Category Archives: Proverbs

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It’s All The President’s Fault

Take Responsibility for Your Own Life

SYNOPSIS: Shifting blame for problems is humanity’s national pastime, going all the way back to  Eden when Adam blamed Eve, then Eve blamed the serpent, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on. But Proverbs 19:3 reminds us, “Some people ruin themselves by their own stupid actions and then blame the Lord.” Listen up my friend, raging against God or blaming anybody other than yourself is risky business! It’s counter-productive to your personal growth. It reduces you to perpetual victimhood. It keeps you from exercising the one ability that makes you the highest order of God’s creation: personal responsibility. Instead, take ownership of your own flaws and failures and do something about them (cf. Gen 4:7). Whenever you do that, it’s a good thing.

Blaming is risky business.

Moments With God // Proverbs 19:3

A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord.

I knew that title would get your attention, depending on which political party you subscribe to!

Now, just relax—I’m not making a political statement. If you were about to get all right wing—chill! If you’re a lefty—same to ya! My point is, whether you’re a conservative or liberal, you probably like to blame. If you’re a part of the human race, you’ve just got that blame gene coiled tight and ready to spring. It’s our national pastime as human beings, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on.

I like the way the Message translates Proverbs 19:3—it doesn’t get much plainer than this:

People ruin their lives by their own stupidity, so why does God always get blamed?

Have you ever known anyone to blame God when the mess they were in was the result of their own foolishness? No exaggeration—I meet people on a weekly basis who do that. Perhaps you would have to admit that even you have been guilty of pointing the finger at God?

  • Have you ever overspent, or exercised poor financial management, or purchased something you couldn’t afford then blamed God for a bank account that won’t pay the bills?
  • Have you neglected the spiritual disciplines—Bible reading, prayer, worship, regular church attendance—then wondered why God doesn’t seem to speak to you in times of distress?
  • Have you withheld your tithe and then blamed God for the loss of a job, or unhappiness in your vocation, or a rotten work environment?
  • Have you been undisciplined in eating, sleeping, and exercising, then been upset when God didn’t give you a physical healing?
  • Have you ever allowed a negative personality trait to go unchecked and then wondered why God doesn’t give you close friends or help you sustain a dating relationship or find a mate?

My guess is that some of you reading this right now are getting mad at me. But raging against me, or God, or blaming anybody other than yourself is risky business! It’s counter-productive to your personal growth. It reduces you to perpetual victimhood. It keeps you from exercising the one ability that makes you the highest order of God’s creation: personal responsibility.

You will notice two key words in that verse. The first one is the word “ruin.” In Hebrew, it’s salap, which means to distort, twist, or pervert. It means to twist the facts or distort reality, and it leads to clouding one’s ability to think clearly. If you are in the habit of casting blame against God, you will end up with twisted thinking and lose touch with what is truly going on.

The second one is the word “rages.” In the Hebrew, it is the word za’ep, which means to fume or to storm. It was used to describe breathing hard or blowing, like a storm blowing in and raging. If you are a blamer, your twisted thinking will cause you to rage unreasonably against the wrong object.

If that is the case with you, quit raging against God, or others, and get mad enough at your own foolish behavior that it leads you to take ownership of it and do something about it. That is taking personal responsibility.

And whenever you do that, it’s a good thing.

Notice how God says this very thing to Cain in the famous line from Genesis 4:7,

If you do what is right, will you will be smiling (TEV). But if you don’t do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

So seriously consider what God says in terms of your own life. Then, go do the right thing!

Take A Moment: Do you have a trusted and honest friend? I hope so. Ask them if you have any character deficits for which you are not taking personal responsibility. And here is a rule of thumb for this kind of activity: Whatever they say—believe them.

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The Tragedy of a Vandalized Life

Offer All of Your Life To God—All of It!

SYNOPSIS: In light of all that Jesus did to pull your no-good carcass out of the HOV lane to eternal hell, it is only right and fitting that your 24/7 existence should be offered in such a way that it is a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. Obviously, this is the only appropriate, logical, and pleasing way to worship him. So, use it in such a way that God will receive your life as an offering of worship placed before his glorious throne.

The Tragedy of a Vandalized Life

Moments With God // Proverbs 18:19

Slack habits and sloppy work are as bad as vandalism (The Message)

When you made the decision to follow Christ, you entered a binding contract with God Almighty that all of your life would be lived for his glory alone. All of your life! Not just some of it; not just your time in church; not just your early morning devotional time—you committed every split second of it to him! Soli Deo Gloria!

Now as serious as your responsibilities in that deal are, what you get out of it is still unbelievably grace-weighted in your favor, times infinity! You see, in light of all that Jesus did to pull your no-good carcass out of the HOV lane to eternal hell, it is only right and fitting that your 24/7 existence should be offered in such a way that it is a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. Obviously, this is the only appropriate, logical, and pleasing way to worship him.

Now in case you haven’t picked up on it yet, I’m simply quoting what Paul said in Romans 12:1—just paraphrasing a little, since Paul didn’t know what an HOV lane was.

Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for ( (Rom 12:1, The Message)

God created you, and through his death and resurrection, Jesus recreated you, so that you could take your everyday, ordinary, sleeping, eating, going-to-work, walking around life—that about covers it—and use it in such a way that God will receive it as an offering of worship placed before his glorious throne.

That is why even seemingly innocuous stuff like the private thoughts you entertain and the personal habits you tolerate and the unheard words you speak are extremely important—because God knows, God sees, and God hears. (If you think I am overstating it, go back and read Psalm 139.)

The simple fact is that God Almighty wants even your unguarded life to reflect his glory and grace. The Apostle Paul said it well in Colossians 3:23-24,

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Since, as Isaiah 49:16 says, our “walls are ever before him”, let’s keep off the graffiti. What a tragedy it is to offer him a vandalized life—either in our 24/7 life or on the day we stand before him. He deserves better—and we can do better!

Take A Moment: Read the entirety of Colossians 3 at some point today, and reflect on how well you are offering the various dimensions of your life “as unto the Lord.”

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Spitting In God’s Face

Contempt for the Creator

Synopsis: When we look without compassion at people trapped in a cycle of economic despair or act as if they deserve what they are getting due to their own poor financial management, we come dangerously close to spitting in God’s face: “Those who mock the poor show contempt for their maker.” (Prov 17:5) Scripture repeatedly warns that those attitudes have no place in Christ’s community. Rather, when we lift the downtrodden, bear each other’s burdens, strengthen the weak, and love the unlovely we’re literally doing it to Jesus. (Matt 25:40) Jesus himself said that the defining mark of his followers would be that they have a full-throttled love for 1) God, 2) one another, and 3) a hurting world. And guess what? Two out of three won’t cut it! Let’s help the hurting. Do it for Jesus … do it to Jesus!

Spitting in God's Face

Moments With God // Proverbs 17:5

He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

Contempt for the Creator—really?

Yep! That’s what Creator says in the Operator’s Manual he’s provided for us—the Bible. It says that when we look without compassion at those who are trapped in a cycle of economic despair or who have suddenly fallen into financial ruin, or act as if they deserve what they are getting due to their own poor financial management, we come dangerously close to spitting in the face of God.

In fact, there are an astounding number of places in the Bible warning us that those kinds of attitudes have no place in the community of Christ. Rather, we have been called to lift up the downtrodden, we are to bear one another’s burdens, and we are to strengthen the weak and love the unlovely. Not only that, but Jesus himself said that the defining mark of his followers would be that they have a full-throttled love, one, for God, two, for one another, and three, for a hurting world. And guess what? Two out of three doesn’t cut it here!

It is not that we have ignored the hurting, the fallen, or the poor entirely. We do a pretty good job of giving to disaster relief, sending our unused clothing to thrift stores, and donating canned goods to shelters. That’s not the problem; it’s the attitude with which we do it. You see, we engage the hurting but we don’t empathize with them very well. We open our wallets, just not our hearts. Yet the Bible tells us that God is on the side of the poor and the downcast. In fact, to ignore their needs or to judge them is to show contempt for God himself:

You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless; when you’re kind to the poor, you honor God. (Prov 14:31)

It’s criminal to ignore a neighbor in need, but compassion for the poor—what a blessing! (Prov 14:21)

Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full. (Prov 19:17)

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 25:40, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

So the bottom line is this: We had better guard our hearts and watch our attitudes very carefully when it comes to the poor and hurting. We, as individual believers and corporately as churches, need to develop a sensitive heart and a willing response. Compassion is the rightful domain of Christ’s community and we need to seriously up our game when it comes to care and involvement with the less fortunate.

Why is this such a big deal to God? Five reasons.

  1. God is on the side of the poor.
  2. Not to take their side too is inviting the judgment of God.
  3. Taking care of what God cares about invites God to take care of what you care about.
  4. Care and involvement with the poor will nourish your spirit and transform your own character
  5. Expressing God’s heart for those trapped in misfortune will exert the awesome, life-changing power to lift a person out of their despair—something that may never occur without your helping hand.

So, my friend, do you have God’s heart for the poor?

Take A Moment: In the Incarnation, Christ left his glory to enter into our poverty. We have been called to the same kind of incarnational living. So here’s the $64,000 question: What about your attitude, your schedule, and your activities need to change to fully, personally, and practically exude the Incarnation in your world?

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The Simple Recipe For True Success

Follow It And You Will Achieve It

SYNOPSIS: Success! A lot of books have been written about the secrets of success. Thousands of people attend expensive seminars on how to be successful. A mindboggling amount of brainpower is exerted every second of the day on Planet Earth to achieve success. And to be sure, much of what has been written, offered, and exerted is quite good. But there really is no secret to being successful. It’s quite easy, actually. It’s not hidden but is open to everyone. It’s more of a recipe, if you will, that anyone can follow to achieve it. It’s simply this: find out what God wants—then do it.

Moments With God // Proverbs 16:3

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

A lot of books have been written about the secrets of success. Thousands of people attend expensive seminars on how to be successful. A mindboggling amount of brainpower is exerted every second of the day on Planet Earth to achieve success. And to be sure, much of what has been written, offered, and exerted is quite good. But there really is no secret to being successful. It is quite easy, actually. It is not hidden but is open to everyone. It is more of a recipe, if you will, that anyone can follow to achieve it. It is simply this:

Find out what God wants—then do it.

That is what Solomon is saying: “Put God in charge of your work, then what you’ve planned will take place.” (The Message) Many other Bible figures have said the same. Consider the following:

Moses: “I am about to go the way of all the earth, so be strong, show yourself a man, and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go.” (I Kings 2:2-3)

Joshua: “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:8-9, NLT)

King David: “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.” (Psalm 37:4-6)

Jesus Christ: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

So what is the recipe for success? Quite plainly, here it is: Take care of the things that God cares about, he will take care of the things you care about.

That is his promise, not mine.

Take A Moment: Take time today to run each of the things in which you are striving to be successful through the filter of the verses mentioned above. Are they aligned with God’s truth? Are they what God wants? Are they kingdom-focused? If not, I think you know what to do.

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Control Your Rudder, Brudder!

Loose Lips Really Do Sink Ships

SYNOPSIS: This will be your toughest assignment today, but hands down, the most important. It could be that relationships will be helped or hindered based on your success. It might be that witnessing opportunities will appear or disappear commensurate with your mastery of the mission. It is likely that the door to greater opportunity will open or shut depending on how well you do. It might even be that your destiny will rise or fall relative to your ability to gain the upper hand in this task. I am talking, of course, about the use or misuse of the words you speak today! The direction your life takes will be determined by how well you control your tongue.

Control your mouth

Moments With God // Proverbs 15:1

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

This will be the toughest assignment you will have today, but hands down, it is the most important. It could be that relationships will be helped or hindered based on your success. It might be that witnessing opportunities will appear or disappear commensurate with your mastery of the mission. It is likely that the door to greater opportunity will open or shut depending on how well you do. It might even be that your destiny will rise or fall relative to your ability to gain the upper hand in this task.

I am talking, of course, about the use or misuse of the words you speak today! Your tongue is, in reality, the rudder to the ship of your life, and the direction you take will be determined by how well you control it. Seriously, brother and sister, tame your tongue or you are likely to shipwreck your life sooner or later! If you think I am overstating the power of your words, take a moment to read James 3 and Matthew 12:33-37. If you doubt me now, you won’t then:

For sure, perfectly controlling your speech is tough work, but the payoff will be immense. Think about the personal power of the one whose tongue has been brought under control by the Spirit-formed heart:

  • Conflict is diffused! Proverbs 15:1says, “A gentle answer turns away anger while harsh words fuels the fire.” Proverbs 15:18 tells us, “A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.”
  • Knowledge is distributed! Proverbs 15:2 says, “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of a fool gushes folly.” Proverbs 15:7 reminds us, “The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools”, while Proverbs 15:14 follows with, “The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.”
  • Life is dispensed! Proverbs 15:4 says, “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” Proverb 15:30 offers this reminder: “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.”

Just think, if you can control your rudder today, and develop a track record of rudder control, then you can initiate peace, instill knowledge and instigate life! Now that kind of personal impact is worth the effort!

Take A Moment: If you work next to someone, give that person permission to remind you every time you utter a negative, harsh, coarse or foolish word. Agree to pay them $5.00 for every infraction. If you work alone, ask the Holy Spirit to be your accountability partner…and Just pay me the $5.00 every time you blow it. And if you’re tempted to fudge the results, remember, the Spirit knows!

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Get Your Mess On!

There Is Opportunity In Your Chaos

SYNOPSIS: Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, was no doubt a very orderly, strategic person. Just look at the details of the Temple that he designed and built. It was grand beyond description. He was a man of great planning and execution, but he had also come to understand that surprises and messes and interruptions were not only to be expected in life, they often became life’s little serendipities. The unexpected pleasures and great discoveries in life are often unplanned, even when we guard our lives so tightly trying to prevent them. But “it” happens! Or as Solomon would say, “When the bull is not in the barn, it stays nice ‘n’ tidy, but if you want a cash crop, you got to put up with a stinky stall.”

Get Your Mess On

Moments With God // Proverbs 14:4

Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest.

You have heard it said, “A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind.” That came from a brilliant theologian by the name of Garfield. So if Garfield said it, it has to be true, right?

Of course, most of us neat and orderly Type A personalities would say to that one, “put the cat back in the bag.” But, reluctantly and grudgingly, I have to admit that there is a truth hidden in Garfield’s reasoning. Maybe he’d just read Proverbs 14:4—my paraphrase,

When the bull is not in the barn, it stays nice ‘n’ tidy,
but if you want a cash crop, you got to put up with a stinky stall.

Yeah, Garfield, life gets messy!

As much as some of us would like to control everything that goes on in and around our lives, keeping things as neat, orderly, and sterile as an operating room, we can’t. Sometimes things happen beyond our control.

Have you noticed that life spilling out beyond the boundaries seems to be the rule rather than the exception?

So, what is Solomon saying? Forget about order? Don’t sweat staying within the borders? Don’t worry about the details? I don’t think so. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, was no doubt a very orderly, strategic person. Just look at the details of the Temple that he designed and built. It was grand beyond description. Solomon was a man of great planning and execution. But he had also come to understand that surprises and messes and interruptions were not only to be expected in life, but they often became life’s little serendipities. The unexpected pleasures and great discoveries in life are often unplanned, even when we guard our lives so tightly trying to prevent them. But, “it” happens!

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul would say it this way: “For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) So instead of ruthlessly trying to eliminate the unexpected and strategically avoiding the out-of-bounds in our lives, Solomon says we should embrace them as necessary to a fruitful, joyful life.

  • A consistently clean room means the child has gone away to college.
  • A marriage without heartache means that a husband and wife no longer share the same bathroom.
  • A ministry that doesn’t have to clean up the after-effects of sin means a church without people.
  • A life without relational disappointment means love never ventured.
  • A perfect world means you’ve lived in the safety of suburbia so long that you’ve forgotten the opportunities God has for you to change a lost and hurting world.

Life gets messy! So why not jump in with both feet and enjoy the mess. Get your mess on! Get involved. Get your hands dirty. Be useful. It won’t hurt you! In fact, you might find an unanticipated dimension of life that leads to incredible fulfillment.

Just remember what God did with a whole lot of chaos. (Gen 1:2)

Take A Moment: Make a list of five things that are irritating you at the moment. Now, beside each one, write a sentence-prayer expressing gratitude to God for how he is going to use these “messes” to bring about good in your life.

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Keep Hope Alive

Biblical Hope Enables You To Not Only Endure, But To Victoriously Overcome

SYNOPSIS: Biblical hope is not just a vague and lofty concept; it’s actually a very practical thing. Just like a football player puts on his helmet for the game, or a soldier puts on his helmet for battle, we’ve got to put on the helmet of hope, particularly the hope of our salvation because it is what enables us to endure life’s battles and come out victorious at the end of the day. That’s called practicing hope. So how can you literally put hope on as a helmet? First, quit being passive about hope. Hope is not just going to happen for you, you’ve got to practice it. Second, develop patterns of thinking that are founded in hope. The fact is, there are not only ways of thinking that will kill hope, there are ways of thinking that produce hope.

Keep Hope Alive

Moments With God // Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Hope is an incredible motivator in life, a powerful sustainer of love, and arguably, it is the most effective instigator of spiritual growth. On the other hand, the loss of hope is arguably the greatest devastator of life a human being can experience. That’s how profoundly powerful hope is. Speaking of the power of hope, Martin Luther King, Jr. said,

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

He is absolutely right: we must never lose infinite hope. The Contemporary English Version translates Proverbs 13:12 this way: “Not getting what you want can make you feel sick, but a wish that comes true is a life-giving tree.” That’s so true, isn’t it? Hope is that powerful.

We’ve all been there—the loss of a job, the breakup of a relationship, the crushing of a dream—it takes your legs right out from under you. It tempts you to give up, shrink back, curl up in a ball and just quit on life. There is no pain quite like the loss of hope.

But when you have hope you can survive and actually thrive through just about anything. When hope is stoked, even when what you’re hoping for is still a far-off expectation, suddenly there is energy, drive, focus, and patient endurance.

That’s how powerful hope is, and that’s why we got to practice it. Huh? Practice hope? Yeah, that’s what the Bible says. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 says we’ve got to exercise hopefulness…we’ve got to practice being hopeful…we’ve go to put on hope:

But since we belong to the day let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

You see, hope is not just some vague and lofty concept; it’s actually a very practical thing. Just like a football player puts on his helmet for the game, or a soldier puts on his helmet for battle, we’ve got to put on the helmet of hope, particularly the hope of our salvation because it is what enables us to endure life’s battles and come out victorious at the end of the day.

So how can you literally put hope on as a helmet? First, quit being passive about hope. Hope is not just going to happen for you, you’ve got to practice it. Then second, develop and nurture patterns of thinking that are founded in hope. The fact is, there are not only ways of thinking that will kill hope, there are ways of thinking that produce hope.

Let me illustrate: Suppose you were to receive a phone call today from an old friend who enthusiastically says, “Friend, I have good news. You can take a 7-day trip to Hawaii with my company that won’t cost you a dime. We have room for two more…but here’s the catch: we leave tomorrow evening at 9:00 PM. The boss is taking us on his private jet, and we’ll be staying at his beachfront villa in Maui.”

You say you’ll call him right back, and the minute you get off the phone, you and your spouse, who was listening in, start thinking and planning. Out comes the pen and paper, and you begin to prioritize what you need to do to make this happen. Then you call the friend back, and tell him you’re in.

Now here’s the deal: I’ll guarantee that you will begin to ruthlessly align your life over the next 24 hours to pull this off. Am I right? You see, the hope of Hawaii tomorrow will change the way you live today.

There’s something even better and more permanent that Hawaii. It’s called heaven. The most important hope of all—the hope of your salvation—is promising you a better tomorrow. So, start aligning your life today for eternity with Jesus—and be ruthless about it—and watch what hope will do for you!

Take A Moment: For the next seven days, right before you go to sleep and then again when you first wake up, think about what heaven will be like. That’s practicing hope.