Hiker choosing between trails marked “EASY PATH” and “HARDER PATH”

A Choice of Two Paths

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“Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. The remembrance of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. A wise heart accepts commands, but foolish lips will be destroyed. The one who lives with integrity lives securely, but whoever perverts his ways will be found out. A sly wink of the eye causes grief, and foolish lips will be destroyed.”(Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭6‬-‭10‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

While the world loves to paint with shades of gray, in the final analysis, there will be two kinds of people in this world: the righteous and the wicked. Proverbs not only offers counsel for how to be one instead of the other, it furnishes numerous examples of the outcomes one will experience or cause to be experienced versus the other. Now, the Gospel helps us paint with more nuance than the Old Testament sometimes does, but still, learning to recognize the path that will lead to one end and the path that will lead to the other is worthwhile. Let’s take a look at some pointers in this passage.

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Woman writing notes beside open books at a home study table

Wisdom for the Road

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“Solomon’s proverbs: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son, heartache to his mother. Ill-gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death. The Lord will not let the righteous go hungry, but he denies the wicked what they crave. Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches. The son who gathers during summer is prudent; the son who sleeps during harvest is disgraceful.” (Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Today we start a new section in our journey through Proverbs. We have made it through the lengthy opening section featuring Solomon offering wise counsel to his children. That section flowed fairly smoothly and there was a significant amount of continuity from one verse to the next. This next section has us entering the rhetorical territory we typically associate with Proverbs. For the next few weeks, we are going to be working our way through individual proverbs. Rather than taking one proverb at a time each day, though, which might take us the next couple of years, we’ll take a look at them in blocks. Some will invite longer reflection than others, but all of them invite us to consider what it looks like to live in the righteousness of God. Let’s get started.

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Tired man holding a plug beside an outlet; forehead overlay reads “5/4”

Recharging Your Batteries

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Here’s a blast from the past today while I’m away at a conference. Interestingly, the posts from this same day in 2020 and 2021 were both from Mark – the beginning and the end of the Gospel. For a day when I’m at a conference to focus in on learning and recharging, this post seemed rather appropriate. When Jesus wanted to recharge His batteries, there was one thing He turned to more than any other. Let’s take a look at what this was and what it means for us.

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Love Always Looks Up

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For the last few weeks, we have been talking about marriage from the standpoint of the Scriptures. We have talked about the main problem in marriage (sin), what God created it for (to make us more like Him), as well as some practical things we can do to make it better (practice submission and aim for holiness). Today we are finishing up this series by talking about the thing that has been rather noticeably missing in our conversation thus far: love. The Beatles were wrong that love is all you need, but it’s really important all the same. Let’s talk about how we can get that right to the benefit of our marriages and all the other relationships in our life.

Love Always Looks Up

When I do premarital counseling with a couple, one of the things we always talk about toward the end of the journey is where their expectations for the marriage are versus what the reality of marriage will likely be. It’s not necessarily an encouraging conversation (although I try not to make it too much of a bummer), but it is often a helpful one. What we do is that I give them a list of statements describing various aspects of marriage and how they think it will be. The couples are then supposed to mark which of the statements they think are true, and which are false. 

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Visitors at a September 11 Memorial pool surrounded by engraved names

Where Were You?

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“So remember your Creator in the days of your youth: Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them.'” (Ecclesiastes 12:1 CSB – Read the chapter)

Today is a somber day. Twenty-five years ago today, evil men driven by an evil interpretation of a bad religion murdered nearly 3,000 Americans in cold blood by flying planes into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. They hoped for even more. The mantra coming out of that day was that we would never forget what happened that day. We would remember so that we understood that evil was real, that there are those in the world who wish us harm for reasons we consider entirely irrational, but which makes perfect sense to them, but also that the worst of times will sometimes bring the absolute best out of people. And yet, 25 years is a long time. There is a whole generation that doesn’t remember because they weren’t old enough or even alive to have experienced it…to know where they were. So, let’s reflect a bit today on that very thing. When 9/11 happened, where were you?

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