My Favorite Things - Trust, Healing and Refreshment

Many of you who follow me are familiar with the Sound of Music, a musical drama staring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer set in pre WWII Austria. The film, one of my favorites, is an adaption of a stage musical by Rogers and Hammerstein. The movie is filled with uplifting musical numbers, beautiful scenery and budding romance. A number that has been with me since our choir sang it in junior high was My Favorite Things.

I had the idea come to me this morning that it might be fun and beneficial to share with you a number of my favorite passages of scripture. There is always a reason we have favorites. We might have a favorite ice cream, perfume or movie. Our faves are ones we like to revisit over and over.

I love to see a garden full of bright colorful flowers. Flower gardening is an activity I would like to do, but like so many things, I just don’t seem to get to it. That is okay. I can still enjoy the flowers at our local botanical gardens and adorning the front walkways and porches of many homes I drive by in the summer time.

Scripture is something that I desire to cultivate in my life. I am learning over and over how important and powerful God’s word is in my life, and that is why I want to share with you passages that I go back to on repeat. Just like the beautiful flowers we see in the warm weather, God’s word is a beautiful. It is meant to be looked at, mulled over and enjoyed. Yes, there are hard bits, bits that I remind me of my sin and my short comings, but God’s word is so much more than that. Let’s take a look.

“1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
2 For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you.
3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.”

— Proverbs 3:1-8 (NASB 1995)

God’s word is meant to teach us. As I look at this portion of Proverbs 3 I know the author is King Solomon, David’s son by Bathsheba. Isn’t it amazing how God took a messy, sinful situation and turned it into something for His glory and honor? He is a master at that.

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As Solomon penned these words we know that he was inspired by God, and it is written like a father speaking to his son. Whether Solomon had a son in mind when he penned these words, or he was relaying what God’s spirit inspired him regarding the Father - child relationship we have with God, I am not sure, but these words apply just as readily to us today as they did to people from long ago.

These verses could be said to be written like poetic couplets. Each set of two verses goes together with the first verse being a command, and the second verse being the benefit of obeying the command.

“1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
2 For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you.”

— Proverbs 3:1-2 (NASB 1995)

The writer is telling his son to not forget the things he taught him. He even speaks to the issue of his heart. Why is it important for our hearts to keep God’s commandments? The simple truth is, head knowledge does not make us more godly or Christ like. It is when we allow the words of the Scriptures to permeate our hearts that we truly delve into the layers that are God.

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The author gives the reason heart knowledge is so important, because it benefits us. “…length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.” Our society pushes the idea of exercise and eating right to help us live longer, but that is not the only piece of our health puzzle. Living our lives for God in obedience to, and in love with our Lord will benefit us in more ways than we can even understand.

“3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.”

— Proverbs 3:3-4 (NASB 1995)

We hear so much about being kind these days. We see the phrase, “Be kind” written on signs in front of schools, on tee shirts and other apparel and we are constantly telling our children and grand children to be kind. The idea of kindness isn’t new and obviously, if Solomon felt it was necessary to mention, then you can bet back in his day there were probably all sorts of bullies and social difficulties. The man had 700 wives and 300 concubines! How could there not be social difficulties? Have you ever heard of a cat fight? Ha, ha.

It wasn’t just kindness that Solomon suggested, he said kindness and truth. He told the reader to bind them around their neck and write them on the tablet of their heart. As women we like to adorn our necks with jewelry or pretty scarves. A pretty statement necklace or flowy scarf really take an outfit up a notch. Being kind is always more appealing than being nasty. Being truthful is typically better than being deceitful, especially if the first lie leads to more and more lies.

Once again we see a reason why the command is given, “So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.” We aren’t just pleasing God, but we will be looked up to and respected by others when we are kind and truthful.

“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.”

— Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB 1995)

These two verses are probably the more well known of all the verses in this chapter. Once again Solomon speaks of the heart. We are to trust the Lord, not just with our heads, but with “all” our hearts. The next phrase is huge. In a society where we are constantly being told we can do it, we can figure it out, we got this, we are fierce and infallible, it is very hard to not lean on our own understanding. Don’t I know what is best for me? Well, not really. Only the One who made you knows what is truly best for you.

The author goes on to say in all our ways to acknowledge Him and this is where we hone in on the real problem; the heart problem. We don’t acknowledge God in any of our ways, or maybe we do in one or two of our ways, but that is precisely why we lean on our own understanding. “I” will figure it out. “I” will fix this. “I” will do what it takes. “I” don’t need anyone’s help. We can be all about that, but in reality there will be times you can’t figure it out, fix it or do what it takes and you are going to need help. His help.

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He will make your paths straight. Once again, the command is followed by the benefit. God will take all the crooked, messed up pile of chaos that you created and He will make it straight. Quit leaning on your own understanding. Trust with all of your heart. Acknowledge Him and He will do it.

“7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.”

— Proverbs 3:7-8 (NASB 1995)

The final couplet again speaks to wisdom and its source. Solomon tells the son to not be wise in his own eyes. Do you ever think of yourself as wise? Have you ever had one of those pride moments when you figured out how to fix something or found out something you said helped another person. It is wonderful to have those moments, but we have to remember where all wisdom comes from. Solomon speaks to it in the next line, “Fear the Lord…” Wisdom starts with the Lord. Solomon takes it one more step, “…and turn away from evil.”

Turning away from evil is essential to having true wisdom. Solomon is a case study, because as wise as he was, he ended up being influenced by all of his many wives who came from various heathen countries and worshipped various heathen gods. For all the wisdom he had, he wasn’t very wise about keeping things under God’s authority.

Why should we fear the Lord and turn away from evil? The answer is in the second part of the couplet: so we will have healing and refreshment. Following after evil can be hard on the body, not just the physical ramifications of overeating, drinking alcohol or taking drugs, but also on a person’s mental and emotional well being causing anxiety, fear, depression and even eventual suicidal tendencies.

I hope you enjoyed this look at one of my favorite passages. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Spirit to Spirit

As we move along in our study of Romans 8, I hope that you are being encouraged to keep fighting the fight and running the race. It is very easy for us to let life knock us down, often to the point of not wanting to get back up. We often feel alone in our struggle, but today’s verses reassure us, we are not alone.

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“16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

— Romans 8:16-17 (NASB)

We are taking this slowly as there is no reason to rush. There is too much information in this one chapter alone, to just fly through. We must savor each bite, delighting in the flavor and deliciousness of the words of God that He imparted to us through His servant Paul. To not do so would be to leave behind that scrumptious chocolate cake served to us for dessert.

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Let’s take a few bites.

The Spirit Himself

I like that this verse begins like this. We just got the message that we have been adopted. That adoption happened because we chose to place our faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Because we made that choice we are now able to call God, Abba! Father! We are now allowed into the inner circle with the triune God head. We are now convinced of the intimacy we have with the Father and the Son, but what about the Spirit? This verse confirms that we are now intimate with Him as well. The Spirit isn’t sending someone else to do the job, He is doing it Himself. What is the job He is doing?

Testifies

We all have probably seen enough police shows or read enough murder mysteries to know, in order to put the bad guy behind bars, someone has to testify or give evidence against him. In addition, if we are applying for a job or trying to do something that requires character references, we want someone on our side who will testify to our strengths and why we are fit for the job or the new venture.

It is the Holy Spirit’s job to testify. He is the witness on our behalf and on behalf of the Son. He is the one who gives the evidence of our choice to follow Christ. He also gives evidence to us of the authenticity of Christ’s claim to be our Savior. How does He do this?

…with our spirit…

This truly is a spiritual thing. The testimony of the Holy Spirit is to our spirit. God created us with a physical body, a mind, a soul and a spirit. It is this spirit, that when nurtured and fed, will hear and understand the things of God. I have heard many stories of missionaries who have gone to native villages in countries all over the world where someone in that village was praying, or desiring to know God. This comes about because of the spirit God put within each of us. It is that spirit that is meant to fellowship with His Spirit. I believe that our spirit will shrivel up if it does not come into contact with the Holy Spirit of God. Sure we may still have “spirit” meaning more like a will to live or fight or win, etc. But the spirit that God created us with is meant to know His Spirit.

“We pursue God because, and only because, he has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit.”

— A.W.Tozer - Fellowship of the Burning Heart

When we believe in Jesus the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit. In other words His Spirit and our spirit become one. We now have the ability to know things of God, not merely head knowledge, but true heart knowledge. Our spirit and His Spirit become a united entity. Knowing this, it suddenly makes sense that when we sin, we grieve the Spirit of God. When we choose to live by the flesh we quench His Spirit in us, like a pail of cold ice water thrown on a flame. We are meant to burn with the Spirit of God. This is no milk toast relationship, meant to pander to our little feelings of pride or self-righteousness; this is a burning flame meant to consume us.

“To have found God and still to pursue him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too easily satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.”

— A.W. Tozer - Fellowship of the Burning Heart

…that we are children of God,

The Holy Spirit of God, then, testifies to our spirit that we are children of God. Without His Spirit in us we do not have assurance of this familial link. It is only the Spirit that speaks to our spirit, letting us know that we are, indeed, His most beloved children.

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I feel the need to save verse 17 for next week. I hope you don’t mind. Savor each morsel. Think about what these words and phrases mean for you as a Christ follower. Leave me a comment on what you came up with as you think this verse over. I’d love to hear from you.

Have a wonderful day.

Traits of a Godly Person: Knowledge

What is it about knowledge that makes us feel powerful if we have it, stupid if we don’t and causes us to pursue it like a wolf seeking its prey? Webster’s online dictionary defines the word knowledge as:

- the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association

- acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique

- the fact or condition of being aware of something

- the range of one's information or understanding

- the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning : COGNITION

- the fact or condition of having information or of being learned

- the sum of what is known : the body of truth, information, and principles acquired by humankind

There are two older meanings of the word which include a branch of learning and sexual intercourse.

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Here are a few quotes from other people on what they believe knowledge to be:

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

— Socrates

“The Seven Social Sins are:
Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.”

— Frederick Lewis Donaldson, sermon at Westminster Abbey March 20, 1925

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

— Albert Einstein

“No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.”

— L. Frank Baum, The Lost Princess of Oz

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

— Daniel Boorstin

One of the wisest men in recorded history, King Solomon, had this to say about knowledge.

“An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”

— Proverbs 18:15 (ESV)

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I could share with you the forms of knowledge, but rather than get bogged down in philosophical terms and definitions, let’s just say for this study there is head knowledge and heart knowledge. Obviously, our head was designed for the purpose of obtaining, storing and using knowledge, in addition to all of the things our brains do, that we actually don’t have to think about like blood circulation, breathing and blinking. The question then is, does the heart think?

The heart, as a muscle in our body that regulates blood flow, does not, itself, think. The brain is still the control center, even when it comes to the beating of our hearts. What then do we mean by heart knowledge? I often associate heart knowledge with our conscience, or for us as Christians, with His Spirit in us. Heart knowledge is that voice of right and wrong that we often hear, telling us to do or not do a certain thing. Heart knowledge also embraces the relationship we have with the Almighty.

We’ve all heard the quote from those sappy sweet Hallmark movies, “Follow your heart.” Or, “What is your heart saying?” But those are just movies. What about in real life? Often people get in trouble for following their hearts, rather than their heads. When it comes to the Christian life, what is the best way to live; by head knowledge or heart knowledge? I think King Solomon had the right idea. Let’s break down that verse in Proverbs into two parts.

1 - An intelligent heart acquires knowledge:

Solomon, himself, shows us in this verse, that our hearts can obtain knowledge. I think heart knowledge has to do with what philosopher’s call procedural or tacit knowledge. This knowledge is obtained through experience. When you first start working a job, you may have no idea how to use the new computer system. Maybe you are familiar with it, but you haven’t actually used it and had it become a regular part of your knowledge base. Once you learn the system, that head knowledge has become heart knowledge and is as easy as breathing (except for the fact that it is technology, which doesn’t always work as it should! Ha, ha.)

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Another example of this heart knowledge or experiential knowledge would be a little child. A child knows he/she is not to touch the flame on a candle, because they were told by their parent, but that knowledge does not become heart knowledge until he touches the flame and learns that it hurts. Heart knowledge comes over time and is learned gradually.

2 - and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

The mention of the ear makes me think that this part of the verse is referring to the head. The ears, eyes and mouth, along with our sense of touch are the ways that we obtain what philosopher’s term, propositional or explicit knowledge. This knowledge we can learn from a book, a speaker, a video and other forms of communication that express or share knowledge. Nurses learn about taking blood pressures, making diagnosis and treating patients. They can translate this knowledge onto a test and pass an exam, but this head knowledge does not become real until it is experienced on the floor during their clinical.

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Now that we understand the two different types of knowledge, we can move on to why it is important to have both and how this can help us to become more Godly Christians.

There are those who believe head knowledge is the best knowledge. It is only through reading books, studying history and understanding philosophical ideas that we truly have knowledge. This camp does not see the necessity for experience, or at least the necessity for emotional experience. Head knowledge followers actually like to read or listen to podcasts. They love to watch the news and keep on top of all that is going on in the world. Many head knowledge types are walking sources of factual information. Heart knowledge is often looked upon as weak and changing with every whim. Head knowledge without heart knowledge is sterile and lacks compassion.

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The other camp says that heart knowledge is best. These are the people who love to experience life to the fullest. You’ll find heart knowledge adherents going to concerts, movies and for long walks in the woods. These types have relationships with their pets and are devastated when a favorite character in a book or movie is killed off. Yes, these are the ones who cry during Hallmark movies and good books. Head knowledge is looked upon as unbendable and critical. Heart knowledge without head knowledge can be lead astray and is easily manipulated.

Obviously, most people do not just fall into one knowledge category or the other. Most of us operate somewhere between head knowledge and heart knowledge, although most of us have a leaning one way or another. My spouse is a head knowledge type of guy. He has a Master’s Degree in philosophy, for crying out loud! Me, I’m a heart kind of girl. I cry at kids movies, love books with complex settings and even more complex characters. For years I lived by my emotions, but I’ve learned that I need to have both head knowledge and heart knowledge to be a well rounded adult.

What does all of this have to do with our walk as Christians? Just as we learned from Solomon, we need to have both a heart and a head that seeks knowledge. I’ve broken it down into two lists, just to keep it simple and to keep this post from getting two long.

Head Knowledge - Read the Bible regularly. Listen to good preachers. Study the Bible more in depth (there are plenty of on line helps for studying scripture more in depth - https://www.biblestudytools.com/library/ , https://www.blueletterbible.org/ , https://bible.org/ , and plenty of others.) Read other sources of Biblical knowledge, such as Andrew Murray, A.W. Tozer, D.L. Moody, Oswald Chambers, and a plethora of others. Just make sure that the things you are reading and listening too are Biblically sound (another reason to be in His word and know it).

Heart Knowledge - Worship. I don’t believe there is anything that more quickly connects our hearts to His than to worship in Spirit and in truth. Sing, pray, praise, thank, on your own and with others. Take action. Don’t just read and obtain the head knowledge, but let that head knowledge spur you on to do things. Help out at a soup kitchen, get involved in your church’s children’s ministry, take food to that elderly neighbor who just got home from the hospital, invite people over for dinner to have fellowship. Meditate. Meditation on God and His word was condoned by King David in the Old Testament. This is not some modern, New Age activity. It’s all about where you are placing your thoughts and your heart. I find the best place to meditate is when I am taking a walk, especially on a beautiful fall day or even on a snowy day out in the woods.

I hope that this post will help you and give you understanding of how we are all different and how we, as His people can grow in the Godly trait of knowledge.