No one likes to be deceived. Deceivers come in all forms; to your front door, in your mailbox, computer. . . and sometimes at the end of your pew. I have been scammed on at least one occasion that I will admit to. My weakness—I am too nice.
Jesus calls us to love all people, doesn’t He?
Read More conflict, deceit, shrewdness, discernment
As usual, Jesus is more concerned with the root of a problem than the fruit of a problem. He is more concerned with the causing of sin than the committing of sin. It’s easier to focus our concern upon the sin committed rather than the cause. We frown upon the pregnant teen but fail to address the emotionally-absent father whose absence drove the daughter to look for male companionship.
Read More sin, holiness, discernmentThe first of these proverbs reminds us of the intimate connection between character and action. This connection shows up even in the life of a child. If we are to discern this link we need to pay careful attention. We need to be wise in how we hear and what we see. For it is in hearing and seeing that we are able to come to understanding. The great temptation is to fail to listen, fail to look and so fail to understand aright.
Read More prejudice, laziness, seeing, listening, discernmentThese few proverbs consist of warnings not to act simply on our own or to take our direction from those who lack wisdom. Engaging in fraud to get your food (or your livelihood) offers only momentary pleasure. You can be pleased to have outwitted someone in deceiving them – but in the long term such action turns sour (See Job 20:12-19). This is a practice which commonly exploits the poor and for that there is no lasting reward.
Read More discernment, self-centredness, fraud, counselIs there ever a time to disobey government? It was Rev. Martin Luther King who said that the one who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly and with a willingness to accept the penalty. He knew the only way Afro-Americans could change unjust laws on segregation in the 1960s was to lay down their safety and bodies and sometimes even their lives.
On the other hand, Paul exhorted early Christians under the thumb of an emperor as corrupt as Nero to, ‘Obey the rulers who have authority over you.
Read More obedience, discernment, honour
Jesus said, “You can tell what they are by what they do. No one picks grapes or figs from thorn bushes. A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:16-17) These proverbs make a similar point. Some people ask just anyone for input when they face a quandary. The quality of advice they receive, however, can vary immensely.
Read More discernment, advice, foolsImagine you adventured alongside Peter and John in the first century. Jesus spoke with you after his resurrection. You were there when Peter and John healed the broken body of a poor beggar in Jesus’ name. But that healing created such an uproar that you were jailed by authorities and told never to speak about Jesus again. You decided to disregard their warning, take the risk, and obey God instead.
Read More obedience, witness, discernment, missionAs I write it is raining. Rain is so beautiful as it falls, so musical as it strikes the roof, and life giving, that is, as long as it arrives in a Goldilocks kind of way, not too much, not too little, but just right. Just a drizzle and the ground is only dampened, but a driving rain can wash away the little seeds leaving no crop and perhaps no topsoil so necessary for fertility.
Read More authority, leadership, discernment
Read Reflect Newton’s third law of motion is “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” a fact so commonly experienced in the physical world that it is easy to think that it also an experience in the spiritual world. For example, if I take from the poor in some manner I will […]
Read More judgment, discernment, example
Read Reflect “Eat!” (v 25). Some Christians have such desperately sensitive consciences that they don’t seem able to do anything without long heart searchings about it. Their consciences become utter tyrants. Paul says, “If you want to buy food in the market, don’t ask a lot of questions about where it came from. Buy it, […]
Read More wisdom, discernment, conscience, idols