To fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. ~Proverbs 8:13
The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright. ~Proverbs 29:27
Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. ~Psalm 62:9-10
Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. ~Psalm 139:23-24
Oh wow! What could there possibly be to think about today? We already know all this stuff. Maybe we should send the devotional today to Wall Street, or something like that. Riiiight? Hmmmm!
Interestingly enough, the first thought that came to mind as I read the passages for today is how the church conducts discussions over their resources. At first, as you know, I was tempted to send my message, out there, to the world where “they,” need a good talking too about pride and extortion and power grabs and looking down on….you get the point.
However, we need to remember that the church is made up of sinners, hopefully mostly forgiven sinners, but sinners nevertheless. None of us have been perfected in Christ but are still a work in progress. All of us still have a sinful nature for us, and Christ, to deal with. What if we took these words as an admonishment for ourselves, in the church and examined ourselves accordingly? How might our behavior change as a result?
“To fear the Lord is to hate evil;” There is that word, “fear,” again. Remember, we had said that it could be used as a form of respect, but that it could also be a protective word to preserve our lives. Evidently, we can’t love evil, including, gossip, selfishness, etc., and fear, or love God at the same time. It’s a good thing to hate evil because we usually avoid what we don’t like. We would all probably acknowledge that is pretty basic, but the Proverb goes on to say, as a type of embellishment: “I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” Since we don’t like it either, so far, we are in agreement with God and wisdom.
Then it says, “The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.” This is what has me thinking about the church today. In churches, there are strong opinions and strong desires to do things our way. It’s so easy to start calling names and labeling the people we disagree with. Of course, I’m going to consider myself righteous and detest you. And if you’re mad at me then I will quote, “The wicked detest the righteous.” And so it goes, in both directions! We may expect this type of behavior in the secular world where the “dog eat dog,” type of thinking rules, but what happens when it is brought into the church? Well, it cripples the church, or even worse, destroys it.
I am thinking about Paul’s dissertation in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 in which he talks about the parts of the body not lording it over other parts, thinking more of their own function than they ought. Then, Paul says, “and now I will show you the most excellent way.” Then he goes on in chapter 13 to describe what true love is and what it isn’t and how we can reduce our actions to just an annoying racket when we are not governed by love.
Jesus said that Love should be the defining characteristic of His disciples. (John 13:34-35) The way that the church deals with struggles, conflicts, change, and resources, should look different from the way the world handles these things. Instead of going for power grabs and determination to get our own way, we should remember: ““Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.” We are all equal at the foot of the cross. Love and grace become more obvious because we are no better than our opponent.
The world needs to hear: “Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them,” but sadly, we also see a lot of manipulation in the church as well. This must grieve our heavenly Father so much to see His children behave no better than those not yet adopted into the family. Yet, we know that this type of behavior goes on in the church.
People withhold support except for their pet projects. People leave when they don’t get their way. For example, at a former church that we served, there was a person who would only give money to the church for landscaping and, of course, the landscaping had to end up meeting her approval. She wasn’t really interested in advancing the kingdom. We could probably all think of situations in the church where we’ve seen little power grabs.
In our former denomination, we referred to these types of situations as, “holding the church hostage.” The others in the church didn’t want to cross these individuals, out of fear that it could get nasty and possibly run the risk of losing their support altogether. This stalemates the ministry and keeps it from moving forward out of fear of conflict. Thus, the church really is held hostage to the powerful person who insists on his or her own way.
But, to quote Paul again, “let me show you a more excellent way.” What if, in all possible stressful situations, each of us said to ourselves, along with the Psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” We can fret and become anxious when we don’t get our way, but what are our motives? As we mature in wisdom? Have we learned to let go of our way and let God be in control? Can we be more loving and accepting toward those who are of a different opinion because we are more interested in hearing God’s opinion, and God’s way of thinking on the matter rather than our own?
On this Valentine’s day, let us each consider our ways. Let’s allow God to search us and show us how we are unloving, especially to those with whom we worship and ask the Lord to help us choose a more excellent way.
Prayer: Lord, I want to show love, being humble as Jesus was, not insisting on my own way but open to new ideas inspired by your creative spirit, even when it is somebody else that gets those new ideas. And when I must stand by my convictions, help me to be gracious, patient, gentle, and understanding. In Jesus' name, amen.
Song: The Gift Of Love
The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright. ~Proverbs 29:27
Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. ~Psalm 62:9-10
Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. ~Psalm 139:23-24
Oh wow! What could there possibly be to think about today? We already know all this stuff. Maybe we should send the devotional today to Wall Street, or something like that. Riiiight? Hmmmm!
Interestingly enough, the first thought that came to mind as I read the passages for today is how the church conducts discussions over their resources. At first, as you know, I was tempted to send my message, out there, to the world where “they,” need a good talking too about pride and extortion and power grabs and looking down on….you get the point.
However, we need to remember that the church is made up of sinners, hopefully mostly forgiven sinners, but sinners nevertheless. None of us have been perfected in Christ but are still a work in progress. All of us still have a sinful nature for us, and Christ, to deal with. What if we took these words as an admonishment for ourselves, in the church and examined ourselves accordingly? How might our behavior change as a result?
“To fear the Lord is to hate evil;” There is that word, “fear,” again. Remember, we had said that it could be used as a form of respect, but that it could also be a protective word to preserve our lives. Evidently, we can’t love evil, including, gossip, selfishness, etc., and fear, or love God at the same time. It’s a good thing to hate evil because we usually avoid what we don’t like. We would all probably acknowledge that is pretty basic, but the Proverb goes on to say, as a type of embellishment: “I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” Since we don’t like it either, so far, we are in agreement with God and wisdom.
Then it says, “The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.” This is what has me thinking about the church today. In churches, there are strong opinions and strong desires to do things our way. It’s so easy to start calling names and labeling the people we disagree with. Of course, I’m going to consider myself righteous and detest you. And if you’re mad at me then I will quote, “The wicked detest the righteous.” And so it goes, in both directions! We may expect this type of behavior in the secular world where the “dog eat dog,” type of thinking rules, but what happens when it is brought into the church? Well, it cripples the church, or even worse, destroys it.
I am thinking about Paul’s dissertation in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 in which he talks about the parts of the body not lording it over other parts, thinking more of their own function than they ought. Then, Paul says, “and now I will show you the most excellent way.” Then he goes on in chapter 13 to describe what true love is and what it isn’t and how we can reduce our actions to just an annoying racket when we are not governed by love.
Jesus said that Love should be the defining characteristic of His disciples. (John 13:34-35) The way that the church deals with struggles, conflicts, change, and resources, should look different from the way the world handles these things. Instead of going for power grabs and determination to get our own way, we should remember: ““Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.” We are all equal at the foot of the cross. Love and grace become more obvious because we are no better than our opponent.
The world needs to hear: “Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them,” but sadly, we also see a lot of manipulation in the church as well. This must grieve our heavenly Father so much to see His children behave no better than those not yet adopted into the family. Yet, we know that this type of behavior goes on in the church.
People withhold support except for their pet projects. People leave when they don’t get their way. For example, at a former church that we served, there was a person who would only give money to the church for landscaping and, of course, the landscaping had to end up meeting her approval. She wasn’t really interested in advancing the kingdom. We could probably all think of situations in the church where we’ve seen little power grabs.
In our former denomination, we referred to these types of situations as, “holding the church hostage.” The others in the church didn’t want to cross these individuals, out of fear that it could get nasty and possibly run the risk of losing their support altogether. This stalemates the ministry and keeps it from moving forward out of fear of conflict. Thus, the church really is held hostage to the powerful person who insists on his or her own way.
But, to quote Paul again, “let me show you a more excellent way.” What if, in all possible stressful situations, each of us said to ourselves, along with the Psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” We can fret and become anxious when we don’t get our way, but what are our motives? As we mature in wisdom? Have we learned to let go of our way and let God be in control? Can we be more loving and accepting toward those who are of a different opinion because we are more interested in hearing God’s opinion, and God’s way of thinking on the matter rather than our own?
On this Valentine’s day, let us each consider our ways. Let’s allow God to search us and show us how we are unloving, especially to those with whom we worship and ask the Lord to help us choose a more excellent way.
Prayer: Lord, I want to show love, being humble as Jesus was, not insisting on my own way but open to new ideas inspired by your creative spirit, even when it is somebody else that gets those new ideas. And when I must stand by my convictions, help me to be gracious, patient, gentle, and understanding. In Jesus' name, amen.
Song: The Gift Of Love
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