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Welcome to the Babysitter’s Club

Read Proverbs 24

Featured Verse: Proverbs 24:11-12, MSG

“Rescue the perishing; don’t hesitate to step in and help. If you say, ‘Hey, that’s none of my business,’ will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know—Someone not impressed with weak excuses.”

In the very first interpersonal conflict recorded in the Bible, God asked Cain of the whereabouts of Abel, his brother. (Genesis 4:1-16)  Cain’s famous reply, as you will recall, was “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Or as the Message renders it: “How should I know? Am I his babysitter?”  Even though God doesn’t respond directly to Cain’s lame misdirection, the answer is rather obvious: “Yes Cain, you are your brother’s keeper!”

The point is, we are responsible for one another.  Obviously, Proverbs has a lot to say about sticking our nose inappropriately into other people’s business without an invitation, of trying to help those who persist in pursuing evil and folly, and of engaging in the lives of others with impure and selfish motives. In those cases, we ought to be wise enough and godly enough to heed the age-old advice of minding our own business.

However, when we can help another person who is hurting, floundering, or just simply needing a jump-start to get life going in the right direction, God does expect us to be our brother’s keeper. God does expect us to offer a helping hand to the hurting when it is within our power to make a difference. God does expect us to make it our business to bless a brother or a sister with a boost when there is opportunity to get them on the road to blessing.  We are not responsible to help everybody who has a need in this world, but this and other proverbs suggest that when we see a person who needs help, and we have the ability to help at that moment, we then become responsible before God to act on his behalf in that particular moment.  Yes, in those cases, we are our brother’s keeper, so welcome to the “Baby-sitter’s Club”!

Now keep in mind that this is not just about the heavy lifting of being responsible for our fellow man.  This is about the built-in blessing of being God’s hand extended to those in need.  As another proverb says, “He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” (Proverbs 11:25)  When you adopted a lifestyle of helpful involvement, the blessings you gain in return always and by far outweigh any expenditure of time, effort and resources.  Getting involved in the right way and at the right time is wonderful self-therapy.  Someone once asked the famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger, “What would you advise a person to do if he’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown?” Everyone expected Dr. Menninger to respond with some profound psychological insight, but he just simply said: “Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need and do something to help that person.”

That is exactly God’s treatment of choice for much of what ails the human race: Find someone worse off than you and help him!

“Love cures people—both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.” ~Karl Menninger

Winning At Life:

Who can you help today?  Help them—and watch what happens.  From a pure heart, shower unconditional love and grace upon them and two things will occur:  They will begin to blossom and your own soul will be ennobled.

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A Very Bright Tomorrow

Read Proverbs 23

Featured Verse: Proverbs 23:18

“There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.”

What other religion can make the promise of a certain future for you?  What government or president or member of congress or politician can guarantee the hope of tomorrow for you?  What other institution, world system, or very important person in your life can promise that your hope will not be cut off?  The answer:  There is none, for only God can give you a hope and a future.

Don’t you just love that about the Lord!  By virtue of his death and resurrection, he alone is qualified to make that promise—and deliver on it.  He says to you and me that no matter what the track record of our past is, no matter what circumstances we are facing today, no matter what we may think tomorrow will hold, his victory over sin, hell and death puts him in the unique position of commanding all of our tomorrows.  And his irrevocable and unassailable plan for you is for a bright tomorrow!

Some might think this is just typical pie-in-the-sky religious Pablum preachers use to pacify their adherents.  For those of us who follow Christ, that is not Pablum at all. It is in fact, the cornerstone hope of the Gospel, the promise of the cross, the guarantee of the empty tomb, and as Romans 5:5 says, this is “a hope that will not disappoint.”  This hope, Hebrews 6:19 says, serves as our “anchor of the soul, firm and secure.”

Now, of course, this hope doesn’t mean you and I will have a problem-free future.  That is not the guarantee Biblical hope makes.  Jesus never promised to keep us from the storms of life, but he promised to be with us in those storms, and to bring us to the other side—not without pain, but without stain! At the end of the day, he has not guaranteed us a life without scars, but a life without sin.  The future hope that he has promised means that one day we will stand before his glorious throne without fault (Jude 24), and that is the hope that cannot be cut off!

So wherever you are landing on the hope meter today—and perhaps your hope is leaning a little to the low side—lean into the words of the psalmist:

Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God: For I shall yet praise him,
Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
~Psalm 42:11

I hope that will encourage you a little bit today!

“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain” ~C.S. Lewis

Winning At Life:

Read Jeremiah 29 in context, and memorize verse 11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

 

 

 

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The Neglected Virtue

Read Proverbs 22

Featured Verse: Proverbs 22:4

“Humility is the fear of the LORD; its wages are riches and honor and life.”

St Augustine said, “If you plan to build a tall house of virtues, you must first lay deep foundations of humility.” Humility—the most under-appreciated and neglected of all the virtues—was the preeminent attribute of Jesus’ character, (Philippians 2:1-11) And since we call ourselves followers of Jesus, humility is to be the foundational virtue of our lives as well. (Colossians 3:12-14)

Yet in the days of the Biblical writers who lauded humility and implored its practice in our lives, the pagan world scoffed at the humble. To them, pride and dominance were highly regarded, while meekness and humility were to be avoided at all cost.  So to have a Biblical writer like Solomon (or David or Paul or Peter, for that matter) to  promote personal humility would have been a radical concept in the ancient world.

However, those Biblical writers redefined humility as a more noble concept; they saw it as simply having a right estimation of oneself rather than what the world saw as a weakness and a character flaw.  Having a proper estimation of oneself—that is really what humility is.  I like the story of the kids who built a clubhouse and then posted their number one rule on the door—I think they defined Biblical humility quite nicely by:

Nobody act too big,
Nobody act too small,
Everybody just act medium!

That’s good: Not too big, not too small…just see yourself as God sees you.  That’s exactly what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he taught about humility in Romans 12:3,

“Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to, but think soberly, according to the faith God has given you.”

It is this proper estimation of yourself that sets something quite powerful loose in your world and produces the kind of “riches and honor” that Solomon talked about.  You see, on the one hand, humility frees you from self-centeredness and arrogance, while on the other, it releases you from the vicious trap of low self-esteem. And in the process, true humility enables you to enter into a powerful lifestyle of ministering to the needs of others.  That is what Biblical humility does—and there are not many forces in this world as powerful as that.

So how can you cultivate this kind of humility?  There are many ways, but here is one:  Start thinking more of others and less of yourself.  Philippians 2:3-4 says, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”

I came across a parable about a man who was talking with the Lord one day and said, “Lord, I’d like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”  The Lord led him to two doors.  He opened one of the doors and the man looked in.  In the middle of the room was a large round table.  In the middle of the table was a large pot of mouthwatering stew, but the people sitting at the table were thin and sickly; they appeared famished.  They were holding spoons with very long handles, and each found it possible to reach into the pot and take a spoonful…but impossible to get the spoons back to their mouths. The handle was longer than their arms.  As the man shuddered at the sight of their misery, the Lord said,  “You have just seen Hell.”

They went to the next room and found the same large round table with a large pot of mouthwatering stew in the middle.  These people had the same long-handled spoons, but unlike the first room, these were well-nourished and joyful people.  The man said, “Lord, I don’t understand.” The Lord replied, “It is simple—it takes one skill:  They’ve learned to feed each other, while the miserable think only of themselves. You have just seen heaven.”

Let me give you a challenge for this week: Forget about yourself!  Try it.  Practice being absent minded when it comes to you.  Get you out of your thoughts … and replace them with prayers of blessings and plans for serving other people in your life. Just as Jesus did, give yourself away with absolutely no thought of getting anything in return.  Surprise someone with compassion. Heap some unexpected and undeserved kindness on another.  Find the most unlikely object of God’s love, and love them just as God would.

Try it, and you’ll experience a little bit of heaven on earth.

“The voice of humility is God’s music, and the silence of humility is God’s rhetoric.” ~Francis Quarles

Winning At Life:

Identify one person whom you can serve this week—and do it without being noticed!

 

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A Very Big Deal To God

Read Proverbs 21

Featured Verse: Proverbs 21:3 (NLT)

“The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices.”

Over and again the thought captured in this proverb is repeated throughout Scripture, so much so that it is readily apparent this is a big deal, a very big deal, to God.  In fact, we might say, the truth contained in this proverb is one of, if not the main thing in God’s little book of instructions.  Apparently the writers of Scripture needed to repeat it so often because God’s people—and by extension, you and I—have a habit of forgetfulness when it comes to keeping the main thing the main thing.

The prophet Samuel said it this way to Saul in I Samuel 15:22,

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord. To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

The psalmist put this very concept into a moving song of repentance in Psalm 51:16-17,

“You do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

The prophet Micah wrote,

“He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

Another prophet, Amos, delivered the same message in the form of a stinging rebuke to God’s people,

“I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.  Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them…Away with the noise of your songs!  I will not listen to the music of your harps.  But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” (Amos 5:21-24)

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for neglecting the main thing:

“Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You give a tenth of your spices…but you have neglected the more important matter of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.”  (Matthew 23:23)

And to his very own church in Ephesus who forgot to keep the main thing the main thing, Jesus had this to say:

“I know your works…yet I have this against you: You have left your first love.” (Revelation 2:2,4)

I could go on and on with verse after verse that tells the same story, but I think you’ve got the picture.  A heart that is in tune and in love with God is not best revealed in sacrifice or giving or fasting or feastings or busy effortfulness.  It is revealed in obedience to God, in actions of righteousness toward our fellow man, and in a motivation of love for our Lord in all that we think, say and do. That is the main thing, so let’s keep it the main thing.

It is a very big deal to God!

“The first mark of a disciple is not a profession of faith, but an act of obedience.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Winning At Life:

Perhaps you can make this prayer yours today:  “Dear God, loving you is the main thing, and it is my heart’s desire to do that very thing every moment of my existence.  Help me not to lose sight of love’s high call, because that’s what I’m prone to do.  Keep me loving you first, only and always in my thinking life, in my relational world, and in the use of my life’s energies.  May that be the defining mark of how I lived when I reach the end of my earthly journey—that I loved you with all my heart.”

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Making Holiness Irresistible

Read Proverbs 20

Featured Verse: Proverbs 20:9

“Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?”

A pure heart! Moral cleanliness! A life without sin!  I hope one day that I can say, “yep, that’s me!”  One day, I hope to be under the absolute tyranny of the holy.

Now I realize that the word “tyranny” carries a negative connotation, yet its meaning is not really that far off from what I desire as it relates to God’s rulership in my life.  By definition, tyranny refers to a government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power.  It refers to the office, authority, or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler who holds unmitigated power.  Therefore, holy tyranny means the absolute rule of God over my life. And, yes, that is what I want—the tyranny of the holy in my moment-by-moment life, from this second forward until I breathe my first breath of air in the eternal kingdom and then “to infinity and beyond!”

So how can I personally surrender to that kind of dominating rulership of God over me? First off, and very simply, I need to invite God to have unchallenged control in my life.  Though he is Master of the Universe, he never violates the human will—so I must invite his rule.

Secondly, I ought to think once-in-a-while—perhaps a lot—about the judgment of God. I know it is not popular to think of God as a God of judgment these days, but the truth is, He is holy, and there will be a payday someday for sin.  That sobering reality, even if it is negative in the minds of some, isn’t a bad motivation to do what is right.  It should not be the only motivation, but I must learn to think of sin in my life as a clear and present danger to the purposes God has for me in eternity.

Thirdly, I need to live with an awareness that the time is drawing near for Christ’s return.  Jesus is coming back—perhaps even today.  The signs are clear and his promised return is certain.  In view of that, II Peter 3:11-12,14 says,

“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming…So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”

And finally, I must begin to think of holiness in terms of its present joy.  Holiness is not a bland, restrictive concept.  The devil has done a good job redefining holiness in that light.  True holiness, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, is not “dull”.  In fact, Lewis goes on to say, “When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible.” It is time for Christians like you and me to discover, practice and model real, irresistible and, yes, fun, holiness!

That is how you invite the tyranny of the holy into your life.  As you and I increasingly allow that kind of dominating rulership to hold sway over us, the other kind of tyranny—the tyranny of selfish and sinful behavior—will be the biggest loser.

“My God, keep me through the water and fire, and let me rather die than live to sin against thee!” ~Francis Asbury

Winning At Life:

Take a moment to invite God to institute the tyranny of the holy in your life.  And mean it!

 

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Blame: Global Pastime of the Human Race

Read Proverbs 19

Featured Verse: Proverbs 19:3

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

If you’re a part of the human race (if you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance you are), you’ve just got that “blame somebody else” 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 their mess was the result of their own foolishness?  No exaggeration—I meet people on a weekly basis who do that.  Perhaps you’d have to admit that even you’ve 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 about 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 enslaves you in a perpetual cycle of victimhood.  It keeps you from exercising the one ability that makes you the highest order of God’s creation: personal responsibility. It keeps you from becoming all that God intends you to be!

You’ll notice two key words in that verse.  The first one is the word “ruin”.  In the 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’re in the habit of casting blame against God, you’ll end up with twisted thinking and lose touch with what’s truly going on.

The second one is the word “rages”. In the Hebrew, it’s 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’re a blamer, your twisted thinking will cause you to rage unreasonably against the wrong object.

If that’s 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’s taking personal responsibility.  Whenever you do that, you are on your way to growth, health and the blessed life.

And that’s a good thing.

“Aristotle’s answer was simple: Men do not become virtuous simply by precept but by ‘nature, habit, rational principle. We become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control.’  Recognizing our own responsibility and the need to stop blaming others is the first step toward dismantling the culture of victimization.”   ~Charles Sykes

Winning At Life:

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. Here’s the rule of thumb for this kind of activity: Whatever they say—believe them. And then take action!

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No Spiritual Graffiti Please!

Read Proverbs 18

Featured Verse: Proverbs 18:9 (MSG)

“Slack habits and sloppy work are as bad as vandalism.”

When you made the decision to follow Christ, you entered into 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, and nothing less!  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 only 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 him.” (Romans 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—I think 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 inaudible words you mutter are extremely important—because God knows, God sees and God hears. (Psalm 139:1-4)  And 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.”

Now since, as Isaiah 49:16 says, our “walls are ever before him”, let’s keep the spiritual graffiti from defacing what should be the God-pleasing offering of our everyday lives. What a tragedy it is to offer him a vandalized life—as Solomon referred to it in today’s proverb—either in our 24/7 life or on the day we stand before him.

He deserves better—we can do better!

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”  ~C.T. Studd

Winning At Life:

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.”  And since your “walls are ever before” the Lord, where needed, clean up the spiritual graffiti.