March 19 – The Struggle Toward Godliness (Proverbs 3:1-12)

“Do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent His rebuke.”(Proverbs 3:11)

IN WORD:
Our natural reaction to rebuke — from anyone, even God — is to get offended. We don’t want anyone telling us what to do, and we don’t think anyone has the right to do so. We know God does, of course, but we think He’s always on our side. When He works through others to correct us, we tell them our relationship with Him is personal and they have no business interfering. When He works through our circumstances, we cry out our whys without considering that He might be looking for a change in our hearts. We have a hard time accepting correction.
This is human nature, of course. We flee any kind of discomfort. We spend most of our lives trying to become a little more comfortable, to make things a little bit easier, to climb a little bit higher, avoiding pain and hardship at all costs. And when it’s personal — like a rebuke — we treat it like a contagion. We’ll even break friendships with people who remind us of our shortcomings, however gently they may do it. We are creatures looking for superficial peace and comfort.
We cannot afford that luxury as disciples. We begin as abject sinners and we want to end up as redeemed children of God. What did we expect? Do we think we can grow from one to the other without a painful shock to our system? We can’t. We must endure a lot of correction along the way. Otherwise, we can never be remade into His image.

IN DEED:
Our problem is confusing God’s rebuke with His disapproval. We must understand that His correction is never to condemn and always to edify. It’s a painful edification, but it is well worth it. One day we’ll stand in eternity and pour undying gratitude at His feet for the difficult things we went through and the discipline He imposed on us. It will have made us more gloriously radiant in the everlasting Kingdom. Temporal pain for eternal blessing is a bargain. Always cooperate with His discipline, and thank Him for its promise.

“Discipline and love are not antithetical; one is a function of the other.” -Dr. James Dobson-

March 18 – The Means to More Means (Proverbs 3:1-12)

“Your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”(Proverbs 3:10)

IN WORD:
The purpose of all creation is to honor God. So it only makes sense that when He is honored — in this case, by our first fruits — that He will grant increase and give His blessing. Honor begets more honor. Those who have dealt faithfully in small things will be given even greater things. Those who have glorified Him with their wealth will be given more by which to glorify him even more.
This is no guarantee that those who tithe will become rich. The Bible never says such a thing. It is a promise, however, that God will never be stingy with those who are generous toward Him. It is not in His nature to take and never give. Quite the opposite, in fact. He always gives more than He receives. He who did not withhold His own Son for us will not give grudgingly with any of His unlimited bounty.
This is what Kingdom living is all about: taking the stuff of this world and using it for eternity. The physical becomes spiritual. The corruption of money is redeemed as an investment in lives. We have an opportunity with our income to declare our agreement with our created purpose. Will we honor God, as he intended? Or do we only look for enough means to get by? The means to greater means is to abandon all to Him, for His glory. He will not take it and refuse to support you. He can’t. That’s not who He is.

IN DEED:
Have you stated unequivocally that you are in line with God’s purpose for creation — to give Him honor? It’s more than a verbal statement, of course. It reaches into every area of our lives and is demonstrated by our actions. Ore than our words. One way to honor Him is by dedicating all our resources to His use, giving a generous portion to His work in this world. By this He is glorified. And by this we are proven trustworthy to handle more resources.
God calls us to be like Him. He has proven over and over again that He is by nature an extravagant giver. Are you?

“God is more anxious to bestow His blessings on us than we are to receive them.” -St. Augustine-

March 17 – A Way to Give Honor (Proverbs 3:1-12)

“Honor the Lord with your wealth.”(Proverbs 3:9)

IN WORD:
We’re often not conscious of the statements we make, but they are more numerous than we think. We aren’t aware of them because most are not verbal. They are revelations of the heart, spoken by our choices. As is often said, actions speak louder than words.
Consider, for example, what we are saying when we have no money for God’s ministry but enough to pay the cable bill. Or when we see the starving and wish we could help — and then waste money on soft drinks with no nutritional value. Why does $30 a month to save a child seem like so much, and $30 for a steak dinner for 2 seem like such a bargain? What do our choices say of God? Not much. They say more about our values. They reveal what’s in our heart.
God is not an enemy of entertainment and taste buds. But He is an enemy of idols, and our choices reveal what they are. We deceive ourselves often — our enormous capacity for doing so came with the Fall. It’s amazing how much we can’t afford to do for God’s Kingdom — the budget is always tight, right? Meanwhile, the vacations we really want to take are usually taken. The meals we really want to eat are usually eaten. The make & model we want to drive is usually in our driveway. We more comfortably delay God’s gratification than our own.

IN DEED:
We need to snap out of our unconsciousness. Many of our idols have become automatic to us. We don’t see them as intentional choices that reveal the treasures of our heart. But deep down we know: If we loved God with all of our being, if we treasured his Kingdom above all else, He would see more of our treasure given for His use.
Why is this so important? Does God have insufficient finds? Probably not. The Owner of all isn’t short of cash when He really wants to accomplish something. He wants more than cash. He wants us to value faith, the currency of His Kingdom, over the currency of this world. More than that, He wants us. He wants our choices to reflect an intense, unbridled love. He wants them to honor Him.

“Get all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.”
-John Wesley-

March 16 – The Road to Health (Proverbs 3:1-12)

“This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”(Proverbs 3:8)

IN WORD:
We don’t try to drive our cars in the water and we don’t try to speed our boats down the highway. Why? That’s not what they were made for. So why do we use ourselves for purposes we were not made for? Why, when we were created to be entirely preoccupied with our Creator, do we become entirely preoccupied with ourselves? This does damage to our minds, and our minds affect our bodies. Our thoughts become distorted, our bodies become sick, and we end up a mess; a self-absorbed mess. We are misplaced vehicles on the wrong course.
Do you believe that? Do you understand that we were created to be fascinated by, overwhelmed with, and enraptured in our Maker? The fallen mind avoids this at all costs. We try to make a name for ourselves. We try to get in good with the right people. We read self-help books. We learn various philosophies and methods that will lead us to a better way of life. And it’s all about us.
God points us away from ourselves and toward Him. He is to be our vision, our passion, our love. So far-reaching is this principle that it can bring health to our bodies. When we align ourselves with our created purpose, we are like the perfect part in a precision machine. We can function without undue wear & tear. Or we’re like a beautiful piece of music played in the right key. We can perform without grating on everyone around us and depressing ourselves in the process.

IN DEED:
We place a high premium on good health. In a sick & fallen world, it is a valued commodity. We try to eat well, take our vitamins, select the right doctor, exercise often, and pray to avoid deadly diseases. But if we haven’t immersed our minds in reality — that God is our all in all — we haven’t taken the first step toward good health. Your mind has a profound effect on your psychology. Let it always be nourished by eternal truth.

“Our only business is to love and delight ourselves in God.”
-Brother Lawrence-

March 15 – The Escape From Self (Proverbs 3:1-12)

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.”
(Proverbs 3:7)

IN WORD:
If we ever take hold of the idea that we are innately wise, we are destined for failure. In fact, Proverbs 16:18 says as much: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Placing any faith in our own wisdom is a form of pride. It is also self-delusion. We do not know anything about the future for certain; we don’t know the intricacies of our own hearts; we don’t see all the motives and moods of other people; we don’t have an infallible understanding of human psychology; and we don’t fully grasp the spiritual realities of God’s Kingdom. God has a handle on all of these things; we have a handle on none of them. To act as if the reverse is true is the ultimate foolishness.
We’ve read that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Proverbs 3:7 implies that the opposite of fearing the Lord is self-reliance. We absolutely must understand the gap between us and God — and how amazingly it was bridged — if we are to act wisely. We cannot approach life without an overwhelming sense of the eternal if we are to invest in what is truly valuable. Understanding God will change how we spend our time, our money, and our talents. It will change how we approach our circumstances, our relationships, our work, and our attitudes.

IN DEED:
Have you noticed that those who make bad decisions are usually acting out of extreme self-interest? A focus on self leads to devastating shortsightedness and has evil, destructive consequences. A focus on God — His character, His ways, His eternal nature — leads people to wisdom.
Try this exercise the next time you face a decision: Instead of writing a list of pros & cons, write a list of motives for each choice. Pros & cons are about outcomes; but since we can’t know the future, they are only guesses. Motives are about perspective; they identify the center of our lives. If we’re centered on ourselves, we’re fools; if on God, we’re wise.

“All the graces of a Christian spring from the death of self.”
-Madame Guyon-

March 14 – The Path to a Straight Path (Proverbs 3:1-12)

“In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”(Proverbs 3:6)

IN WORD:
We are starved for direction. We live in a world that presents us with a multitude of options. Some can be ruled out easily, but many of them seem good. What will we do? Whom should we relate to? Where will we go? When should we move forward? We don’t know enough about the future to make such decisions well. We try to make sound choices and hope for the best. We want more information; but we hesitate when we find that god’s plan for us first requires casting our all on Him.
That’s why horoscopes are so appealing to so many. They offer direction without making any demands on our character. They promise information without requiring the hard work of submission to God and acceptance of His work on our fallen hearts. But God loves us too much for that. Getting direction from Him means, first and foremost, getting Him. His Spirit shapes us, His wisdom becomes a part of us, and the substance of godliness molds us into a form of godliness.

IN DEED:
God is not usually an oracle-giver. He’s a life transformer. He usually directs us not by passing on information about what we’re to do, but by fundamentally altering us from within. He changes our character, our outlook, our priorities. Then we are directed by the person God has made us into — a new creation governed by the indwelling Jesus.
This is a shock to our system, but it is essential. That is why this proverb does not simply start with: “He will make your paths straight.” There are conditions. We trust Him with all our heart. We refuse to lean on our own understanding. We acknowledge His sufficiency — implying our own insufficiency — in everything. THEN He makes our paths straight. Why? Because He is present. We have not simply used Him for His vast information, we have invited Him to come along on the journey.

“God always gives his very best to those who leave the choice with Him.” -Hudson Taylor-

March 13 – The Direction to Lean (Proverbs 3:1-12)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)

IN WORD:
In order to learn the mind of God, we have to face up to a sobering fact: Our own understanding is fundamentally flawed. The human mind is never dependable, and it cannot be given free reign to choose its own direction. Why? Because our knowledge is limited and our motives are not pure. In our original condition, we do not desire above all else to glorify God at any cost. Even when we’ve come into a relationship with Him, our motives can be mixed. We want His glory, but we want to seek our own good — in our own way — as well. We cannot be wise in this world without realizing we need the wisdom of Another. Desperately.
Think about it. Would you prefer to depend on the logic of a finite mind tainted with sinful motives? Or on the vast intellectual resources of the Omniscient — the One who knows the fabric of our souls and holds the future in His hands? The answer ought to be clear. Yet, at a practical level, we are often ambivalent about the choice. In principle, we want God’s wisdom. In practice, we follow our own.

IN DEED:
The best advice we can find in Proverbs repeatedly points us to a wisdom beyond our own. God is worthy of all our trust. We are worthy of suspicion. Yet we often struggle between His wisdom and ours. His can seem so hard. We forget that ours is harder. There are ominous consequences for depending on our own limited resources.
Trust is not natural to the fallen human heart. The redeemed heart has to learn it. We must make a conscious decision to forsake our own understanding and lean on His. Crises confront us all the time. Use them as opportunities to drink in the wisdom of the Source of all wisdom. Are you faced with a choice today? Make up your mind not to act on it until you have sought God’s wisdom diligently, persistently, and patiently. Ask Him for it. Follow it, no matter how hard it is. Let His mind become yours.

“O Lord, in Thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.”
-Book of Common Prayer-

March 12 – The Key to Favor (Proverbs 3:1-12)

“You will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”(Proverbs 3:4)

IN WORD:
God’s promise of favor is a little suspicious to us. We’ve known of many faithful servants who did not have a good name, at least in the eyes of their peers. Sometimes they were burned at the stake, sometimes they were tarnished with false accusations, sometimes they faced firing squads. In fact, Jesus assured His disciples they would be hated by many. How, then, can Solomon, if he is at all inspired by God, promise a good name to those who write love and faithfulness on their hearts?
We do not read God’s promises with enough faith or patience. We must first know that the promise of favor with God is immediate. He never withholds His affection from those who love Him faithfully. It’s the second part of this promise we struggle with. He promises favor in the sight of man. Can this be true? Yes, if we’ll read it with eternity in view. Those who love God will have remarkable reputations in the Kingdom. Men will know that God has favored His faithful ones. They may not know it now or even soon. They may not know it before you die. But they will eventually know it. God has promised.

IN DEED:
We often get off track because we are determined to have a good reputation among our peers right now. Many a believer has compromised his or her faith because of a desire to be respected by other people more than by God. But love and faithfulness are selective. They cannot be directed toward God and toward our own present reputation at the same time. Compromise is deadly. We must be content — even thrilled — with the idea that God’s favor is our right now, and man’s will come later — maybe even much later, when eternity is revealed to all. Hearts filled with love and faithfulness will not care. They will be patient. They will know the promise of the One they love.

“Faith in God will always be crowned.” -William S. Plummer-

March 11 – The Priority to Pursue (Proverbs 3:1-12)

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.”
(Proverbs 3:3)

IN WORD:
Solomon’s words would have had familiar connotations for a faithful Jew. In Deuteronomy 6, a landmark chapter in Old Testament theology, God told the Israelites first to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength. Then He told them to take the words of the Law, divinely inscribed on tablets of stone, and inscribe them into the fabric of their souls. Let them be always on your hearts, He commanded. Work them into your children’s hearts. Talk about them always. Tie them as symbols on your hands and foreheads. Never be away from them (see Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
The interesting connection between Deuteronomy and Proverbs is that the Law is defined as “love and faithfulness.” It is also interesting that Deuteronomy is specific in where our love and faithfulness are first to be directed: toward God. The foremost element of a believer’s life is not obedience, not service, and not doctrine. These are important — indispensable, in fact. But they are not the priority. Love is. A passionate, vital, all-encompassing love that reaches to the depths of our being. When that is there, the rest is easy.

IN DEED:
Do you consider your heart to be a tablet? What is written on it? Do you realize that some things can be erased by the power of God, and others inscribed by that same power? It requires your full cooperation, but the junk that we’ve inscribed there — through all of the media & entertainment we absorb, the relationships we’ve had, the information we consume — can be rewritten. It can be replaced with love and faithfulness. In fact, it MUST be replaced with love and faithfulness if we are to learn the mind of God at all. This is who He is, and He insists that we become like Him. Love and faithfulness define Him. Do they define you? Let them saturate your heart.

“Put everything you have into the care of your heart, for it determines what your life amounts to.” -Dallas Willard-

March 10 – The Art of Casting (Psalm 55:16-23)

“Cast you cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.”(Psalm 55:22)

IN WORD:
What does it mean to cast your cares on the Lord? We really need to know. It’s the difference between being sustained and faltering, between faith and fear. If we’re confused on this point, we will be riddled with anxieties and phobias, afraid to face the future and far from the will of God. If we understand, we can go through anything with peace in our hearts. Our circumstances may not be easy, but we can be brought through in the safety of His hand — if we learn what it means to cast our cares on Him.
Does it mean to offer up a prayer? Not necessarily. Many prayers have been uttered without a sense of peace. Praying does not guarantee internal rest. Our requests of God can be acts of anxiety rather than acts of faith. When we’re stressed, our prayers often even accuse Him of not keeping His Word. There’s more to casting cares than asking Him to help.
Does it mean to abandon any sense of responsibility because, after all, God will take care of it? Not at all. Casting cares on Him does not imply that we cease to care. It does not involve apathy in the least, and it is not an invitation to be irresponsible. No, casting our cares on God is much more purposeful than that. It is the most proactive thing we can do.

IN DEED:
It makes no sense to cast our cares on God and then take them up again. When we trust Him with our concerns, we ask Him to manage them. We acknowledge our own futility, and we rely on His power to resolve them. We actively watch, not ignorantly wait. We expectantly believe, not aggressively intervene. We act when He says to act and sit still when He says to sit. We obey His instructions because we know He’s in charge — and we’re comfortable with that. We can go to sleep at night knowing we can do nothing more effective than acknowledging His wisdom, power, love, and lordship. We can wake up without a single burden, because our burdens are on His shoulders. We refuse to micromanage. We will hope only in Him, because He is where our cares have been cast.

“Worry is an intrusion into God’s providence.” -John Haggai-