True and Enduring Recognition

Today's reading: 

• Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. -- Proverbs 31: 30

Thoughts:
First, let me say that I have been somewhat jealous throughout my life that there's such a beautiful passage in the Bible devoted to women. I know I can't really be jealous because so many of the Bible's heroes are men. But to have one passage for men with a poetic portrayal of who we should aspire to be and what kind of character women should hope for in a spouse would be tremendous.

Both men and women share one ideal in common throughout the Scriptures, though: to be a person who fears the LORD.

When we think of women, both back then and now, many times what we value is much less important: charm and beauty. But the writer shuts those values down with deadly simplicity.

Charm? It's deceptive. A woman who is charming while dating may be terrifying once married.

Beauty? It's temporary. All people age. Women are people. Therefore, women age.

What is faithful and true? What can be permanent and enduring? Character. The ongoing choices a person makes. The way someone chooses to decide how to treat people. And the ideal character, for women and for men, is found in someone who fears the LORD.

A woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. She makes her choices based on what will please Jesus. She has the humility to recognize her shortcomings, but through the grace of Jesus is able to leave them behind her and keep growing in wisdom. She is not to be praised because she is perfect, but because she is sojourning into greater depths of Jesus' goodness, kindness, and mercy. With her eyes focused on Jesus, her life is oriented toward ever-increasing beauty. True. Enduring. Beauty.

Which deserves True. Enduring. Recognition.

Enough, and Just Enough

Today's reading: 

• Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. -- Proverbs 30:8b-9

Thoughts: 
We've prayed it often enough: "Give us this day our daily bread." It's part of the Lord's Prayer, after all. But what's behind the request for daily bread? Why not ask for a daily smorgasbord?

I love how Jesus included this proverb in the prayer He taught His disciples, affirming that this wisdom is, indeed, wise. 

What this request teaches us is the concept of Enough.

Only a little later in the same chapter (verses 15-16), the writer describes "three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, 'Enough!'" The examples he presents are miserable. The grave. A barren womb. Land that gets parched all too quickly. Fire. 

There's a beauty in the concept of Enough. 

And with regards to our daily bread, Enough is the amount that keeps us dependent on Jesus while not tempting us to steal. 

Are you being tempted to steal? Ask Jesus to give you Enough. Is your heart turning away from your Savior and Lord? Ask Jesus to give you Enough. Just Enough. Because no matter how much you have and how easily you can fool yourself into thinking you don't need Jesus, without Him you don't have the true measure of Enough in your life. 

Mutual Detest

Today's reading: 

• The  righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright. -- Proverbs 29:27, NIV

Thoughts:
We're sometimes naive. We sometimes think that, if we speak the truth clearly, people will respect it. We think that they will respect us.

We're sometimes naive. We sometimes think that, if we stand up for what's right, people will respect us.

We're sometimes naive. We sometimes think that, if we speak kindly and patiently, people will automatically response with kindness and patience, too.

Right behavior doesn't necessarily lead to respect, though. It only leads to respect and admiration from those who love right behavior. We want to believe the best of everyone, but the truth is that wicked people exist. And just as people who pursue what is right are scornful of wickedness and detest being in the presence of wicked people, wicked people who do not care about what is right are scornful of the upright.

This isn't an excuse to get violent and force our ways down other people's throats. But it is a wake up call. Being right doesn't mean you won't get attacked and treated with disrespect. Still, keep doing what is right. And be alert.

Expand Your Neighborhood

Last week I preached a sermon entitled Being a Neighbor in BOLD.

This week my family and I will be attending Ebenezer Baptist Church. We are attending, in part, as a response to the growing inter-racial tensions our country has been facing. We are attending because black lives matter just as much as every other life. We are attending because Jesus can give us our spiritual nourishment just as thoroughly via a black preacher as a white preacher. These are not new beliefs for us, but we are attending because it is much more easy for people to know what we believe when we live it out than when we merely say it.

Ebenezer Baptist Church, according to their website, was founded a mere fourteen years after the Emancipation Proclamation. FOURTEEN. Their existence is a testimony both to the struggles of our African American brothers and sisters, and to the victories and progress that Jesus has brought them and our nation through. Their focus is on building stronger families through spiritual nourishment. They are continuing to tackle the struggles of the community head on. 

Why haven't we attended any black churches in the recent past up until now? Because we are members of a church already. We are members of a church where all ethnicities and races are welcome, a church that represents our beliefs well, a church where we are free to use our gifts and talents to serve Jesus. And usually, people who are members of a church attend that church regularly, week after week. For most people, that is a practice I continue to recommend highly.

But not in the face of division.

And the division between churches in Charlotte -- not only in Charlotte, but definitely in Charlotte -- extends beyond race. And so my family will continue to attend a church that is not our own once a month, because every believer is family. Every church that counts Jesus as both Lord and Savior, that acknowledges that Jesus is both God and man, that preaches that Jesus truly died and truly rose from the dead, and that points humanity to salvation through faith in Jesus is a part of Jesus' Church. Our church is part of Jesus' Church. So are many other churches.

I want to get to know my extended family. So this week I am attending Ebenezer Baptist. Next month, I will attend another church. And just as I invite people to join me in attending Messiah Lutheran Church, I invite people to join me in attending brother and sister churches. You can do this in your own areas of the world. If you live in Charlotte, you can visit sibling churches together with me on the third Sunday of each month -- I'll mostly be using Facebook to let people know where I'm going, but I'll try to post it here, too. Even if you don't know Jesus, please join me. I am not worried about whether you end up at Messiah Lutheran Church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, or any other church, but I do want you to know Jesus.

And I want to work toward peace. I didn't say uniformity. We're not all going to be the same or think exactly the same. But we can love one another and treat one another with dignity and respect. We can expand our neighborhoods.

This is what I'm doing to expand my neighborhood. What will you do to expand your neighborhood?

Please Set Me Straight

Today's reading: 

• Proverbs 25:12 -- Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear.

Thoughts:

I like gold. I'm just throwing that out there. 

Not that I wear a whole lot of gold myself. But gold definitely catches the eye. If you gave me gold, I'd be ok with that. When I give jewelry to Amanda (which she would probably like to see happening more often, to tell the truth), she likes gold, too. Sometimes she prefers white gold. But gold earrings? I haven't seen her turn anything like that down yet. 

Gold is attractive. We like to be attractive and noticed. So we like gold. 

Wisdom is also attractive. We like to be attractive and respected. And yet we sometimes reject wisdom. 

Can someone please explain to me why this happens? Not just why OTHER people reject wisdom, but why do ALL people reject wisdom? Why do I reject wisdom? 

This proverb gives us a bit of insight into why we reject wisdom when others are giving it to us. Are you ready? Here's why: It's because we don't want it. 

We don't want wisdom because we would prefer to believe we are already wise. We don't want others to give us their wisdom because we didn't ask them for it and weren't ready for it. We don't want wisdom because it often comes in the form of a rebuke. We don't want wisdom because when we hear it, it makes us feel exposed as people who don't yet have wisdom. 

We are wisdom poor, and we don't want others to know it. So when someone offers us wisdom, we reject it. Which is ridiculous, because it doesn't matter how financially poor we are when someone offers us gold. If you give us gold, we take it!

Gold can make us attractive only on the outside; it doesn't change our actual value. But wisdom makes us more valuable to everyone around us. It's like having our very blood infused with gold!

So let's embrace and cherish wisdom, even when it comes in the form of a rebuke. Let's get over the pain of having our wisdom poverty exposed so that we can humbly and gratefully recognize wise people's rebukes for what they are -- gifts of unimaginable value.

I need this, too. So to the wise, consider this your invitation. Please, set me straight.