at a large church, and he was talking about Abraham and Sarah and how God told Sarah she was going to become pregnant. Obviously, for the pregnancy to happen, Abraham and Sarah needed to do something. If you know what I mean. Sarah wasn't going to automatically become pregnant - she had to act on what God told her was going to happen.
(It was much more comical and better done by the preacher himself.)
Knowing that fine line between waiting for God to show you the path, and starting to walk down that path, is hard. Or as one person has said, "There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."
Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it's in your power to help them. (vs. 27)
And for commentary on this verse, I quote Mark Buchanan in his amazing book "Your God Is Too Safe":
"The deeper difference between Jesus' ethic and that of the Pharisees was this: The Pharisees had an ethic of avoidance, and Jesus had an ethic of involvement. The Pharisee's question was not "How can I glorify God?" It was "How can I avoid bringing disgrace to God?" This degenerated into a concern not with God, but with self - with image, reputation, procedure. They didn't ask, "How can I make others clean?" They asked, "How can I keep myself from getting dirty?" They did not seek to rescue sinners, only to avoid sinning.
Jesus, in sharp contrast, got involved. He sought always and in all ways to help, to heal, to save, to restore. Rather than running from evil, He ran toward the good. And evil, in fear, fled. Christ's ethic sends us into the gray: It is about restoration, about healing the brokenness. Frequently, Jesus issued a sharp command: "Go!"...
I once spoke to a group of young people and asked them to define a Christian. Here's what they said: A Christian is someone who doesn't smoke, doesn't drink or do drugs, doesn't have sex until marriage, doesn't use bad language. Of course, I am not suggesting a Christian does these things. But it's tragic that we instinctively define Christians by what they are not, by what they avoid. It's like being asked to draw a picture of someone and instead drawing everything around the person and leaving the portrait blank. In saying what Christians are not, we merely sketch the air around them. Christ never did that. In Matthew 25, Christ, regnant and fierce, divides sheep from the goats. How does He tell them apart? How does He separate true followers from false ones? He does not identify His disciples as those who didn't drink and didn't chew and didn't go with girls who do. What He says is, You are My disciple if I came to you naked and you clothed Me, came to you hungry and you fed Me, was in prison and you visited Me...
We are known by our fruits, not by our lack of tree fungus or leaf rot. We need to restore this ethic in our hearts and homes and churches."
This proverb is an amazing one. And once again a reminder for me to DO SOMETHING.
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