May 4 – One Too Many Voices (Proverbs 9)

“ ‘Let all who are simple come in here!’ She says to those who lack judgment.”(Proverbs 9:4, 16)

IN WORD:
Wisdom and Folly both take on a human voice in Proverbs; they are principles personified. Repeatedly throughout the book, Wisdom calls. So does Folly. Wisdom promises everlasting blessing; Folly promises a moment of pleasure. Their voices are incessant.
So, which one is quoted in the verses above? Both. Wisdom in verse 4; Folly in verse 16. They say exactly the same thing. They speak to those who are simple and lacking in judgment; the only difference between the two sayings is in the response of the hearer.
Perhaps we are unaware of the constant call. Perhaps we do not realize that every choice is a response to a voice — the voice of Wisdom or the voice of Folly. When you are tempted, both are speaking. When you are making your plans, both compete for your attention. When you are spending your money and your time, they beckon. Have you not heard them? They always say the same thing: “Come in here!”
Wisdom is like a spouse — a permanent partner who is always there supporting you for your own good. Folly is like a prostitute — the promise is enticing, but the result is brief and disappointing. When Proverbs speaks of wives and prostitutes, faithfulness and adultery, it speaks in literal terms. But it also speaks figuratively. We make choices daily. We are faced with a repeated choice between Wisdom and Folly, and their voices can sound so much alike.

IN DEED:
Whose voice do you hear? Wisdom isn’t flashy, rarely impresses, and never demands. Folly is brash, showy, and frequently pushy. She says you were put here to have a blast. Wisdom disagrees: You were put here to have — and to be — a blessing. Can you tell the difference? When they both call, to which voice are your ears attuned? Train them well — a lot is riding on your ability to hear.

“Common sense suits itself to the ways of the world. Wisdom tries to conform to the ways of heaven.” -Joseph Joubert-

May 3 – Our Highest Purpose (Genesis 1:26-28)

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:27)

IN WORD:
No one can live wisely and with purpose without realizing where we came from, where we are going, and why it all came about in the first place. That is the foundation for everything. If we don’t understand that, we don’t understand the gospel and we don’t have the context to make daily decisions that will align with God’s plan. We must know: We are created from Him, for Him, and in His likeness.
It’s a remarkable truth. We were meant to be the image of God, and though the image was shattered in the Fall, God’s original intention lives on.
He was not surprised the Fall, and His plan included fashioning a people who would reflect His glory. He still means for us to bear His image. That’s why He has put His Spirit in the heart of sinful but redeemed mankind — these earthen vessels that we are. Humanity will bear His image. He will be seen in His creation. Never mind that His image-bearers once forfeited that privilege. Even before we lost it, He had determined to re-craft it in us. He bears His image in us Himself.

IN DEED:
We get caught up in jobs, mortgages, family business, relationships, and pastimes, trying to find some sense of fulfillment in all of them. It’s easy to get distracted that way. But we have a higher calling lying underneath it all. We are made to be like Him! That’s the point of it all. That was the purpose of our first parents, and that is the purpose of our redemption. Adam & Eve were modeled after Him; but we are even inhabited by Him. We are daily being conformed to the image of God in Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).
Do you live with that awareness? Are your mundane, daily decisions made with that in mind? Meditate on this amazing truth daily and let it guide your life. Whatever your other desires, there is no higher calling than this. It’s what we were made for.

“The rule of life for a perfect person is to be in the image and likeness of God.” -Clement of Alexandria-

May 2 – Meaningful Riches (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11)

“I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good’.”(Ecclesiastes 2:1)

IN WORD:
An exceedingly wealthy businessman who recently had bypass surgery was asked in an interview how the experience would change his life. He responded that he would spend more money and never, for. One example, let any wine that cost less than $100 per bottle pass through his lips. His great insight in his time of crisis was that life is short and must be lived to its fullest. That’s not a bad philosophy, if one knows how to define a “full” life. But his definition reflected a faulty foundation based on very short-lived values.
A mature Christian disciple can recognize the fallacy of temporal pleasure as a life goal. We live for something much more lasting than the cult of earthly empires and personal gain — real pleasure based on the realities of God’s kingdom and our fellowship with Him. This, at least, is our ideal. But if we examine ourselves carefully, we’ll often find a conflict within us — a revulsion toward the businessman’s philosophy but a lifestyle that reflects it. Human nature since the Fall is to build a heaven on earth, to reconstruct Eden. Though we are promised an eternal heaven, we want heaven here, too. Can’t you see it in the comforts we crave and the prayers we raise? Eden is always just out of our reach, but we keep on reaching.

IN DEED:
Solomon tells us in this Scripture what a life of investing in the temporal accomplishes: nothing. His resume of investments is impressive, but he is disappointed — even disillusioned — with the profit. It’s all meaningless, he concludes. One day we will die, and unless we’ve invested in the eternal, nothing remains.
Contrast the futility of Ecclesiastes with the riches of the gospel of Jesus. There is an inheritance that comes from God. The rich businessman missed it, even when confronted with death. Multitudes do. But the eyes of faith can see the riches of the Kingdom of God. Learn to live for them, at all costs.

“The real measure of our wealth is how much we’d be worth if we lost all our money.” -John Henry Jowett-

May 1 – Meaningful Desire (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11)

“The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.”(Ecclesiastes 1:8)

IN WORD:
Human nature is never satisfied. Whatever gifts God has given us, we want more. When we’ve gotten a taste of God’s generosity, our appetites are whetted, not filled. We are always waiting for the next good thing.
The good thing about our constant quest for more is that, when rightly directed, we can have it. This may be surprising to those of us who have heard sermon after sermon on the virtues of contentment. It’s true that desire for the things of this world, as Solomon describes, is never fully satisfied. But there is a godly craving that is rewarded with blessing upon blessing. . If our dissatisfaction moves us toward God and His Kingdom rather than toward temporal fulfillments, it is a holy dissatisfaction. It will eventually be rewarded. God never denies those who want more of Him.
Read what Solomon says in the scripture verse above. Is this bad, as he implies? Or can it be good? That depends. It’s bad if our eternal cravings are misdirected toward temporal things. It’s good if we’re seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

IN DEED:
Are you dissatisfied with life? Ask your self why? If you are filling your life with things that don’t last, you will never be satisfied at all. How can you be? The things you seek are not inherently satisfying.
But God is. If you are filling your life with Him (and letting Him fill your life with Himself), He will satisfy, and when you grow discontent again, He will give more. You will find yourself fully content for a time, and then realize there is so much more of Him to discover. Your holy craving will drive you deeper into His presence. That’s not a problem. He is inexhaustible in His riches. We can forever explore Him, and if we want more, there will be more to find.

“Let temporal things serve your use, but the eternal be the object of your desire.” -Thomas ‘A Kempis-

April 30 – Meaningful Hope (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11)

“Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:2)

IN WORD:
Conquerors win countries, politicians win elections, competitors win championships, and corporations win takeovers. Sometimes such victories will have an effect for years, centuries, and occasionally even millennia. More often, their memory fades with the passing of a generation. Either way, they are never permanent. Like sandcastles on the beach, the works of an ingenious and ambitious race are susceptible to the incoming tide. We are created with eternal longings but have fallen into the bondage of time. Nothing we do lasts.
That was the view of an old king who had seen empires flourish and die, and who had come to know the fleeting nature of his own riches. He was right, of course — from a purely human perspective. He was facing the angst common to all who look back on their life’s work with any depth of perspective.
But that perspective is limited by the boundaries of human wisdom. It is the conclusion at which we all arrive when we depend on our own reasoning. It is wisdom without revelation — all brain and no Spirit. We who depend on God’s revelation in all its fullness know the foundation for hope: An eternal Kingdom is being built, and what we do today can bear eternal results.

IN DEED:
Statistics say one of the most common maladies of our generation is hopelessness. There is a pervasive sense among our peers that this visible life is all there is — and that’s just not enough for most people.
We have 2 necessary responses: (1) We must not let the hopelessness of our age infect us. We are to fix our hope on eternity. And, (2) we must share that hope with an anxiety-ridden generation. They are convinced that our hope is groundless. We must convince them that it isn’t. That is, we are told, one of the most meaningful, lasting things we can do.

“Other men see only a hopeless end, but the Christian rejoices in an endless hope.” -Gilbert Brenken-

April 29 – Better Intentions (James 2:14-17)

“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
(James 2:17)

IN WORD:
When God has convicted our minds, purified our hearts, and put His wisdom within us, our motives do, in fact, often become good. They aren’t always self-deception simply because they proceed from within us. God has put Himself within us by faith. Sometimes our intentions are the product of sincerely seeking His will with an undivided heart.
Even so, there is nothing practically worthwhile about them until they are carried out. Perhaps they honor God in spirit, but who will see His honor if they are buried deep within? A good plan without proactive diligence is pointless. The vision that God has given His servants, the works He has called them to, the glory He wants them to reflect — all begin in the heart, but they do not end there. They end by moving us into action. We become His children by faith, but we become His servants by work.
Do not be mistaken: God weighs motives. They matter deeply to Him. William Borden left his wealth in America in 1913 to serve as a missionary in Egypt. He died soon after from cerebral meningitis, having accomplished virtually nothing in the way of visible fruit. Would God count his motives as fruitfulness? Our righteous Lord could do no less. But Borden did not falter in his plans simply because he never got around to them. He died in obedience. There’s a huge difference!

IN DEED:
We may not fulfill all of our truly good intentions in this life. God has His purposes for us, and they may not include the outworking of every godly desire within us. But we must pursue those desires anyway. Good, godly intentions are meant to be lived, not just dreamed of. They are planted in our hearts to move us, not to entertain us. The impulses of a Spirit-filled person are a call to action.
Is there anything you have always felt God might want you to do, but you have never gotten around to it? Is His agenda always a matter of “one day” to you? Put feet on your intentions. Live them well. Our wonder-working God is calling His people to action!

“When you are able to do good, defer it not.” -Polycarp-

April 28 – Good Intentions (Genesis 3:1-7; Proverbs 16:25)

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”(Genesis 3:6)

IN WORD:
It seemed to make sense at the time. Eve was probably convinced that this way, the way of eating what was forbidden, was right. She didn’t remember (or believe) that it would lead to death. The serpent had convinced her — or politely helped her convince herself — that perhaps she had misunderstood God. Or maybe He was even holding out on them — although if God knew the full story, as she now did, He would probably allow this fruit fest. After all, it was only an attempt to enjoy His creation and learn more of it. What could be wrong with that? God wants us to enjoy His bounty and He wants us to become wise. Surely He would be OK with a little pleasure that honors His creation.
The mind games we play during our times of temptation do not seem as evil as they turn out to be. We often have good intentions, or at least we convince ourselves that we do. Forsaking the clarity of God’s Word, we embrace the fuzziness of human reasoning. Things become relative rather rather than absolute And while we maintain a sense that our motives are right, our decisions are wrong. We have determined to “do good” rather than to obey God.

IN DEED:
You know what they say about the road to hell. It is paved with the distorted, often-inactive motives of our hearts, those good intentions that aren’t so good. We must always be suspicious of them. There is usually a deep dishonesty beneath them. We have told ourselves we want to do what’s best, when in fact we really want to compromise God’s clear instructions.
The result is a dangerous illusion. We feel righteous. We think a sincere heart makes us good, and that’s a dangerous place to be. Intentions are worthless until God is the entire focus of them and we are diligent to carry them out. Determine to obey Him exclusively. Have no other desire.

“Right intention is to the actions of a man what the soul is to the body, or the root is to the tree.” -Jeremy Taylor-

April 27 – Seduction of a Soul (Genesis 3:1-7)

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 16:25)

IN WORD:
It doesn’t begin with a well-marked road map to our destruction. No, our departure from God’s path is a series of shady grays and mixed desires. The nuances of our temptations have a way of making the wrong decisions look right — even appealing. The seduction of a soul is a sensitive and subtle business.
That’s why a spiritual life without vigilance is incredibly irrational. If we are not watchful and well-guarded, we can be led step by tiny step into the snares of the enemy and the ways of the world. God never tells us simply to do what seems right at the time. What seems right and what is right are often two vastly different things.
The redeemed soul who has not yet learned the mind of God — been saturated with it, shaped into it, and trained to trust it — is in a dangerous place. Questions of the genuineness or security of our salvation are not the only issue; a child of God can be rendered practically fruitless if pulled by the allure of what seems right but isn’t. God has a greater desire for His children than the fact of their eternal salvation. It is a salvation that is to be lived and enjoyed now. The deception of false moralities and misplaced values can thoroughly undermine the experience of that salvation, if not its essence.

IN DEED:
The Christian will face many forks in the road throughout his or her life and often will not notice them. The main road — the broad, well-traveled path — seems like the right one. Everyone is on it, and the exits are often hard to see unless you’re looking for them.
So, look for them. Don’t be driven down the seemingly right path without asking hard questions about it. Understand the high call of the kingdom — that God has us do more than what’s right, more than what’s expected. Ask Him for His mind and open your and open your own to receive it. Let His Word cultivate a sharp discernment in your spirit. Never let yourself be seduced by anything but the good love of God.

“Every temptation leaves us better or worse; neutrality is impossible.” -Erwin Lutzer-

April 26 – Anatomy of a Temptation (Genesis 3:1-7; Proverbs 16:25)

“Did God really say . . . ?” (Genesis 3:1)

IN WORD:
We don’t need the serpent to speak these words to us anymore. We speak them to ourselves. That’s where all temptations begin: questions and confusion over what God really said. Sometimes it’s a legitimate confusion, but frequently it’s not. Somewhere deep inside us, we want a reason to go ahead and disobey. We want to “unintentionally” miss the will of God because we have our own will to appease, and it’s far more appealing. So we question the clear wisdom of our Creator and muddy the waters, trying to arrive at a point where we can say, “I just didn’t know. The right thing to do wasn’t clear to me. It was a complex issue.”
You know the routine. Every human being has practiced it. The gymnastics that the human heart will go through to justify our wants is impressive. It takes considerable training and remarkable flexibility. But it is a tragic exercise with tragic consequences.
Psychologists call our thought processes “rationalizing,” but the biblical word for it — or at least what precedes it — is temptation. The cravings of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, the pride of the self — these are the drives that compete with the holiness offered by our God. The enemy has done a masterful job of coloring those impulses brightly and painting holiness blandly. He doesn’t want the latter to have any appeal because it would result in a glory that he can’t stand. It would honor God and. It would fulfill the image of God in us. To him, that would be an ugly, ugly scene.

IN DEED:
Are you skilled in the art of rationalizing? If you are a human being, you must answer yes. The clever serpent got the ball rolling in the Garden, but it has rolled freely ever since. There are depths to this art form of talking ourselves into disobedience that’s we are often not aware of. Ask God to reveal them to you. He wants you to have discernment.
Can you pray that today? Ask God to give you clear insight into the mind games we play. Let His Word hold full sway over your thinking. Learn to recognize temptation.

“Temptation has its source not in the outer lure but in the inner lust.” -D. Edmund Hiebert-

April 25 – The Faith in Thanks (Psalm 50)

“He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”
(Psalm 50:23)

IN WORD:
To most of us, giving thanks comes in the aftermath of a gift. We receive, and we are grateful to the giver if, in fact, we welcome the gift. It would be odd among sinful human beings to give thanks before a gift is given. Generosity can never be presumed among us. We must see it before we acknowledge it.
Negative as we are, we often treat God like a sinful human being. We will give Him thanks when we see His blessing. If we don’t see it, we withhold our gratitude. We base it on a false assumption about His character — that He might not be a Giver. Why? Because we haven’t seen it with our own eyes. But God doesn’t work that way. His character is constant. We can assume His generosity. He is a Giver by nature, and we can acknowledge Him as such right now, even before we think we’ve received His bounty. Not only is it appropriate to give Him thanks after a blessing, it is right to give Him thanks beforehand. And it is not only right, it is often a prerequisite. If we don’t, we may not receive what He is prepared to give.

IN DEED:
It is a strange dynamic to human eyes: Those who have never seen or expected God’s blessing will never receive it, while those who have will receive more. Does this seem unfair? It isn’t. Pessimism about God is faithlessness, and God does not honor faithlessness. He honors faith. Faith sees God for who He is before He has proven it yet again. It sees past blessings in the life of the believer, in the history of His servants, and in the Word of God. It knows that when God says He will deliver, He will. When He says He will provide, He will. Faith does not wait to find out who God is and what He is like. It already knows. It takes Him at His Word, and it is thankful in advance.

“He who can give thanks for little will always find he has enough.” -Anonymous-