29:5 A flattering neighbor is up to no good; he's probably planning to take advantage of you
Have you ever had a so-called friend or neighbor take advantage of you? Have you ever been betrayed by a friend? I had one several years ago that I thought was a true and dear friend. We had both been through the grinder together. Unfaithful spouses, deceived by the ones we loved, and basically treated like doormats. We were able to build a relationship based on the commonality of like suffering. In a way we both helped each other through our trauma. I placed a lot of faith and trust in this person only to be betrayed by them in the end. I have not spoken to them in over 4 years and probably never will again. I guess you could say that in some ways we took advantage of each other but there is a difference. I do not understand how friends can betray other friends. I can't even understand how anyone can betray another. I guess at least that is not in me. I have enough other faults to make up for it. I do however miss that friendship.
Michael W. Smith "Friends are Friends Forever"
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Proverbs 28 - The Writing on the Wall?
28:2 When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability.Stability. What is that? I would not say we have had stability in this country since the industrial revolution, definitely not since separation of church and state was used to ban prayer, McCollum vs. Board of Education which essentially removed the 10 commandments and slowly but surely any mention of God in public schools. Throw Roe v. Wade on top of that and the plethora of bad government rulings that have attempted to remove God from public life over the last century and you will understand why we are in the moral morass we are today. The results: the divorce rate, teen pregnancy rate, and sexual immorality are as prevalent among Christians as non-Christians. We now have the makings of a nation poised for revolution and reform. On top of all that Christians are seen as judgemental, intolerant, hypocritical rule makers. That needs to change if we are to have any chance at turning this country around. Now is the time for us to take this country back. To bring us back to our manifest destiny which is to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and bring glory to God. We cannot afford to go into hiding anymore.
Proverbs 27 - Eat Your Own Lunch
27:18 As workers who tend a fig tree are allowed to eat the fruit, so workers who protect their employer’s interests will be rewarded.
I am having a real hard time with this scripture. I consider myself to be one of the very fortunate, at least right now. I still have a job and my job still rewards me very well for performance. The problem is I see many examples in corporate America where people have been robbed. Of course the biggest one that comes to mind is Enron, but there are many more. Enron executives and employees that had nothing but their own (not their employer's) interest at heart robbed thousands of employees and retirees of their savings and retirement accounts. I was fortunate there as well I guess. I only lost $35,000. I know people who lost hundreds of thousands! We are seeing this every where today. I have to agree with what my friend has written. We need to return to a time when businesses were privately owned by mom and pop, families, and entrepreneurs. If we continue on the same old path, we will reap the same rewards. It is time for a paradigm shift in the business environment. Corporations are the dinosaurs of the past
I am having a real hard time with this scripture. I consider myself to be one of the very fortunate, at least right now. I still have a job and my job still rewards me very well for performance. The problem is I see many examples in corporate America where people have been robbed. Of course the biggest one that comes to mind is Enron, but there are many more. Enron executives and employees that had nothing but their own (not their employer's) interest at heart robbed thousands of employees and retirees of their savings and retirement accounts. I was fortunate there as well I guess. I only lost $35,000. I know people who lost hundreds of thousands! We are seeing this every where today. I have to agree with what my friend has written. We need to return to a time when businesses were privately owned by mom and pop, families, and entrepreneurs. If we continue on the same old path, we will reap the same rewards. It is time for a paradigm shift in the business environment. Corporations are the dinosaurs of the past
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Proverbs 26 - Rubber & Glue
26:2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim
Does anyone remember the old saying "I'm rubber and your glue, Whatever bounces off me sticks to you"? I used to love this as a kid because I was always being teased. At school or at home. My sisters picked on me relentlessly so I used this phrase a lot. I know it seems very childish but this phrase like the Proverbs verse is extremely true. I have had this experience with my daughter this week. She has been having trouble with one of her classmates calling her names and telling lies about her to the teacher. A kids first instinct is to retaliate and call names back. In fact, that is probably most of our first instinct! It gave me a golden opportunity to use this verse on the exact day she returned to school to face her accuser. No matter what, if you are not guilty, whenever someone lies about you it cannot harm who you are. Sure it could have some consequences on this earth, but who you are inside and who you are to Christ does not change. I hope that I was able to explain it to her effectively. The awesome thing was that she was able to go to school, hold her head up, and not fear her meeting with the teacher because she knew that whatever happened there, I supported her because she was being truthful
Does anyone remember the old saying "I'm rubber and your glue, Whatever bounces off me sticks to you"? I used to love this as a kid because I was always being teased. At school or at home. My sisters picked on me relentlessly so I used this phrase a lot. I know it seems very childish but this phrase like the Proverbs verse is extremely true. I have had this experience with my daughter this week. She has been having trouble with one of her classmates calling her names and telling lies about her to the teacher. A kids first instinct is to retaliate and call names back. In fact, that is probably most of our first instinct! It gave me a golden opportunity to use this verse on the exact day she returned to school to face her accuser. No matter what, if you are not guilty, whenever someone lies about you it cannot harm who you are. Sure it could have some consequences on this earth, but who you are inside and who you are to Christ does not change. I hope that I was able to explain it to her effectively. The awesome thing was that she was able to go to school, hold her head up, and not fear her meeting with the teacher because she knew that whatever happened there, I supported her because she was being truthful
Proverbs 25 - Hot Air
25:14 A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.
Have you ever been promised something only to see that whoever made the promise reneged? I think we all have. I have always told myself not to promise anything you cannot deliver. Especially when it comes to my kids or other kids. I got to witness this first hand this weekend where my neighbor told my son 3 times that he would come to his basketball game. Josiah was excited about it even though I told him not to get his hopes up. I hated to have to say that but I knew he would not make it to the game. Unfortunately kids do not know who to depend on most of the time. They depend on everybody and they believe what adults tell them. I later had to console Josiah when he did not make, rebuke my neighbor when he did not make, and try to make a bad situation good. I think as adults we forget what it was like to be completely trusting of other people. For most of us it was so long ago, so many betrayals and disappointments ago, that most of us tend to err on the side of caution and protection instead of believing people. This is a very sad commentary on the human condition.
Have you ever been promised something only to see that whoever made the promise reneged? I think we all have. I have always told myself not to promise anything you cannot deliver. Especially when it comes to my kids or other kids. I got to witness this first hand this weekend where my neighbor told my son 3 times that he would come to his basketball game. Josiah was excited about it even though I told him not to get his hopes up. I hated to have to say that but I knew he would not make it to the game. Unfortunately kids do not know who to depend on most of the time. They depend on everybody and they believe what adults tell them. I later had to console Josiah when he did not make, rebuke my neighbor when he did not make, and try to make a bad situation good. I think as adults we forget what it was like to be completely trusting of other people. For most of us it was so long ago, so many betrayals and disappointments ago, that most of us tend to err on the side of caution and protection instead of believing people. This is a very sad commentary on the human condition.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Proverbs 24 - Cauterize It
24:5-6 It's better to be wise than strong; intelligence outranks muscle any day. Strategic planning is the key to warfare; to win, you need a lot of good counsel
I have recently be taking Jujitsu. I always wanted to and finally got the opportunity. It is really very fun. The weird thing is I like getting thrown more than throwing someone else. I hopefully will get over that. It doesn't seem like a way to win the battle! The interesting thing about many of the martial arts is you don't have to be a big person to be effective. Sure size helps sometimes, but with Jujitsu, size is actually a hindrance. A masterful artist uses your weight against you. You have to learn the moves properly and it is amazing how you can make a person crawl with just the slightest pressure.
In our Christian walk our battles are spiritual and against the evil one and sin. When we try to rid our lives of some sin through our own strength, we will almost inevitably fail. Strength alone cannot defeat the evil one. Only Christ can do this for us. What we need to do is turn our lives over to him daily, hourly, and sometimes every minute so that He can work in us. We tend to rationalize and make excuses for our sin, comparing it to the rest of the world. "Oh, it's okay, I don't abuse it, or if I only do it this once, its not like its a habit, or look what everyone else is doing, this is nothing". If there is an excuse out there I have used it. If we really want sin removed from our lives we must give up on ourselves and give in to God. When God removes sin he tears it out. There is no weaning, or slowly removing it from your life like a nicotine patch. It is usually cold turkey and painful withdrawals. But when it is gone and you feel refreshed and anew, and ready to tell others of your triumph. Check out Isaiah 6:1-8. Isaiah was desperate about his sin in the face of a holy God and he cried out to the Lord confessing this uncleanliness. Not really sure what his sin was but he may have had bad language, or and unclean thought life. An angel of the Lord used a burning coal to cauterize his wound. Afterwards, Isaiah went through the countryside preaching the word of the Lord and telling everyone what God had done for him and what He would do for them. This is the kind of refreshment we all want in our Christian lives. We want IT - the obvious presence of the Holy Spirit in our heart and in our lives.
I have recently be taking Jujitsu. I always wanted to and finally got the opportunity. It is really very fun. The weird thing is I like getting thrown more than throwing someone else. I hopefully will get over that. It doesn't seem like a way to win the battle! The interesting thing about many of the martial arts is you don't have to be a big person to be effective. Sure size helps sometimes, but with Jujitsu, size is actually a hindrance. A masterful artist uses your weight against you. You have to learn the moves properly and it is amazing how you can make a person crawl with just the slightest pressure.
In our Christian walk our battles are spiritual and against the evil one and sin. When we try to rid our lives of some sin through our own strength, we will almost inevitably fail. Strength alone cannot defeat the evil one. Only Christ can do this for us. What we need to do is turn our lives over to him daily, hourly, and sometimes every minute so that He can work in us. We tend to rationalize and make excuses for our sin, comparing it to the rest of the world. "Oh, it's okay, I don't abuse it, or if I only do it this once, its not like its a habit, or look what everyone else is doing, this is nothing". If there is an excuse out there I have used it. If we really want sin removed from our lives we must give up on ourselves and give in to God. When God removes sin he tears it out. There is no weaning, or slowly removing it from your life like a nicotine patch. It is usually cold turkey and painful withdrawals. But when it is gone and you feel refreshed and anew, and ready to tell others of your triumph. Check out Isaiah 6:1-8. Isaiah was desperate about his sin in the face of a holy God and he cried out to the Lord confessing this uncleanliness. Not really sure what his sin was but he may have had bad language, or and unclean thought life. An angel of the Lord used a burning coal to cauterize his wound. Afterwards, Isaiah went through the countryside preaching the word of the Lord and telling everyone what God had done for him and what He would do for them. This is the kind of refreshment we all want in our Christian lives. We want IT - the obvious presence of the Holy Spirit in our heart and in our lives.
Proverbs 23 - Wise Children
15-16 Dear child, if you become wise, I'll be one happy parent. My heart will dance and sing to the tuneful truth you'll speak.
I can't imagine what it must be like to see your children become wise. The little joys you get from them now will be greatly magnified when they start truly using the intelligence God has given them, and on top of that when they start using Godly wisdom. I hope I am around to see that. I hope that my children will have a better head start and will choose Godly wisdom much sooner in life than I did. I pray that I will not reap in my life what I sowed as a child/teenager in mine. I am not sure my kids will survive it. I will always do my best to educate them and keep them from the dangers and roads that I went down.
I can't imagine what it must be like to see your children become wise. The little joys you get from them now will be greatly magnified when they start truly using the intelligence God has given them, and on top of that when they start using Godly wisdom. I hope I am around to see that. I hope that my children will have a better head start and will choose Godly wisdom much sooner in life than I did. I pray that I will not reap in my life what I sowed as a child/teenager in mine. I am not sure my kids will survive it. I will always do my best to educate them and keep them from the dangers and roads that I went down.
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