Morning Musings: Proverbs 25:6-7

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“Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”  (ESV)

We live in the day of the self-made, internet-created celebrity.  YouTube has been the source of numerous stars today.  So have Instagram and Snapchat.  To become such a person you must promote yourself.  Relentlessly.  You must be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to get other people to pay attention to you.  And, if you have the right blend of talent, gumption, and luck, you can make a lot of money this way.

And yet, what is ultimately the fruit of such an endeavor?  Given the stories about or often the character of such folks, it’s not good.  We live in a celebrity-worshiping culture.  We are constantly on the lookout for people to elevate to celebrity status in order to give them our devotion.  In doing so, we not only debase our own lives, but also the lives of the people being worshiped.

Still, many recognize this celebrity worship and crave it.  They crave it and so they do whatever they can to gain it for themselves.  Yet again, what good does this do?  Wisdom and observation would again answer: Very little.

What Solomon calls for here is a much better way: Do your best where you are and let it be recognized naturally.  Let your godly character be the thing everyone notices about you first and foremost.  Become known as a person who can be depended upon when things get tough.  Produce work that lifts people up and points away from you to God.

If you are advancing yourself and your image, you just may get the acclaim you seek, but there is a very good chance it will come at the expense of your soul.  And with that sold away, when the acclaim departs (for self-sought acclaim nearly always departs much sooner than we expect it to) what will you have left?  Instead, glorify God in all things and let the chips fall where they may.  He will receive the acclaim now, and you will receive acclaim from Him when the time is right.  That will be a fame that won’t fade.

Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 24:29

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“Do not say, ‘I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.'”  (ESV)

Do you want to know what one of the most natural expressions to come out of the mouths of humans is?  The very one the writer of this proverb tells us not to say.  This declaration of human justice is totally natural.  It does not need to be taught at all.  And, it begins to manifest itself from a pretty young age. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Jeremiah 22:3

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“Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed.  And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Over and over again in the prophets we see that God’s chief concern for the people was not that they got religion right, but that they got justice right.  He complained about their offerings and sacrifices not because they weren’t done strictly according to the guidelines set out in the law, but because they pursued them without the accompanying set of behaviors (namely, a generous pursuit of justice for the least, last, and lost in their midst). Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Jeremiah 10:23

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“I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

The piece of advice which perhaps best captures the spirit of our age is this: Follow your heart.  We are told over and over today to do this.  We see it on kids’ shows of every kind.  We see it in movies and in books and in magazines.  We hear it in popular music.  It is everywhere we look.

In most cases, it sounds like great advice too.  If you aren’t sure about the path you need to take to get from where you are to where you want to go, just look inside and choose the route that best resonates with who you know you are.  Follow your heart.  After all, who knows the shape of your desires better than you do?  Who is more suited to see them come to reality than you are?

Yet the tough truth is that this is awful advice.  It’s terrible.  It will lead us to nowhere but heartache and hardship.  The Scriptures tell us why again and again.  On our own, we don’t know the best way to go.  There is a way that seems right to people, but it’s end is death.  Or, as Jeremiah puts it here, the way of man is not in himself.  It is not in us to direct our steps.  If we try, we only set ourselves up for trouble.

Better is to trust in the ways of the Lord.  Let Him be the one who guides your steps.  Let His ways be the ones you follow most closely.  Let His Word be the path to which you commit your feet.  His way won’t always be the easiest, but it will always be the right way.

When Lisa and I lived in Colorado, we had the opportunity to drive to the top of Pike’s Peak several times.  It was unfailingly a stunningly beautiful drive.  But, the path to the top of the mountain was 19 miles of weaving back and forth, tight turns, and switchbacks.  It took upwards of two hours to get to the top.  When you looked at a map of the route it seemed crazy to weave all over the mountain in order to get there.  Why not just drive straight to the top?  Or, when coming down, why not just head off the side and roll?  Because that path would have been impossible.  It may have been shorter in theory, but in actuality the pitfalls and cliffs along the way would have wound up taking several times longer…if you were even able to navigate it.

If we take a path other than the path of God, if won’t get us where we want to go.  If we look inside for our direction and drive, we will find only a stalled engine and an unreliable map.  There are two paths you can take from here to there: God’s path or all the others.  Take the one that will get you where you really want to go.

Morning Musings: Jeremiah 18:5-6

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*I’m going to try something a little different starting with this post.  I will begin including an audio version of each post at the end so you can listen or read, whichever you prefer and your schedule allows.  I’d love your feedback on this as well.  If it’s a hit, I’ll keep doing it.  If it doesn’t add, I’ll take things back to normal.  Thanks for your gift of time to read–and now listen.  Blessing to you!

“Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord.  Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This image is at one and the same time incredibly comforting, but also challenging.  The comfort is fairly obvious.  God is the master potter.  He is making a beautiful piece of art out of our lives.  Like any great potter, He has a goal in mind.  As He works the clay, though, sometimes imperfections rise to the top.  This doesn’t scare Him or somehow derail His plans.  He smooths out the rough places and incorporates the imperfections so that they become unique parts of His design.  And, if something happens that causes us to break, He can repair us and leave us even more beautiful than when we started.  This sounds like the kind of God who is worth serving. Read the rest…