Wisdom’s Fruit

On May 17, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 8: 32 – 36

Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts. For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, “but he who sins against me injures himself; all those who hate me love death.”

The speaker in this passage is wisdom. Wisdom was in the beginning with God and by her He founded the earth. “Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor” (Proverb 3: 16). In her are blessing and life, so if we want either those or riches, we should seek wisdom. She promised that those who diligently seek her will find her (Proverb 8: 17). This book of the proverbs is her book. She discloses herself here and the fruit of seeking her.

One of the first things I noticed from this excerpt from the eighth proverb is that we must heed instruction. That, I believe, creates a rather large stumbling block. To receive instruction requires humility and we are loathe to humble ourselves before anyone, even sometimes God. God gives wisdom to people on earth and they are meant to share it with others. However, one cannot share what others will not receive. However, wisdom teaches us that it is in our own self-interest to seek and receive the offerings of wisdom.

Another fruit of receiving wisdom is favor from the Lord. I like to think of God’s favor as the grease on the wheels of life. As you enjoy the Lord’s favor, life simply goes more smoothly. All sorts of things, both small and large, just seem to go your way. From getting a good parking place to securing a major contract for your business, God’s favor greases the way and we obtain that favor when we seek wisdom and heed her lessons.

Wisdom is calling out in the streets. She wants to be your ally. If you seek her, you will find her and one great way to seek her is in this book of wisdom , the Proverbs. Honor is with her; success is in her hand. She wants to bless you. Call upon her and receive, of the Lord, all His goodness.

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Arise and Live

On May 16, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 6: 6 – 11

Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer, and gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest” – and your poverty will come in like a vagabond, and your need like an armed man.

When it is time to rest, rest but when it is time to work, do your work heartily as to the Lord. I am preaching to myself today. I, like many of you, must manage my own time. As you know, having discretion can create a challenge. It is easy to decide I am tired and roll over instead of rolling out. I usually regret such a choice. If I had only read Proverbs, right? Well, of course, I have read all of the proverbs, many times but that does not mean that these lessons are not new each day.

One of the many lessons I have learned is that God did not make us to be lazy. We are not fully satisfied or even happy when we adopt the sluggard’s life. If we no longer feel the guilt of our bad choices, it only means we have conditioned ourselves so as to anesthetize those feelings. If we persist in the unfavored behaviors, we will eventually become immune to the Holy Spirit’s voice within us. At that point, we even convince ourselves that we are not doing anything wrong. I have heard people justify adultery as easily as I justify sleeping in. Simply and honestly stated, we are both just wrong. Father wants better for us than those behaviors and the lies we tell ourselves.

I believe it is important for us to realize that God has made us to be heat-seeking missiles. By that I mean that we are designed as goal oriented, success seeking organisms. Our souls are engineered to pursue excellence. Our design is not as sleepy, lazy, lay abouts. No matter how much we may try to convince ourselves, the truth is that we are not fulfilled and are not happy when we are not in pursuit of some goal or hobby. In today’s proverb, God warns us away from apathetic, passive lives. He wants us to live with the throttle open. With him, there is success and in that success not merely accomplishment but joy and service to others. There is so much to do in the earth, so much which needs doing. We really don’t have time to sleep in. We’ve things to do, things to see, words to speak.

It only takes a little folding of our hands for our lives to begin to leak out. Life is for living. At the end of our days on earth, what do you wish your resume to look like? Do you want to say, I watched television or I took my grandkids to the park. Do you want sleep to fill the largest time block or is there something else you would rather be known for? Arise O sluggard. Seek new heights, new goals and pursue new ambitions. Read another book, paint a painting. Make your life worth the living every single day and while you’re at it, call me and make sure I am awake. I want to run with you!

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Paying Attention

On May 15, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 4: 20 – 22

My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their whole body.

This is probably the most well-known of the proverbs. It is quoted often because it contains such powerful truths. If we will take this proverb at face value and apply it to our lives then we will enjoy the fruit it yields. All too often, though, these passages become mere words in our ears. We hear them, we can quote them but they have lost all meaning. Perhaps today we can resurrect this proverb allowing it to breathe new life into us.

The truth is that everyday modern science is proving the potency of these ancient scriptures. The wisdom God gave us from the start is being shown to be absolutely accurate. His words and His sayings are giving life to people’s bodies. Prayer is being quantitatively measured and we are beginning to understand from a Quantum Physics perspective how right God was all along. I believe that means that those who have and can apply wisdom will not wait for science to prove the next parable or proverb but will accept them at face value and apply the age old advice offered in the Proverbs and, indeed, in the whole Bible.

The first admonition of today’s proverb is to pay attention to God’s words. This must be the starting point for all serious Christians. God’s Words are containers of His truths and thus of His power. Applying His power, authority and wisdom to any situation can only improve its status.

The second major part of this passage bears close scrutiny though. We have rarely given serious consideration to the ideas contained therein. If you tell someone that keeping God’s words and sayings in their sight and in the midst of their heart will bring them life and give health to their whole body, they will readily agree with you. However, that is usually the end of it. Shouldn’t we give it a great deal more attention than quick assent. I mean, if I can tell you how to add life and health to your life, wouldn’t you want to pause and consider those thoughts more carefully? That is the essential advice that Solomon has tried to get across to us in this passage. STOP! And consider. What God is telling us is the way to increase life and bodily health. Pause and think about how these words could impact your life.

There is little time for sober thought these days. We are busy and our environment is so noisy that you can barely think. My gym has a TV in the dressing room. Even the gas station pollutes the air with TV news while I pump my gas. Did the forces of evil know that I pray while I pump gas? You would think so. In truth, it is hard to get away from the constant noise. Even in our few minutes of alone time, we think of someone we need or want to call or text. There needs to be a few minutes in each day when you actually think, when other stimulation is not bombarding your senses so that you can actually consider God and what He might want to say to you today. You should guard those moments for they are precious. Take time to ponder. Enjoy a few minutes to ask yourself how the Bible, God’s words, can become more real in your life today. What can you do to apply more of God’s wisdom to your life. Give the TV a pass for an hour and pick up your user’s guide to the human experience and allow God to minister healthy, life and blessing to your life today.

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Dams

On May 12, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 3: 9 – 10

Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce, so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Sometimes humans are the dullest form of intelligent life. This verse couldn’t get much simpler, and yet there is tremendous resistance within the church to giving. God has told us how to have abundance. He wants us to experience overflow. Overflow is when you have more than enough. That is a typical God plan. He never stops at just filling a cup. He runs it over. So, if we are not experiencing overflow, what is damming the flow?

It turns out that we use our intelligence quotient to construct dams in our lives. We are blocking our own flow, in other words. The principle pointed to in today’s proverb is no different than what Jesus taught. It is the principle of sowing and reaping. God is a multiplier. He multiplies what we give Him and gives it back to us. In the old days they taught us that a hundred times zero was not a good yield. A hundred times one is better but if I understand God and His ways, I can use the kingdom principles He put in place thousands of years ago and receive whatever yield I need or want.

So how do we honor the Lord from our wealth and the first of our produce? One of the obstacles some people face is that they are happy to bless the Lord but they don’t like giving to person in order to accomplish that goal. Well, as I have said before, if you cannot trust your minister with your money then you probably want to look for another church home. Secondly, I find it hard to believe we can’t find one minister in all the world who we believe will use God’s money in the way He directs them. Third, pray over your giving. God will honor and multiply your gift without regard to what the person you give it to does with the money. Your part is just to give. When you let go of it, then the rest is up to God.

So, what I want to say to you is, “Don’t worry about it.” I want you in overflow. I want no financial stress on you whatsoever. Therefore, I encourage you to pour out your gifts to the Lord, even if they go through a person, so that God can overflow your cup. Tear down the dams in your life and let God bless you.

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Kindness and Truth

On May 11, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 3: 3 – 4

Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, so you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.

If we were to have a Word of the Day on every verse in Proverbs which is highlighted in my Bible we would be here for a while. Today’s verse is one of the more well known proverbs. It is typical of the Proverbs. It shows a cause and effect, a result and the means by which to attain that result. The result we gain today is favor and a good reputation with God and man.

The thing I particularly like about today’s verse is the translation of truth into “Jesus”. In John 14: 6 Jesus calls himself the truth. So then I read this verse as, “Do not let kindness and Jesus leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” I think when people read proverbs like the one for today, there is an immediate acceptance of the ideas contained within. This verse sounds like a good idea but how do you apply it? How do you bind kindness and truth around your neck?

One of our responses may be, “be people of kindness and truth” and that seems to make sense. Thinking about Jesus as the truth creates a more dynamic model. Because we also know that Jesus is the Word, we can actually write this truth on our hearts. That makes today’s proverb less of an esoteric idea and more of an applied model. That is good for us.
What a pleasant idea it is thinking about binding Jesus around our necks and writing him on the tablet of our hearts. He is our Bible partner. As we seek him through the Word, meditating on Biblical precepts as we do, Jesus becomes more and more ingrained into every part of us. He is his word and he is truth and when we make kindness and truth a part of us then God’s favor becomes part of as well. In addition the favor of man and a good reputation with God and man become ours. All of that makes life here on this earth better and easier.

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Free Wisdom

On May 10, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   1 Comment

Proverb 2: 6

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.

All wisdom, knowledge and understanding are God’s and He freely gives it to His children. But like children, sometimes we forget that we have a parent with knowledge and wisdom who is willing to help us if we will only allow ourselves to be led. The irony is that it takes a great deal of maturity for us to begin to realize that we do not have all of the answers and to accept help from others. It may seem ludicrous that we would value our own advice and knowledge over God’s but that is the way we behave. Little children are proud of doing things for themselves and it takes a while for them to learn when to ask a parent for help.

Well, I like that God gives wisdom. He doesn’t sell wisdom but instead gives it away. When we listen to Him, we receive knowledge and understanding because that is what comes from His mouth. He has stored up the wisdom you need for every situation in your life. Will He not give it to you if He has been saving it for you? Of course, He will.

So how do you receive it? You ask Him for wisdom. Ask Him to give you understanding. Then you have to be quiet long enough to hear. For me that means turning off the television and the stereo because I cannot hear Him when my environment is full of sound. You may have to slow down a bit. Find some quiet time and let Him give you the answers you seek.

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Wisdom is for the Wise

On May 9, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 1: 5

A wise man will hear and increase in learning.

If a wise person hears and increases in learning, what does an unwise person do? What do we call an unwise person? Who is that person, what does it look like to be unwise? One of the first tidbits Solomon offers us is that we have the choice to increase in wisdom.

Honestly, do you find people teachable? Would you consider yourself teachable? When did we get so smart that we have nothing left to learn? One of the lessons I was fortunate enough to learn very young in life is that everyone has something to teach me. Even a homeless person can teach us how to survive the mean streets.

I sometimes wonder if our society is becoming more arrogant and self-impressed or if we were always this way and I have only just now begun to notice. Sometimes I think that if I really believed in the Holy Spirit and really believed that he is moving in the environment today, then I wouldn’t be so convinced that I have the answers or that I even need to. Perhaps I would be more willing to listen to the counsel of others. After all, God used a donkey twice so he ought to be able to use the people around us. Of course, maybe he had to use a donkey because we humanoids are too stubborn to listen to one another.

All kidding aside, I really do think this is an epidemic. I have noticed how people have less respect for professionals and for pastors as well. Though we believe that God is willing to talk to each one of us, there is still a role for ministers and I believe we are well advised to seek their wisdom. I also think there are people in your life right now who are able to hear the voice of God, and who are willing to share with you. I also believe there are people with life experiences and wisdom who can make our journey easier. I also think others can see, with a cleaner perspective, what we cannot see for ourselves. If we can coach ourselves into humility, we can take advantage of their perspective and not be slaves to recurring patterns.

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