Well, I am about to leave for a short trip up north and I forgot that I needed to blog about today’s Proverb. So, as I read through and pondered its sayings I wanted to pick out a few verses that really stuck out to me and share them with you.

“He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.” (v. 19)

Verse 19 really stuck out to me because I am in the process of adding to a large garden in our back yard. We have potatoes, strawberries, melons, pumpkins, peas, garlic, asparagus, tomatoes plus many, many more! It is a joy to work our “land”, and it really gives me a sense of accomplishment when I see the fruits of my labor. This verse speaks more to than just gardening, it is talking about working hard and staying focused on whats important. Getting caught up in distractions, or fantasies can lead us to use our resources in places where we end up suffering in the end.

“He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.” (v. 26)

“He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.” (v.27)

Wow, what a conviction. We see them everyday usually, and we tend to drive by and try to justify to ourselves why we don’t stop to help the poor or the homeless. We say we love God, yet continue to pass them by without reaching out to them. In Matthew we read Jesus talking about this exact issue. Chapter 25 verse 45 reads, “…Truly I say to you, as you did not do it one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

Thats all I have for today. Share what stood out to you! Thanks for reading along with us and have a blessed week!

As in water face reflects face,
so the heart of man reflects the man (v.19).

Mirrors are everywhere.  I had this thought earlier this week as I washed my hands at a Panda Express and noticed, there was no mirror in the bathroom. I found myself contemplating this.  Was there some pragmatic reason for it’s absence?  Had someone determined that not placing a mirror lessened the average length of time that a man remained in the bathroom?  Was it to save time and money on cleaning?  Then I thought, why would a public bathroom at a Panda Express need a mirror?  It was somewhat freeing not to have to stare at myself as I washed my hands. Why do so many bathrooms have mirrors anyway?  Do I really need to be reminded what I look like in the middle of the day?  Did I suddenly go gray?  Did I dress in the dark and not realize I’d mismatched colors?  Who needs all these mirrors?

Well, all that aside there’s a more powerful reflection that we men (and women too) do need.  For in the same way that a mirror’s reflection shows our true face (like it or not), our heart reflects the true us.  We might be able to put on a good act on the outside and cover over our faults with great behavior and charm, but if our heart is untouched and untransformed by God we are missing the purpose of it all.  We can work hard to behave, but that is a very different thing from developing holiness.  It is this inside-out transformation that is more difficult to monitor.  I can always glance at a mirror to see how I look, but checking the status of my heart is a different matter.  Elsewhere in Proverbs we read:

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the heart (Prov. 21:2).

We need to develop and maintain sensitivity to the Holy Spirit in our lives.  It is God who truly knows our hearts.  He can work to show us those things that need attention.  Otherwise, eventually those things will come out to the surface despite our efforts to “behave”.  The difficult work of holiness takes time, it takes God’s Spirit, and it takes a willingness to go deeper than our behavior.

So how are you doing really?

Don’t be a Dwight.  Proverbs 26:7 says:

Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless,
is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

The first part of this chapter focuses again on the nature of a “fool.”  I thought Dwight Schrute’s character from NBC’s The Office offers a great pop-culture illustration of a fool.  He’s convinced he is superior to those around him and is blind to his foolishness or to any correction that is offered to him.  The main difference is that his folly is humorous while in real life being foolish is not so funny.

Here’s a couple more of my favorites for this chapter:

Whoever sends a message by the hand of a fool
cuts off his own feet and drinks violence. (v.6)

Like a dog that returns to his vomit
is a fool who repeats his folly. (v.11)

Slice of Humble Pie

If you know me, you know that I have a son that is almost 21 months old. Some of his favorite things right now are cars, trains, basketball, his Papa and his Nonna. He loves the Pixar movie Cars right now. He probably asks to watch it at least twice a day. Because of that fact I have the amazing ability to remember and even recite some of the movie if you asked me to.

In today’s reading of Proverbs 25, I was reminded of this movie and the humiliation that Lightening McQueen received when he presumed himself winner of the Piston Cup. In the movie the race was declared a three way tie only after McQueen raced on stage before thousands of fans and cameras expecting to be declared the winner.

Proverbs 25:6-7 reads:

“Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among great men; it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before noble men.”

Reading through this Proverb was a good reminder of two things, the first being the importance of humility and not thinking too much of ourselves. This was and sometimes still is one of the hardest things for me (Church planting has defiantly served up one or two slices of humble pie for me).  We can read throughout the Old Testament where God would continue to humble the proud and in turn raise up those who are humble.

2 Samuel 22:28 says, “You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.”

The second reminder that we can take away from this verse is that excellence is often recognized and not proclaimed. We live in a world where you are supposed to go out and take what is yours, get ahead and climb your way to the top. In doing so, stepping on the lives of others along the way.  The Bible teaches us differently and so in turn we should live our lives differently.

1 Peter 5:6 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”

Act Humbly today, put others before yourself and wait patiently on the Lord’s guidance.

Today, the following verses stood out to me:

If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?

There situations in life that cry for our attention as Christians.  We are called to be salt and light to a world that needs preservation and hope.  As we preach the Kingdom of God we know that Jesus has transformed our lives, and invited us to be part of His transformation work around us.  Some day He is going to return and someday we are going to give an account for our lives as Christians.  Is there something in the world today that just isn’t right that you feel strongly about?  For my wife and I one thing that God has placed in our hearts is the opportunity and responsibility Christians have to change the lives of orphans.  It’s part of the reason we adopted, and part of the reason we hope to do so again someday.

There’s a world of good to be done.  Let’s get to work.

P.S. If you want to read a book that will open your eyes and challenge you I encourage you to buy and read The Hole in Our Gospel.  Get it, read it, do something.