Do we sincerely want God’s wisdom?

Setting boundaries is a popular word phrase to express taking control in a particular area(s) of one’s life.  I agree there are some instances where this is critical for the physical and emotional well being of someone who is being victimized.  But just as boundaries can be a protective measure it can also become an excuse to keep people out or to wield control.

So what do boundaries have to do with wisdom?  I guess it would all depend on what kind of wisdom we are seeking.

We probably all know of situations where boundaries have been drawn because of offenses yet the offenses have not been talked through to any resolution.  Each is waiting for the other to make a move.  Each is a believer in Jesus Christ and wants to live according to God’s way.  Each one claiming they have sought God’s wisdom and feel justified in their decisions before the Lord. 

Yet the chasm grows wider with each passing moment.  Those close to the situation see the affects of the standoff but their concerns are met with charges of interference.

How can this be? Friendships, families and churches are torn apart all waiting for the other person(s) to make the first move.  What and how does praying for God’s wisdom look like in these circumstances?  How can both ends of the spectrum be deemed correct yet destruction loom?

To help answer these questions, let’s look at what James has to say about wisdom.

     If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.  He will not rebuke you for asking.  But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.

     If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.  For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.  For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

      But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.  And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 1:5-6;3:13-18NLT)

Ø  If we sincerely want wisdom, ask God…don’t rely on another person for our wisdom.  In the process be ready to possibly receive a different direction not anticipated.  Are we willing to change or even abandon our course to follow God’s wisdom? Do we ‘sincerely’ want God’s wisdom?  

Ø  Wisdom is shown by the way we live our lives, our deeds and depth of humility in which we do those.  Wisdom will only grow in the soil of humility.  Bitterness, jealousy, selfish ambition, boasting and lying are not byproducts of God’s kind of wisdom and need to be weeded (not just surface-cut but deep roots pulled) from our hearts soil in order for wisdom to take root.  Humility is fertilized with purity, mercy, good deeds, sincerity, gentleness, peace and a willingness to yield to others.  This is the environment wisdom grows.  Do we ‘sincerely’ want God’s wisdom?

Ø  Wisdom and peacemaking go hand in hand. To be a peacemaker means actively pursuing peace regardless of whether it is reciprocated.  Our actions and reactions are the only ones we have control over.  This peace, in the Greek, is the same Paul talks about in Galatians 5 as part of the fruit of the Spirit.  Do we ‘sincerely’ want God’s wisdom?

Ø  Wisdom and willingness to yield to others, no matter who is right, go hand in hand.   Being willing to yield to another in some translation is “being reasonable.”  Perhaps this is in our yielding to the other person or in our expectations of that other person.  Do we ‘sincerely’ want God’s wisdom?

Each bullet point ends with a deliberate question:  Do we ‘sincerely’ want God’s wisdom.  If we do, we will no doubt be the one to change course, to abandon our right (real or perceived) for the good of wisdom to be shown, to re-evaluate certain boundaries and for healing to begin even if it is in our hearts alone.

The Bread Conspiracy

There is nothing better than the aroma of homemade bread baking in the oven.  It fills the house such a welcoming scent and reminiscent of days gone by with a much slower pace.

As a stay-at-home mom I would make all our bread.  When our children started school and I went to work my wonderful husband missed his much loved bread so he bought me a bread machine and the marriage of work and homemade bread was born!

I was thinking of the casting of bread in the faceoff between Satan and Jesus on this earth. 

The first enticement Satan threw to Jesus in the wilderness was bread when he heckled Jesus to prove he was the Son of God by turning stones into bread. 

If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.  But Jesus told him, “No!  The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”[i]

Jesus didn’t fall prey to Satan’s conspiracy…he didn’t have to prove what Satan already knew, he WAS the Son of God.

The second bread conspiracy was at the Passover Celebration the night of Jesus betrayal.

“For Jesus knew who would betray him.  “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.”  And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.  When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him.  Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.”[ii]

As in any conspiracy there is the means by which it is achieved.  Judas was the means by which the religious elite could finally get rid of Jesus.  Being prompted by Satan prior to the supper he would  now take complete control over Judas to ensure the conspiracy was fulfilled.  The bread was the means by which Satan would enter Judas and finally get rid of Jesus…or so he thought.   

Is it possible Jesus was not only speaking to Judas that night but also to Satan when he said, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.”?  Perhaps he was saying, “Go ahead give it one last shot, do what you are going to do.  But my answer remains the same.  I will do what I was sent to accomplish.  I will do what the Father has willed from the moment you turned on him and started your war us.  And I will do it one-on-one with you just as you deceived one-on-one with the first Adam.

Once again Jesus was declaring “I am the bread from heaven.  The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”[iii]   Your bread, Satan, is counterfeit…stale…store bought.

The outcome of this final bread temptation was not what Satan anticipated.  The true Bread of Life cancelled the record of charges against us by nailing them on the cross.  In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities (aka, Satan) and he shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.[iv] 

Once again Satan’s conspiracy was foiled by the Victor and lover of our souls.

For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Jesus Christ.  He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.[v]

When Satan tries to offer you and me counterfeit bread, it will always be stale, don’t eat it! 

---

[i] Matthew 4:3-4

[ii] John 13:11, 26-27

[iii] John 6:32-40

[iv] Colossians 2:14-15

[v] 1 Timothy 2:5-6

Teacher or Lord?

Influence is a powerful tool.  It can either be used to spurn one in a positive or negative direction and help form lifelong belief systems during impressionable stages in life.  We have all been influenced by someone while growing up which helped define the course we took as adults.  Perhaps it was a favorite teacher, a doctor or nurse, police officer or attorney, a pastor or missionary.

On the negative side influence can lead someone into a life of regret, bondage and hopelessness.

We have the opportunity every day to be an influence for good or bad in someone’s life.

I was thinking about this while reading Colossians 1:23; 2:6-8 and1Timothy 1:4 this morning.

But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.

 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.

Don’t let them waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaningless speculations, which don’t help people live a life of faith in God.

The Bible isn't just a historical keepsake but when paired with our belief in Jesus Christ it becomes the standard and source of how we live in the world around us.

I love teaching about the Teacher, but therein lays a hidden danger if a teacher is all I believe in.  To believe in Jesus as a teacher might bring change could even bring a positive influence in my life.  But until I believe Jesus was more than a cute baby in a manger or a teacher with a powerful life altering message transformation will not occur.

I believe this was the thought behind Paul’s admonition in the above with this key verse: 

“Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.”

You see it is easier teaching about the Teacher rather than submitting to him as Lord.

As follower of Jesus the teacher, however great a teacher I may think he is, I still have the choice to decide if I want to do or accomplish the tasks or follow the teachings he presents.  But to accept Jesus as Lord that means I surrender my whole being to him.  The Greek meaning of Lord literally means He becomes the possessor, owner, the one who has control of me.  This also means I give him respect and reverence such as when servants would greet their master in times past. 

Lordship is such a foreign concept to us today especially living in the United States.  No matter what you may think of government today, we have never been subjected to Kings, tyrannical reign or forced submission.  We have grown up with freedoms and choices others only dream about.  Freedom brings struggle in truly understanding and learning about submission to another especially to One we cannot see physically.  The disciples physically walked and lived with Jesus yet struggled with understanding him as Lord.

I recently read that Judas never addressed Jesus as Lord but only teacher.  It always amazed me that Judas witnessed the same miracles and teachings from Jesus the other disciples did but yet his outcome was so very different.

Jesus said, “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.” (Jo 13:13)

The influence Jesus has in our lives as teacher is important.  But the influence he has in our lives as Lord is crucial to living life in peace even in the midst of trouble and heartache; crucial to understanding trust in the midst of questions; crucial to understanding who you and I are and crucial to living our lives before and with others.

Who is Jesus to you today?  A great teacher or Teacher and Lord?

Make the most...

I love a good sale!  My shopping motto has always been “four letter words are best…SALE”!

I grew up in the era of SH Green Stamps.  As kids we would lick them and then put them in the squares of the SH booklet.  Once the booklets were filled and we had enough for what we wanted, it was off to the S&H Store to redeem the stamps for product.  We would walk into the store wide eyed with possibilities and the motivation to save and redeem!!

Every day we are given redemptive opportunities with those who are hurting, bound by addictions and life style choices or just weary of doing-life-my-way.  Life has become burdensome and hard.

   

You are probably saying, “What does that have to do with a sale?”  Glad you asked!   This is the thought behind make the most in Ephesians 5:15 and Col 4:5-6.

So be careful how you live.  Don’t live like fools but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.  Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.

Eph 5:15-17

Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.

Col 4:5-6

In the Greek “make the most” is Exagorazo which means ‘to redeem by payment of a price to recover from the power of another, to ransom, buy off (i.e., metaph. of Christ freeing us from the power of the Mosaic Law and power of Satan at the price of his vicarious death).  It also means to buy up for one's use to make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good, so that zeal and well doing are as it were the purchase money by which we make the time our own.’

With that in mind for those who call themselves followers of Jesus, it is time to 'make the most' in:

• redeeming all the head knowledge learned through the years about  grace and mercy
• giving the gift of grace and mercy to those around us no matter their circumstances
• living wisely as skilled craftsman (from practice) through our actions and speech among those who are hurting  

In making the most of every opportunity our actions can become a catalyst pointing others to Christ to experience peace, freedom and recovery from the power of addictions and hurts. 

So how about it, want to go redemptive shopping?

Fan the flame

This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.

2 Timothy 1:6-7, 14

Every fall my nephew has a huge bonfire and then bakes the most delicious pizzas in his outdoor oven.  The scent of wood burning pizza and the bonfire sticks to our clothes for days bringing with it the sweet remembrance of times spent with each other.  I thought of him when I read this verse.  The bonfire starts off with a strategically placed Tepee built with different size tree limbs and trunks.  Although powerful looking it serves no purpose until it is lit and nursed into a strong powerful heat source.  When the time is right, the spark is lit and the night sky becomes brilliant with the light from the fire.  The outside temperature can be in the teens and yet the closer we get to the fire the warmer the air around us becomes.

The spiritual gift God gave to Timothy, and likewise to each of us, started with a spark.  The wood for the bonfire had been instilled in Timothy as a youth by his godly mother and grandmother.  Now was the time Timothy would have to ‘fan into flames’ that spark through exercising the power of the Holy Spirit living within him.  Flames will not come when wood is wet and likewise our faith will not grow when saturated with fear and anxiety.  These do not come from the Holy Spirit but rather the enemy trying to keep the bonfire from existing.  

Timothy didn't know the exact outcome of the flames any more than we know the end of the dreams and visions God plants in our hearts.  We don’t need to know, we just need to fan those dreams and visions with the power of the Holy Spirit by renewing our minds daily with his word and his strength.  Our controlling and manipulation will always leave us with wet wood.  God’s word stands guard over that precious truth and he will bring it to pass in his timing.   He then becomes our source of power, love and self-discipline, and strength…never be extinguished. 

The slippery road of a half truth

Ever been caught in a half truth and tried to squirm your way out of it? All the while knowing what you are saying is not completely right but enough to sound like the truth?
The problem with a half truth is it is also a half lie.
The Bible is an open book revealing flaws in ordinary people we sometimes elevate because of the extraordinary feats God accomplished through them.  God did not require perfection from them, only obedience...the same he requires from us today.  1 Samuel 15 is a perfect example of this.

Because of the opposition the nation of Amalek gave to the Israelites when they were passing through from Egypt, God decided to destroy their nation...everything and everyone.  Saul was given this mission to accomplish.
Enter half-truth half-lie.  Saul tries to convince the prophet Samuel he has accomplished the entire mission.  Samuel's response, “Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Gotcha, caught in the half-truth.  Saul squirms, blames his army (not once but twice) and then sugar coats the disobedience with the God element.   “It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else.”

Just because Saul, you or I put the God element in the mix still doesn't make a half truth a whole truth.  Notice it was not Saul's God he refers to but Samuel's God.  Big clue into the condition of Saul's heart.

Again Samuel called him out on the lie: "Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? 

 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else.  Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

 But Samuel replied,

“What is more pleasing to the Lord:
    your burnt offerings and sacrifices
    or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
    and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft,
    and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.
So because you have rejected the command of the Lord,
    he has rejected you as king.”

Saul had no idea the web he was spinning would become the entrapment that would change the course of his life.  Rebellion and stubbornness in our lives are like threads woven together that reflect beauty on the outside but one false move and that pattern becomes the sticky chords of entrapment and death.  Half truths always end this way, we just can't predict the moment. 

Putting the cart before the horse

"You will be changed into a different person. After these signs take place, do what must be done, for God is with you. Then go down to Gilgal ahead of me. I will join you there to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. You must wait for seven days until I arrive and give you further instructions.” 

Meanwhile, Saul stayed at Gilgal, and his men were trembling with fear.  Saul waited there seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still didn’t come. Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away.  So he demanded, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!” And Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself.

 Just as Saul was finishing with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet and welcome him,  but Samuel said, “What is this you have done?”

 “How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.  But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” (1 Samuel 10b-8;13:7-14 NLT)

Through Samuel, God gave Saul just enough instruction and insight into a future vision of the role he was to play in Israel.  Would Saul be willing and ready to be King of a people chosen by God to show and live his character before other nations?  Would Saul be willing to follow God’s leading and timing even though he might not understand it? Saul put the “cart before the horse” and all hopes and dreams of what he could have been and accomplished was gone. 

I think of this account when I ask God to give me dreams of what he wants to be and do through me.  God, give me just enough that I can’t figure it out before your timing or before you have prepared me to follow and not manipulate to take the lead.  Give me reminders of the dream to keep me from becoming impatient or discouraged by keeping my heart open and focused on the Giver of dreams.

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4