Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? “To you, O
children, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain
prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding. Listen, for I have worthy
things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is
true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none
of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning, all of them is right; they
are faultless to all who have knowledge. Choose my instruction instead of
silver, knowledge instead of gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and
nothing you desire can compare with her.” ~Proverbs 8:1, & 4-11
To the Jews who believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” ~John 8:31-32
Whenever I read the 8th chapter of Proverbs, I am always impressed with the realization of how similar wisdom is to Jesus. They really are a working team. In fact, it would have been appropriate if Jesus Himself had spoken the words attributed to wisdom in our reading for today.
Consider: Does not Jesus call out? Does not He who is understanding itself raise His voice? “To you, O children, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind… Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge instead of gold, for I am more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with Me.”
To the Jews who believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.”
Jesus was constantly locking horns with those who thought they were wise in their own eyes. They were rich and powerful. They didn’t think this blue-collar carpenter had anything to teach them. The voice of truth itself was presenting wisdom’s case and they weren’t interested. They were climbing their own ladder and they couldn’t be bothered to consider that it might be up against the wrong wall.
Often, we get frustrated or become discouraged in our attempts to speak the truth even when it is spoken in love. We scratch our heads and wonder why the one we are speaking to doesn’t get it or seems clueless. Their response to our wisdom is part of the reason that we begin preferring being around others who think like us, believe like us, basically, are like us. When we are with like-minded people, there is little struggle or need to convince. Persuasion can be such a draining task. However, when we succumb to the “birds of a feather” syndrome, we are giving in to satan’s ploy to silence us and separate us from those who need what we have to share.
Don’t forget, we are in a spiritual battle. Satan, the father of lies, (remember him?) has many ways of keeping us off our game. His latest trick has been to introduce the idea of relativism into our thinking. In relativism, the thinking is that everybody’s truth needs to be respected because each person’s truth is theirs and who are we to question it. The seduction here is to make everyone their own little god in their own little world where they control right and wrong to their liking. You have to admit, that’s pretty heady stuff! So, having us come along with, what we declare to be real truth, is seen as just another truth that works for us, but doesn’t necessarily work for our hearer and they’re okay with that.
There are other deceptions that are just as attractive to the human spirit. For example, in the Pharisee’s case, there was pride, but they aren’t the only ones who have trouble admitting wrong. There is power; the illusion of control. There are religions started by false teachings. There are those whose thinking is just twisted and they are mentally deceived. All of these strategies are tiring to fight against, and we do weary in trying.
How did Jesus do it? How did He stay in the fight and not get discouraged? First of all, we cannot be sure that He didn’t get discouraged. In fact, from some of the comments that He made both to His disciples and His opponents over time, we can discern that Jesus became discouraged often. Yet, He continued in the struggle.
What kept Him from giving up beyond His love for us? He knew that He was really in a spiritual battle, but how did He keep from getting from throwing up His hands and just going home, to heaven? First of all, it had to be His prayer life. He was always in communication with His Father in Heaven about everything. Then, those times that He was alone must have been like a recharging station for an electric car. He knew that He needed to stop. He couldn’t keep going. He needed to communicate, but He also needed to rest. As we often said last year, despite how it appeared, Jesus was always in control. This means that He didn’t leave His charging station, His time of prayer, before He was fully ready. He re-entered the battle, ready to fight.
Second, He stayed on message and He was confident of what that message was. Hear Him again: “Listen, for I have worthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning, all of them is right; they are faultless to all who desire knowledge…”
That is confidence in what He had to share. Many Christians do not engage in the struggle today because they are not confident. They fear being asked a question they cannot answer. They fear being talked out of their faith and thus discover that, maybe they aren’t right after all. It’s safer to stay in the huddle with the like-minded people than risk the challenge, loss or confusion. Usually, when Christians think like this, it is because they are trying to fight the battle in their own strength. They are relying on their knowledge and their words and their ability to persuade. They are entering the battle naked because they have not taken the time to put on the armor of God. (Eph.6:10-18)
Jesus donned His armor in prayer. He never took it off. He was always fully prepared because of His reliance on His heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit upon and within Him. As imitators of Christ, we can do all these things as well! (Phil. 4:13) Jesus didn’t just teach us how to resist temptation while He was on this earth. He also demonstrated how to stay engaged in the battle that He knew was all around Him. He took the time to recharge. He kept His armor in place and He always stayed in communication with His Father. Also, it can be pointed out that, since He is the author of scripture, He kept that in mind as well.
Our challenge is to resist the huddle and to stay engaged in the battle even though it is hard and, usually uncomfortable. Stay confident of your message of the gospel and if you don’t think you know enough, you can fix that too. Don’t let the devil’s schemes to discourage you win the day. Recharge and keep going, for the Kingdom!
Prayer: Thank You again Lord for providing armor for the battle, wisdom for guidance, and Jesus to walk with me! I'm stepping out in faith, staying on mission with confidence that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, in Jesus' name, amen.
Hymn: Am I A Soldier of the Cross
To the Jews who believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” ~John 8:31-32
Whenever I read the 8th chapter of Proverbs, I am always impressed with the realization of how similar wisdom is to Jesus. They really are a working team. In fact, it would have been appropriate if Jesus Himself had spoken the words attributed to wisdom in our reading for today.
Consider: Does not Jesus call out? Does not He who is understanding itself raise His voice? “To you, O children, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind… Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge instead of gold, for I am more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with Me.”
To the Jews who believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.”
Jesus was constantly locking horns with those who thought they were wise in their own eyes. They were rich and powerful. They didn’t think this blue-collar carpenter had anything to teach them. The voice of truth itself was presenting wisdom’s case and they weren’t interested. They were climbing their own ladder and they couldn’t be bothered to consider that it might be up against the wrong wall.
Often, we get frustrated or become discouraged in our attempts to speak the truth even when it is spoken in love. We scratch our heads and wonder why the one we are speaking to doesn’t get it or seems clueless. Their response to our wisdom is part of the reason that we begin preferring being around others who think like us, believe like us, basically, are like us. When we are with like-minded people, there is little struggle or need to convince. Persuasion can be such a draining task. However, when we succumb to the “birds of a feather” syndrome, we are giving in to satan’s ploy to silence us and separate us from those who need what we have to share.
Don’t forget, we are in a spiritual battle. Satan, the father of lies, (remember him?) has many ways of keeping us off our game. His latest trick has been to introduce the idea of relativism into our thinking. In relativism, the thinking is that everybody’s truth needs to be respected because each person’s truth is theirs and who are we to question it. The seduction here is to make everyone their own little god in their own little world where they control right and wrong to their liking. You have to admit, that’s pretty heady stuff! So, having us come along with, what we declare to be real truth, is seen as just another truth that works for us, but doesn’t necessarily work for our hearer and they’re okay with that.
There are other deceptions that are just as attractive to the human spirit. For example, in the Pharisee’s case, there was pride, but they aren’t the only ones who have trouble admitting wrong. There is power; the illusion of control. There are religions started by false teachings. There are those whose thinking is just twisted and they are mentally deceived. All of these strategies are tiring to fight against, and we do weary in trying.
How did Jesus do it? How did He stay in the fight and not get discouraged? First of all, we cannot be sure that He didn’t get discouraged. In fact, from some of the comments that He made both to His disciples and His opponents over time, we can discern that Jesus became discouraged often. Yet, He continued in the struggle.
What kept Him from giving up beyond His love for us? He knew that He was really in a spiritual battle, but how did He keep from getting from throwing up His hands and just going home, to heaven? First of all, it had to be His prayer life. He was always in communication with His Father in Heaven about everything. Then, those times that He was alone must have been like a recharging station for an electric car. He knew that He needed to stop. He couldn’t keep going. He needed to communicate, but He also needed to rest. As we often said last year, despite how it appeared, Jesus was always in control. This means that He didn’t leave His charging station, His time of prayer, before He was fully ready. He re-entered the battle, ready to fight.
Second, He stayed on message and He was confident of what that message was. Hear Him again: “Listen, for I have worthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning, all of them is right; they are faultless to all who desire knowledge…”
That is confidence in what He had to share. Many Christians do not engage in the struggle today because they are not confident. They fear being asked a question they cannot answer. They fear being talked out of their faith and thus discover that, maybe they aren’t right after all. It’s safer to stay in the huddle with the like-minded people than risk the challenge, loss or confusion. Usually, when Christians think like this, it is because they are trying to fight the battle in their own strength. They are relying on their knowledge and their words and their ability to persuade. They are entering the battle naked because they have not taken the time to put on the armor of God. (Eph.6:10-18)
Jesus donned His armor in prayer. He never took it off. He was always fully prepared because of His reliance on His heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit upon and within Him. As imitators of Christ, we can do all these things as well! (Phil. 4:13) Jesus didn’t just teach us how to resist temptation while He was on this earth. He also demonstrated how to stay engaged in the battle that He knew was all around Him. He took the time to recharge. He kept His armor in place and He always stayed in communication with His Father. Also, it can be pointed out that, since He is the author of scripture, He kept that in mind as well.
Our challenge is to resist the huddle and to stay engaged in the battle even though it is hard and, usually uncomfortable. Stay confident of your message of the gospel and if you don’t think you know enough, you can fix that too. Don’t let the devil’s schemes to discourage you win the day. Recharge and keep going, for the Kingdom!
Prayer: Thank You again Lord for providing armor for the battle, wisdom for guidance, and Jesus to walk with me! I'm stepping out in faith, staying on mission with confidence that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, in Jesus' name, amen.
Hymn: Am I A Soldier of the Cross
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