The Wisdom of the Wise

Proverb 34: 30 – 34                NIV

I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

This passage reveals two principles of success, the more obvious, perhaps, the lesser of the two. The clear message of this text shows that it only takes a little slumber, just a little bit of laziness to bring poverty upon us quickly. The bigger lesson to me is how Solomon gained this wisdom.

Solomon made a real world observation. He saw the thorns and the dilapidated wall. That, however, is only information. The wisdom came later. Solomon wrote that he applied his heart to what he observed and from that he learned a lesson. Revelation came, wisdom came because he applied his heart to what he observed.

It is surprising that Solomon applied his heart rather than his mind to the data. I mean, what does that even look like? You can probably easily picture a person thinking over what they saw. What picture forms in our minds of a person applying their heart to the situation? Could it be that Solomon meditated in his heart about what he saw? Did he take the information before God and ask His explanation?

Solomon was the wisest person to have lived. He wrote the entire book of Proverbs. We know that when God gave him the opportunity to ask for whatever he wanted, he asked for wisdom. Was it the operation of that wisdom which taught him to seek answers with his heart rather than his mind? From the exercise of his heart, he gleaned further wisdom. It is like a seed which keeps producing a new harvest especially as seed from the harvest is reinvested.

The long and short of this is that we must connect with God if we are to walk in wisdom. Our minds are valuable in their own right but the communion with God must take place in the heart. This truth necessitates that we cause our hearts to be tender, not tough. We also have to learn how to go into our hearts and listen to what is going on there. This is not the way most of us are trained so it requires a proactive effort on our part to train ourselves in this mode of thought. You have heard the expression, “soul searching.” We know this process is available to us. Now, we just have to train ourselves to that we can jump into our inner self at any time.

The greatest truths are not in what you think. They are in what you glean out of your spirit as you commune with God in your heart. Practice “applying your heart” to situations and you will walk in wisdom too.

Magnified

1 John 4: 8

God is love.

Every congregation around the world has talked about this passage of scripture. We have heard time and time again that God is love but its deepest truths have yet to permeate our Christian cultures and our individual hearts.

To know God is to love. Every person who says they know God must have come to know Him as love. We must, at the very deepest levels, understand that He loves us, but further, we must grasp what it means for God’s nature to be love. Anyone who does not know love, does not know God. It is that simple.

I am listening to an audiobook, a work of fiction. The fictional world in which the characters live is populated by many different people all, who serve different Gods. The overtones of religious hypocrisy are rampant. It caused me to think of our God and our expression of who He is. The atrocities perpetuated by the characters in the book in the name of their Gods, unfortunately, mirrors the same challenges the church of Christ has endured. For me this has become a simple matter, at least theologically. Evangelism must be based in love and motivated by love. All else is both meaningless, at best, and damaging.

In driving through town one day, I saw a car painted with, what was clearly meant to be, an evangelical message. However, the words did anything but magnetize one towards Christ. In fact, I, a Christian, was repelled by the message, even offended. Presumptively, the person driving the car, the one who painted the message, was attempting to populate heaven. The message was not filled, however, with the essence of God which is love.

Sooner or later the church must decide and subsequently adopt an attitude and philosophy of love. We must first, give ourselves over to God’s love, allowing Him to love us in our deepest thoughts and feelings. As we allow ourselves to receive uncompromising love, we will be competent to tell others about the love of God. Only love draws people to God. Theology does not and hell does not. Even the promise of heaven is too vague for most people to appreciate and fathom. We needed acceptance when we were lost and flailing. We found that in our Father who accepted us as we were, even with all our scars and blemishes. We fail, however, to extend that same grace to others and I believe it is because we have yet to fully immerse ourselves in the love the Father offers us.

To my way of thinking, there is no evangelism outside of love. The world does not need us criticizing and damning them. They are not drawn to condemnation nor do they see us as more holy than they when our dialogue is full of hateful expressions instead of love. Don’t tell me you love God when you spit vitriol at His children. It is a vulgar lie. We can no longer afford the luxury of pious self-promotion while people are dying and going to hell. Others are leaving the church because they see hate and judgment. If the church is to grow and function as it was meant to, then we must make the choice to love. It is not our job to decide who goes to hell. Our job is to make hell a wasteland. Eventually, as a body and as individuals, we must embrace love and allow it to color our lives. If God is love, then our only choice is to exercise love. If we are to march in the name of our God then we cannot kill, steal or destroy in His name. This is the message of our times. The first step of this age is: embrace love. Let it fill you and let it be reflected in you. We can’t be mean-spirited and imitate Jesus. We can no longer afford to cause harm in the name of Jesus. That is not his way nor our commission. The gospel is good news and all people, when they encounter us, should have a brush with unfathomable love. Jesus told people that the Kingdom of God had come near them. People will only see the Kingdom and its power when we accomplish step one, adopt love. There is no step two until we achieve step one. Let love guide you, let it fill you. Let God be magnified by magnifying love.

Anti-aging Pill

Isaiah 40: 31

Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.

I have written to you before about the most literal sense of this verse but allow me to remind you and then we are going to see the application of it. At its most basic level this verse invites us to become intertwined with God. There are many synonyms I like for this: interwoven, intermeshed and integrated to name just a few. Isaiah communicates to us that if our lives, even our very existence, is intertwined with the life of God, then our strength will be renewed. We will soar on the wind with wings like eagles. We will run and not become weary. Enmeshed in God means we can walk without fainting. It all sounds great but is there any real world, applicable truth in it? Absolutely.

I am living in God’s grace and I bless His Holy name that this verse is true. Your body responds to God’s word. Your spirit yearns for interconnectedness with our God. And if you want the fountain of youth, I honestly believe you are going to find it between Genesis One and Revelation twenty-two. The more we connect with the trinity, the more we are interwoven with “the life.” That life within us is giving life to our mortal bodies (Romans 8: 11). It’s true!

As I said to a friend of mine one time, “Jesus looks good on you.” I honestly believe that who he is in you affects the way you look and the way your body performs. He is the life so when he makes his abode in you, then good things happen. I remember Gloria Copeland and Billye Brim talking about their skin and appearance and they agreed that the life in you helps keep you looking younger.

Okay, so here is the caveat. This isn’t your garden variety, cultural Christianity where we say the sinner’s prayer and then wait for the trumpet blast. This is interwoven life. The life of God intermeshed with all that you are. Remember the Word of the Day titled Lord of the Lunge? It is that idea, applied. Everything we do, say and think we integrate with and involve our Lord. He becomes the very present “now” in our lives. When you wake up with Him, and talk with Him, and go to bed with Him, He can’t help it, He brings more life giving momentum to your world. Honestly, some people even have a hard time dying because they are so filled up with life. That life oils your joints and produces lanolin for your skin. Maybe you will turn gray more slowly or not at all.

It’s great to have good genes. It is even better when you have a revelation of being DNA coupled with the Holy One. Let Jesus run around in your DNA chain. Then let’s talk about our genetic history and make-up. You are genetically tied to the life giving force of your heavenly Father so let’s get excited about this. Get on those eagle wings and soar. Run hard and fast. Live strong. Breathe in the life of the blessed with every breath. Let Jesus truly live his life in you but not only in your spirit. Give him your body. This really isn’t a radical idea. In fact, it isn’t even a new idea. The apostle Paul beat me to it by, oh, a couple of thousand years when he wrote, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (Romans 12: 1). Get a revelation on this now. Be like John so full of God that the enemy can’t kill you.

You can still be young and beautiful in your eighties, nineties or beyond when you know the secret of the anti-aging pill. Take this verse daily for skin care and for strength in your body. Get yourself all tangled up in Christ and enjoy this great life!

Sanctuary or Prison?

2 Corinthians 10: 3 – 4

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

Today, we hear God tell us that the weapons of the Spirit are divinely powerful and will destroy fortresses. Think of the word fortress also as stronghold. The Word of God will utterly destroy the stronghold of the enemy. But, guess who else has strongholds. Sure, all of us. We have mental and emotional strong holds that need to be defeated. The Word of God is sharp and sure and you can use it to destroy your own strongholds.

What are some strongholds that people often have? Well, we carry around all kinds of emotional baggage for starters. Strongholds can be little areas we retreat into when we are threatened. Strongholds can also be old and outdated traditions. Sometimes we adhere strictly to traditions that no longer make any sense. Maybe you lock yourself away in a fortress of fear. Even sickness and injury can be strongholds. Frankly, sometimes it is easier to be sick than to get up and fight to get well or whole. I know. Perhaps you rely on someone else to your own detriment. There is always a balance between leaning to heavily on others and being self-reliant to a fault. There are probably innumerable strongholds that we hide away in but the Word of God is strong enough to destroy all of those secret fortresses. While we have used those strongholds to protect ourselves, in truth they are keeping us from being whole. They have a high cost. They keep us disabled. They prevent us from reaching our true potential. Most importantly, they rob us of ever having healthy relationships with our Father and with others. They were convenient for a season but now it is time to break out of all those little dark fortresses we have built up within ourselves. They keep us from truly experiencing the freedom that we could have in Christ. Most of them are built out of lies and misconceptions anyway.

You no longer need a made up fortress to protect you from hurt. You are an adult in Christ now and you can take on the biggest baddie that the devil ever created because you don’t have to fight anything in your own might any longer. You don’t have to hide away in fear any more. When the light of the son shines on those old fears, you will see them for the lies they are. You will see how much greater the son is than those problems. You can truly be free and you can develop into the person that God intended you to be before those things interfered with your development. Let the light of the Word shine and vanquish those little demons that have plagued you for so long.

Lord of the Lunge

Proverb 3: 6

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

I was inspired, yesterday, by a group of athletes at the YMCA. Their enthusiasm for their workout is eclipsed only by their enthusiasm for their God. Recently I wrote a devotional about functional fitness and questioned what functional Christianity looks like. Yesterday I received my answer. Functional Christianity is in acknowledging God in all you do. For many of us, exercising our bodies is a singular task but what I found with this group is that they also exercise their spirits and their fellowship while flexing their muscles. After class, we were invited to pray together. What a blessing that was to me and I think God was honored to be a part of our workout.

When we go to work, to the grocery store or even when we are sweating and grunting with weights or a bicycle, there must still be space in our lives to acknowledge God. There should still be room in our hearts, minds and even our expressions with others to acknowledge and recognize our God. It is easy for us to get wrapped up in everything we do during the course of a day and never involve our Lord but if He is truly the Lord of our lives then He ought to have a place in everything we do. Whatsmore, His lordship ought to leave footprints on the paths of our life. His life leaves marks on our lives and those marks are, hopefully, visible to others. We begin in acknowledging God in all we do and then we start acknowledging God to others. We then find that we begin to leave footprints in other people’s lives. Our inclusiveness of God in all we do eventually envelopes people we encounter along the journey. The goodness of God is then expanded beyond its initial borders until eventually it reaches every person on earth.

It all begins with involving the Lord in all the activities of life. Take Him to work, take Him to the mall and definitely take Him to the Gym. Life is better when God is present. You may not be fond of lunges but they go much better when God is the Lord of the lunge.

Hot Yoga

Psalm 46: 10                          KJV

Be still, and know that I am God.

Today’s Word of the Day is dedicated to my friend, Marco Gravino. This past weekend I attended my high school class reunion. Marco and I attended school together from middle school until high school graduation. I am happy to know and happy to say that Marco is a man of faith. What a joy it is to discover after so many years that people you knew and cared about all those years ago have grown up to have strong faith in God. It is nourishment for the soul.

Marco was, and still is, an athlete. As we talked, we realized that we both have participated in hot yoga. The revelation we gained in yoga is that power is not the answer. In many western societies, the adage, “If you can’t fix it, get a bigger hammer,” is symbolic of our response to problems. We tend to apply power to fix a problem and if that doesn’t resolve it, we apply more power. In yoga, the typical athletic approach of using more force, more muscle simply does not work. When I could not get into a pose, I would muster more strength out of my muscles and try to force my body into the correct position. As all of you who practice yoga know, that is completely counter-productive. Learning to relax into a pose challenged everything in my athletic mindset.

The use of breath is completely different as well. As we muster strength out of our muscles we tend to hold our breath for a big exhalation at the end of an exertion. Yoga, which comes from eastern thought, would have you breathe smoothly and freely. When a pose challenges, you concentrate on relaxing breaths rather than focusing on muscle strength. It is completely counter-intuitive and yet it works.

Marco and I talked about how this is a metaphor for life and Marco said it would make a good Word of the Day to which I heartily agreed. I have found that my life has been punctuated by this tendency to try harder, strive more, push harder. As I am learning to be still and let God be known, I find the secret is very much like yoga. I needed to learn to breathe and relax. This has been the single biggest revelation in my Christian life in the last fifteen years. It has been especially critical in my ability to hear God speak. The New American Standard Version of this verse reads, “Cease striving and know that I am God.” Well, “strive” was my middle name. My characteristic response to a challenge was to work more hours, work faster, work harder. In other words, apply more strength and more power. In my attempts to hear God’s voice, this straining and striving actually made it more difficult. I had to learn to be still. I cannot express what a challenge that was for me. First I would get my body still only to have my mind run rampant. Then I would try to quiet my mind. Before five minutes passed I was usually bouncing my leg or off thinking about all the things I needed to do.

The secret for me was in learning to breathe and even learning how to breathe. I found that in my striving mode, I tended to breath shallowly and from my chest. I learned, though, to breathe from my diaphragm and to breathe deeply and slowly. Now, with one deep breath and a full exhalation, I can instantly calm down my physiology and my mind. Sure, it took practice but I have finally discovered that when I am still and quiet, God can be God. There is room for Him in my mind and heart when I pause long enough to breathe. He is waiting to impart wisdom to me but I must be still so I can hear. When I calm my physicality, when I cease striving, then I give Him the space to act for me. He gets to be God instead of me.

Life is happening all around us every day. Life lessons are in the next breath. From learning how to relax into a yoga pose rather than trying to muscle into it, I learned a valuable spiritual principle and life skill. Relax, be still and let God show Himself. Thanks Marco for pointing out how God is teaching and leading us, giving us valuable life lessons in our everyday walk with Him. Be still, cease striving and let God ease you into your yoga pose and your new revelation with Him.

Hideaway

Psalm 18: 2

The Lord is my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

This is not an unfamiliar scripture to you nor is the concept foreign. What we may not have considered, though, is the practical application involved and implied in this verse. One of the things I am doing these days which is bringing enlightenment to my thinking is that I am reading verses from a very pragmatic perspective. Beyond the poetic verse, and the almost ethereal ideals, there must be a practical application in order for these verses to have gravity in my very present life. “Thanks, David, for showing us your relationship and interaction with the Father but how do I apply that to my here and now?” That is the continual question I endeavor to answer on a daily basis.

I like to think that the Lord is our refuge and fortress as well but when David wrote, “in whom I take refuge” what do you suppose he actually did? Was this just a figure of speech or was there something affirmative he did? I think for us to run into the refuge of our hiding place we must actually engage in some kind of intentional act. Perhaps that act is prayer or meditation. I do not think that accepting the concept of God as our rock, shield and stronghold is the same as taking refuge in Him. I perceive from David’s words that when the pressure was on, he stopped looking to himself as the source of strength and instead went to the Lord in his spirit, in his mind and in his prayers. I think his retreat into the Lord was so real that it was all but a physical sequestration.

There is a level of surrender and release in this escape into the fortress of the Lord. It calls on God to be the strong savior while we rest in the shadow of His presence. We can, quite literally, I believe, hide ourselves away in who God is.

This taking these verses literally instead of figuratively is where the revelation begins to pour out like a summer rain and we begin to see real world application for what otherwise might be mere poetry to others. In all these high ideals there is the real world and God is one for real effects. What seems like a purely spiritual idea is really a God idea that is effectuated through the Spirit but with real impact on real lives. We, therefore, can read the Bible with that in mind and thus find the means for it to change our lives forever.