Be Honest

" A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight"    Proverbs 11:1

     When I was a young child a friend of mine taught me how to steal.  Neither of us ever had pocket change to spend as we wished, so he taught me how to sneak candy when the cashier wasn't looking.  It felt really scary, but he kept telling me it wasn't a big deal.  It became pretty routine to meet up with my friends and go get candy.  Pretty routine, until my mother found out.
     When you're a kid you really don't think about the second and third order of effect.  You pretty much live stimulus to response.  Take candy, eat candy, life is good.  Come to fine out, my mother understood this stimulus response process really well.  She introduced two new things into my life that I would forever associate with stealing.  The first was accountability.  She marched me into the convenient store and made me confess.  In front of everyone I had to say "I stole candy from you."  It was a second order of effect that I hated.  I felt so ashamed saying those words and so humiliated for what I had done. The truth of being caught and having to be held accountable would forever be associated with the thought of being dishonest.  The second event that mom administered was an ancient practice called "paddling."  It is a process where a parent would take a thin board and begin to stimulate the gluteus maximus in sufficient manner as to produce a different response from the child.  It worked, thank you Mom.
     Why is honesty so important to God?  It has everything to do with our faith in God as our provider.  Life is like a child with no candy watching all the other kids enjoying themselves.  You begin to reason your way into sin: "the store has plenty of money, they won't miss it, they charge too much for other items, they don't treat their employees right, I'm a good kid and I deserve candy like everyone else. I'll never get caught, I'll only take a little..."  So rather than trusting in God to be your provider you decide to be dishonest and cheat...just a little...on your taxes.  "It's no big deal, everyone else does it."  Then you begin to extend it to taking things from your office..."they do not pay me enough."  Then it is when a cashier hands you too much change, a product does not scan with a grocer, you wrongfully return an item to a merchant...and the list goes on.  Unfortunately, dishonesty has a way of slowly taking you down a path you can not backtrack.  A path of accountability and repercussions.
     When we live stimulus to response, we nurse our cravings and sear our conscience.  If we will add the second order of effect, getting caught and having to be known as being dishonest, it may keep us from the third order of effect of punitive action.  Ultimately it will keep us from having to confess to God that we did not trust Him as our provider, we took a short cut and became dishonest.
     Being honest has it's own rewards.  "The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them. (Proverbs 11:3)"  It is the wisdom of purposely putting your life on a path that can not crumble underneath your feet.  The peace of mind you live with knowing all is well, regardless of any inquiry.  Do we really need a reward from God for being honest?  No.  The return of honesty in your life is its own reward.

Father, help us remember "when the wrong oft seems so strong, you are the ruler yet."  Your ways are beautiful and your paths bring safety.  In Jesus Name, A-Men.     
         
     

Choice Words of Restoration

      

"The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver..." Proverbs 10:20

     In this section of Proverbs the teacher is contrasting the blessings of the righteous to the fruit of the wicked.  In this instance we see how the words of the righteous are rewarding and satisfying.  There are so many ways we can explore how this saying is true, but let us look at how Jesus confronted Peter after the resurrection.

     In John 21:15-17 Jesus confronts Peter's denial and uses choice words to bring restoration.

(Actual text)

Jesus: "Do you love (agape) me?"
Peter: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love (philia) you.”
Jesus" "Tend my lambs."

Jesus: “Do you love (agape) me?”
Peter: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love (philia) you.”
Jesus: "Shepherd my sheep."

Jesus: “Do you love (philia) me?”
Peter: “You know that I love (philia) you.”

Jesus: "Tend my sheep."

     In most confrontations we see the anger of being betrayed, an admission of guilt, a request for forgiveness and then the granting of forgiveness.  I could have expected the conversation to go like this:

(hypothetically)

Jesus: "Peter! You betrayed me!"

Peter: "I know, but I was really pressured and didn't know what to do..."

Jesus: "Peter!  You left me all alone!"

Peter: "There wasn't enough of us, we couldn't overcome them."

Jesus: "Peter, I thought I could count on you"

Peter: "I know, I'm sorry"

Jesus: "OK, I understand...I forgive you."

     Jesus could have unloaded on Peter but instead he chose his words carefully to help bring restoration.  Could you imagine being Peter on the beach that day when he realized he was talking with the resurrected Christ?  After running away scared, abandoning Jesus and then denying him three times Peter demonstrated nothing short of cowardice and betrayal.  In response to Peter's actions Jesus simply asked him one question.

1.  "Do you (more than anyone else) love me?"  This question says it all.  The face to face question confronts the betrayal, confronts the abandonment and goes straight to the heart of the matter.  After all is said..."do you love me?"  What if this was a moment when a child confronted a parent who had been abandoned?  Choice words can help remove the shame of the sin and get straight to the heart of the matter..."do you want me?"

2.  "Do you (without waver) love me?"  What if this was a moment when a spouse was confronted about dependability?  The choice of words address the question of guilt and devotion.  Without unloading on someone and trying to shame them, you get straight to the matter..."do you  want to restore this relationship?"  

3.  "Do you (as close as a brother) love me?"  Too often when we have an altercation with a brother/sister in Christ, rather than working toward reconciliation we harbor bitterness.  The choice words of the righteous should always be precious.  At this point I imagine Peter had been nursing his shame with tremendous guilt.  With anxiety building within Peter throughout breakfast, the moment of reckoning had finally come.  Jesus simply ask..."do you love me?"  With Peter's third admission of love for Christ the heaviness was broken and Jesus reaffirms a third time Peter's role, "Be a good shepherd to my sheep."  Confrontation can be merciful.  

      The words we use, our tone and body gesture all portray our heart.  I pray that we guard our heart, distribute mercy generously and use choice words that relieve the anxiety of stressed relationships.

     

We need #Reconciliation

Be Patient

 "Be Joyful in Hope, Patient in Affliction and Faithful in Prayer" 

Romans 12:2

Joyful in Hope

                I’ll be the first to admit I look for “Murphy” to show up at every turn.  It has been said that the more responsibility you have the more contingency plans you have to make.  If you are not careful your expectations of life can become more about the negative hurdles than the journey toward success.  Being “Joyful in Hope” speaks to the mental and emotional state of being during trials.  If God is a part of our life, and He is, then God is a part of our trial and delivery.  So while life experiences may condition us to watch for the next hurdle, our expectation of God’s presence in our life should motivate us to maintain our pace toward the finish line. 

Patient in Affliction

                Patience is powerful.  Being “Patient in Affliction” does not mean to sit idle and do nothing.  Patience is meant to give you time to gained enough understanding to use wisdom in your next step.  Rather than being emotionally reactive with no time to develop a rational analysis or gain spiritual insight, use the delayed time period of affliction to empower yourself.  Too many people make rash decisions to get out of their trial as soon as possible.  In any situation you can advantage yourself with time.  Time to calm down, time to re-think, time to get your facts straight, time to seek spiritual insight, time to gain wisdom from others, time for the situation to possibly change, time to contemplate a better solution, time to decide if doing nothing could benefit you more than responding at all.  If you do not absolutely have to make an immediate decision, patience will empower you.     

Faithful in Prayer

It’s comforting when we have secure and meaningful relationships with the people who are important in our lives.  It’s the same way with God.  In uncertain times, it’s comforting to connect with God and know our relationship is secure.  When the disciples were battling the storm at sea, Jesus was asleep below.  When the disciples awakened Christ and sought His help, He simply stepped forward on the boat and spoke “peace, be still”.  Stop fighting your battles alone.  Don’t hesitate to pray to God in trials.  Seek Him out and bring Him to the forefront of your situation. 

“Father; help us to maintain our excitement about our Spiritual Journey, to wait strategically for your intervention, and to be able to recognize the hand of God on our lives." 

False Growth

"The seed that fell among the thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature." Luke 8:14


     On my last day off from work I engaged in one of my favorite past times, yard work!  However; on this particular day I needed to clear away a few bushes and small tress on the back side of my yard that met with a wood line.  What I thought was going to be a few hours of removal turned into a thorn infested fiasco.  As I looked at the tree line from my back deck, I thought I was enjoying the lush green row of bushes and trees that connected my yard to the woods.  As I got into the tree line I found myself in a thicket that had overrun the entire area.  I tore my cloths, scratched my arms up and fought the entire day to only cut the thicket back enough to have three 10 ft. piles of brush that needed to be hauled off.  Almost every tree had vines growing up it that branched off into huge leafy canopies.  As I pulled the thirty foot long vines down I was amazed at how I could not see the false green in the trees.

     For several hours I contemplated the parable of the seed and sower found in Luke.  The thorns had grown up through the bushes and around the trees so subtly that what appeared to be good healthy growth was actually weeds blocking the sun and inhibiting what we wanted.  The vines had overtaken several trees and their leaves masked the bare limbs.  The Lord impressed on my heart that "this is how weeds overtake someone's life."  Very slowly fear, anxiety and distracting coping mechanisms overtake the hope in your heart and your ability to reason in faith.  When the worries of life become strong enough they block you from the light, separating you from the spiritual source of life and growth.  When you look at yourself from a distance you may appear to be lush and green.  You may appear to be healthy and full of growth, but when you get into the weeds you find that there is more fear than faith growing in your life.     

     What an overgrown mess to fight through.  It was no simple task removing unwanted thorns and vines that slowly made their way around everything.  Fortunately, by getting right in the middle of the thicket, I was able to determine what needed to stay and what needed to go.

     Maybe we can take a closer look at the individual elements that make up our lives rather than glossing over who we are as a whole.  Maybe we see leafy growth in our lives that looks good from a distance, but it is actually the "riches and pleasures" that give us a false sense of growth.  A personal examination may be painful to work through, but well worth the effort when we come out of the thicket of anxiety and doubt.