Proverbs 13

Focus verse : Prover 13:18
"Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored."

Meaning: The whole of this book hinges on Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowldege; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Provers 13:18 echoes this verse, but also provides an understanding of the consequences attached to the outcome of those who fear the Lord and the fools who reject Him. Similar to the theme throughout most of the Proverbs, these consequences are not just phyiscal or things that will happen in this world, but can also be consequences of a spiritual nature. You may amass a wealth in this life, but you will be spiritually poor for eternity if you have ignored the knowledge and advice of those who walk in the ways of the Lord. However, the Lord admonishes those who diligently seek and listen to the counsel of those who are wise in the law of the Lord.

Application: My age is an especially tough time because I am trying to find my own spiritual identity, yet I also still must rely on the spiritual nurturing my parents provided me. Now, my parents aren't perfect, and they're not right about everything, but not only have do they have far more spiritual maturity than me, but they also have much more life experience. In the short time I have been away from home, ignoring their advice has actually landed me in very disgraceful and poor financial situations. Perhaps now that I am doing my best to listen to their counsel, I will find some honor in my life.

A New Direction Already?

So, here's the deal. With a lack of things to write about (I do have a subject or two brewing in the pot, but that's about it) I have decided to start recording thoughts on the Bible study I am doing for the next month on Proverbs. Thirty-one chapters means (hopefully) thirty-one straight days of posts. We shall see how it goes...

Is God A Masochist?

I went for my weekly run today (I know, it needs to be a little more often than once a week) and I was reminded of a conversation I had with someone a few months ago. This person posed a question to me: is God a learning God? To which, of course, I replied emphatically no! If God did not know everything then God could not be all knowing, and if God is not all knowing, why serve and worship Him? I mean, He could be completely wrong about everything!

This very confused Christian then pointed me toward Genesis 6:5-6, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart." His point? God had no idea that man would choose sin and wickedness, and man had gotten so out of hand, that God needed to lay the smack down. Therefore, God learned that His creation was a mistake.

Obviously the vast errancy in this statement is blatantly clear. However, I will attempt to break down my defense in brief form. First, I responded that God knew that mankind would choose sin and because of this, He could not have "learned from this mistake." His response? Well then, God must be masochistic because he knew his creation would bring him pain. Yes, apparently, God is a masochist.

From here, I made two points:

1) Why can't God be masochistic? Who are we to judge God based on our finite experiences? What is that compared to His infinite wisdom? Continuing on from this thought, how can we even begin to fathom how God works anyways? God is outside of time and space. How can we try to define in our limited human words? Calling Him masochistic is awfully presumptuous!

2) More importantly, is it necessarily masochistic to do something that causes one pain? After all, running causes me quite a bit of physical pain and I know it will before I even begin to do it. I guess I must be a masochist for partaking in it, then! Or maybe my driving force of getting in shape overrides the fact that I will incur some physical pain. Maybe God's ultimate plan is more importnat than the temporary "pain" it may cause Him along the way.

So, no, God is not a masochist.

Us Darn Christians Are So Closed Minded

I was thinking about going and finding an old editorial I wrote for the school newspaper several years back so I could be lazy and not post anything new, but this issue has been gnawing at my brain for awhile, so I will attempt to briefly disect it.

In today's culture it is very apparent that one of the worst "burns" out there is to be called closed minded. Want to win an argument? Beat your opponent over the head by calling them close minded. Every single onlooker will gasp in awe at how dumb your opponent is for being so ignorant to your point of view.

But honestly, if you call someone closed minded because he refuses to see things the way do, aren't you doing the same thing? Are you trying to see his view, or are you just trying to get your shots in while you can because you're upset at being "offended"? See, the thing is, if you weren't being ignorant in the first place, you'd have no reason to call someone else closed minded. So, what we have here is a fine and dandy example of the pot calling the kettle black.

Let's extend this into the land of Christendom. Christians are some of the biggest goats out there for receiving the "closed minded" label. We are considered closed minded and ignorant because we stand for truth. Not just a truth, but THE Truth. And this truth is offensive to some. Christ told us to expect to be rebuked (Luke 6:22) for His sake. So while we shouldn't be suprised when those who disagree with us resort to labeling us closed minded, the irony is that it is those who disagree with the truth of The Bible that are closed minded and ignorant.

While the humanist may claim to be objective, how can one really be objective when they are relying on false truth to "objectively" observe the world? The honest truth is, there is no objectivity outside of God's truth; none whatsoever. So, we should never fear that oh so scary (not really) label of being ignorant or closed minded because we can be assured in our knowledge that the truth of Christ gives us the only true objectivity that exists.

"Objectivity's the myth of plenty who doubt His truth within their soul" - Five Iron Frenzy

An Introduction

I have always been fascinated by the story of Gideon, a man whose "clan [was] the weakest in Manasseh, and [who was] the least in [his] father's house." (Judges 6:15) Yet God used this seemingly meaningless man in the grand scheme of things and a rag tag group of just 300 men to defeat one of the greatest armies the world had known at that time. To me, this story is not only one of the greatest examples of God's power to do as He wills with whatever tool he chooses, but it also shows that just a few righteous men who seek to follow the will of God can have a far greater impact on their world than they could ever see themselves having..

How does this relate to the title of my blog? I am a recently Reformed Christian who is still wet behind the ears. I don't consider myself in any way a masterful theologian. Yet, however small and incompetent I may feel in this vast universe, even I can be used by God to do His will, and just like Gideon and his 300 men, have a far reaching impact on the course of human history. Please don't misunderstand me, I don't have such lofty expectations. I just want to do what I can to be a glimmer of hope in this dark world.

So please, read, comment, discuss, and even correct me if you feel I'm wrong. I don't claim to know everything and still have a lot to learn. I hope what I have to say will positively effect the lives of those who read this blog.