Rainy nightlife street with adult cinema, live show, casino, and club signs

The Flashing Lights of Folly

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“Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing. She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths: “Whoever is inexperienced, enter here! ” To the one who lacks sense, she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty! ” But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.” (Proverbs‬ ‭9‬:‭13‬-‭18‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

We have talked many times along this journey already that wisdom is searching for us. She wants to be found. She positions herself in places where anyone who gives even the remotest amount of effort can discover her and gain her benefits. But wisdom isn’t the only one searching for us. Folly is too. She searches just as eagerly, hoping to ensnare us in her trap so that we suffer all her consequences. Of course, she doesn’t sell it that way. Let’s take a look at this concluding section of Proverbs’ challenging opening.

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Multigenerational family dining together around a table with framed family quote

Who Do You Know?

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“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.” (Proverbs‬ ‭9‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Who has your highest respect? Who is the person you look up to more than any other; whose opinion controls your decision making most of all? That person will direct the course of your life. That person has a power over you that will make your life either happy or terrible. Choose that person wisely, because if you don’t, the consequences will be awful. Solomon has a suggestion of who that person should be here. Let’s take a look.

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Encouragement for When Life Gets Hard

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“Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” (James‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

I have a friend who is struggling right now. He got an unexpected encounter with mortality, and the whole experience rather understandably has left him shaken. He called me yesterday and asked for a word of encouragement. After spending a fair bit of time in prayer over the whole thing, these words came to mind and wouldn’t leave. So, in a bit of a departure from the norm, let’s talk about trials, patience, and the long and winding path to spiritual growth.

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Happiness Isn’t the Goal

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Every marriage story our culture tells is always in pursuit of living happily ever after. The trouble is that when you actually get into a marriage, there are seasons when happiness seems pretty fleeting. Complicating this is that we live in a culture that prizes personal happiness above just about everything else. You can perhaps see how this might create some unique challenges for the development of a strong and healthy marriage culture in our nation. The apostle Paul spoke into this challenge almost 2,000 years ago with some counsel that is hard to receive, but if we will receive it with open hands, it has some truly transformational power. As we continue our series, The Journey of a Lifetime, let’s talk about what the real goal of marriage is and why understanding that matters so much.

Happiness Isn’t the Goal

Before 1969 divorce in the United States was hard to come by. That year, the Republican governor of California, Ronald Reagan, signed into a law a bill that allowed for the first time in the nation something called no-fault divorce. Prior to that, if a husband and wife wanted to get out of their marriage, they had to be able to demonstrate enough of some kind of justifiable harm such as abuse, infidelity, abandonment, or something else sufficiently severe along those lines to convince a judge to grant their request. No-fault divorce laws, on the other hand, allowed for couples to simply cite “irreconcilable differences” without having to furnish any kind of proof to back up their claims. In what ought to go down as the least surprising outcome of a public policy ever, within about ten years, the divorce rate in the country more than doubled, bringing with it all of the various social problems associated with divorce. 

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Neither (Religious) Poverty Nor Riches

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“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ because you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters.” (Matthew 23:8 CSB – Read the chapter)

The average pastor in America (or anywhere else in the world, for that matter) works hard in a little church in total obscurity. He loves his people and they love him. He spends a lot of time working on multiple messages for each week. He visits people in hospitals and in their homes. He meets people for coffee or a meal at least once a week. He does a fair bit of counseling, some of it formal, much of it informal. He has to be reasonably well-versed in managing both people and finances. He has to remember the names and faces and stories of a lot of people in one shot. He probably spends less time with his family than he should, and he definitely doesn’t give himself and his needs (spiritual or physical) the attention they deserve. But he loves the Lord and is utterly in awe of his call to do all of this whenever he has time to stop and think about it. He will one day reach the end of his journey and hear from his Lord, “Well done good and faithful servant.” This is all how God designed pastoring to work at least in this particular cultural context. Sometimes, though, it doesn’t. Let’s talk today about a couple of reasons why and how to avoid them.

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