Proverbs 17:16

“Why should fools have a price in hand to buy wisdom, when they have no mind to learn?”

When I was growing up, we had “altar calls” often in our church. The point wasn’t necessarily to call sinners to salvation, but rather to allow the saints to reflect on their own sinfulness and to seriously repent. We don’t see altar calls as much these days. I marvel at the television teachers that are popular, the ones that promote the kind of feel-goodism that attributes our problems to psychology or dysfunction or habits or circumstances and that speaks little of sin. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:

“For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 NRSV).

The proverb asks “why should fools have a price in hand to buy wisdom when they have no mind to learn?” I wonder sometimes why we come to the Throne of God if we aren’t willing for our sin to be laid bare and for us to have to acknowledge that we are nothing without Him? You see, God is much more than our Provider. When we reduce Him to that sole role, we in fact reduce Him to some kind of galactic purchasing agent. And He is far more. He is far more in role and He is far more in character!

A. W. Tozer, in The Knowledge of the Holy, wrote:

“The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us. A whole new philosophy of the Christian life has resulted from this one basic error in our religious thinking” (p. vii).

Why do we go to church? Do we go out of a sense of obligation? To listen to fun music? To get our “fix” of scripture for the week? Why do we go? Church is becoming very different than it used to be, filled with sound bytes and slogans. Ask yourself what the sermon was about last week, last month, last year. How much of what you heard significantly changed your life? Do you leave feeling good or feeling convicted?

We know that the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Do we study enough (the right kind of study) to even be able to discern sound doctrine from nonsense? Would you even know if your pastor is a sheep or a wolf?

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16a NRSV).

The word translated here “fruits” is karpos. Vine’s writes:

“of works or deeds, ‘fruit’ being the visible expression of power working inwardly and invisibly, the character of the ‘fruit’ being evidence of the character of the power producing it, Matt. 7:16. As the visible expressions of hidden lusts are the works of the flesh, so the invisible power of the Holy Spirit in those who are brought into living union with Christ (John 15:2-8, 16) produces ‘the fruit of the Spirit.’”

In other words, the thing that delineates a true prophet (or teacher) from a false one is the evidence of the fruit in their lives, not the outward fruit (such as how many people attend a preacher’s church), but the inward fruit of character! The problem today is that, with many large churches, we don’t really even know our pastors. (Do they even know more than our names about us?) Do we know if they are self-controlled, gentle, kind, generous? Do we care? When Ted Haggard was ousted from his church for sexual immorality, a group of his parishioners protested the firing, not caring whether or not he had sinned, but only that they could keep their beloved Sunday-morning-speaker! Do we care about sound doctrine at all?

We go to church with “a price in hand to buy wisdom.” The question is, are we wise enough to realize that wisdom is applied and usually painfully in our lives. Do we have minds to learn? I think that this is a question we really need to ask ourselves as believers.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 17:14

“The beginning of strife is like letting out water; so stop before the quarrel breaks out.” NRSV

Ever punch a hole in a container full of water? This proverb is absolutely true. You can put all manner of things against the hole, but it’s almost impossible to stop the water from seeping (or pouring) out!

There are many things in our lives that, once begun, are difficult to stop. Anger and fighting is one of them. I grew up in the generation that said that when you’re angry, you need to “talk it out” in order to dissipate the emotions. Newer studies are showing that talking, when you’re angry, can lead to escalation, rather than de-escalation.

“‘I thought it was healthy to express my anger.’ For the last 50 years the world has been saying, ‘Express yourself.’ ‘Let ‘it out.’ ‘It's good for you to express your feelings." ‘It's bad for you to repress your feelings.’

“Seymour Feshbach, an early pioneer in anger research, explored hostility and aggressiveness by taking a group of young boys who were not especially aggressive or destructive and encouraging them to kick furniture and play with violent toys. They did so enthusiastically. Instead of draining these boys of aggression, the aggressive ‘play’ actually increased it. The boys became more rather than less hostile and destructive. As opposed to letting off steam, expressing hostility toward another person may increase rather than decrease hostile feelings” (Hightower, 2002).

Hightower’s research would agree with scripture which says to stop strife and anger at the beginning before our emotions get out of control. An earlier proverb gives us an example of how to handle an angry situation:

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.” (Proverbs 15:1-2 NRSV).

James talks about how easily it is to lose control when we speak: “The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. . . . no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so” (James 3:5b-6, 8-10 NRSV).

Samuel Johnson, an English poet, once said, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt.”

The fact is, when we are angry, we tend to say things that we wouldn’t normally say. As the situation deteriorates, we feel less and less in control. In order to try to regain control (and often, to manipulate the other person), our attempts may become more and more desperate and we begin to say things we would never consider saying in a less heated situation. We say things that are very hurtful and those words hang between us and the other person for a long time to come.

The Christian is commanded to have a different response when we are attacked. Peter wrote: “Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9 NRSV). In other words, we aren’t allowed to be angry because we have been hurt or offended or abused. We are to repay our abusers with blessings.

Isn’t that what Christ did for us? And aren’t we to imitate Him in all things? We don’t need to stand up for ourselves, to defend ourselves, or to insure our rights. God is fully able to do that for us. Our responsibility is to respond, in all situations, with the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NRSV). God will take care of everything else.

Hightower, N. (2002). How to stop losing your life to anger. Retrieved on 12/29/08 from http://www.grandtimes.com/Anger.html

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 17:11

“Evil people seek only rebellion, but a cruel messenger will be sent against them.” NRSV

rebellion: opposition to one in authority or (one in) dominance

In other words, rebellion is the antonym to submission.

As Christians, we need to stop claiming who we are and start looking at what we do. If we seek to rebel—not to submit—then we are evil, not righteous. It doesn’t matter who we say we are; it does matter what we choose to do.

Submission is a huge thing. But I think that submission may be more (or different) than we think it is. And I’m beginning to think that submission is tied to judgment in a way we often don’t consider. The apostle Paul wrote:

“Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.” (Romans 14:13-21 NRSV).

In this passage, judging someone isn’t so much about telling them that they are sinning and deciding that what they think is sin isn’t. In a sense, it’s actually encouraging them to sin in order to justify our own behavior. I think, because our society doesn’t deal specifically and actually with meat offered to idols, it’s hard to get a handle on Paul’s discussion here. But what if we substituted “watching TV.”

“I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is a sin in itself; but it is a sin for anyone who thinks it a sin. If your sister is being injured by your watching tV, you are no longer walking in love. For the kingdom of God is not watching TV but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of TV, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you watch; it is good not to watch TV or do anything that makes your sister stumble.”

All of the sudden, the passage makes a great deal more sense. Submission now becomes giving up that thing in our lives that is harming the other person. What submission is not is giving that other person their way when their way leads to sin. In other words, submission isn’t indulgence. Submission is sacrifice.

I think that we often, as Christians, look for ways to justify situations where we won’t have to submit. For example, with our children. We teach that children must submit to their parents, but not that parents must submit to their children. And yet Ephesians 5:21 teaches that we must submit to each other as believers. If our children—even our minor children—are believers, we are to submit to them. However, submitting to them doesn’t necessarily mean that we give them their way. What it does mean is that we choose the sacrificial way to live that will guide their lives into righteousness. Submission isn’t indulgence.

How much do we actually love? Are we willing to give up that which is comfortable, enjoyable, and even permissible in order that the other person around us will be guided into righteous living? Are we willing to narrow our own way in order to lead them to the way of life? What is the focus of our life, to get our own happiness or to minister and serve those around us? These are hard questions if we are truly honest with ourselves because they cut to the core of our motivation. How serious are we at being Christians? Perhaps as the new year approaches, this is something we should ask ourselves.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 17:10

“A rebuke strikes deeper into a discerning person than a hundred blows into a fool.” NRSV

Do we want to be righteous . . . or do we want to be right? It seems, these days, that many people have difficulties taking constructive criticism. The fact is, our egos are so sensitive (so self-centered) that we want everyone to approve of us all the time, rather than accepting the kind of sacrificial love that comes from a friend who wants us to be right with God. And, oh my goodness, what turmoil wells up inside us when we are rebuked! We take it as a personal offense, rather than quietly wondering if perhaps it’s really true and we should do something about it.

Friends don’t let friends sin. That’s the simple fact about Christianity. If we are true to our faith, we understand that everything here is temporal and our focus should be on the eternal. And the eternal is concerned with pleasing God.

What’s interesting is that God loves us in spite of our sin: “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NRSV). God doesn’t love our sin. And, in fact, our sin is the reason we are separated from His presence. But He loves us. And that’s the reason that Christ died to reconcile us to Him, because He loves us. I think that we often believe we must be “perfect” in order to deserve His love. But the fact is, we have His love already. And He proved that through Christ’s death. Consequently, all we have to do is be obedient, which means in part understanding that we aren’t perfect, that we have a lot of work to do to become more and more like the Lord Jesus.

Being a believer is hard work and part of that work is accepting rebukes graciously. A Christian sister who sees us in sin does us a great favor when she, in love, tells us: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1 NRSV). Rebukes are done with much prayer and much love knowing that we also will be tempted and perhaps even succumb. In other words, we walk this life together, helping each other when the other falls.

And personally I’m grateful for the help!

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 17:9

One who forgives an affront fosters friendship, but one who dwells on disputes will alienate a friend. NRSV

Do we forgive?

Likely, the answer will be “yes,” but for many of us, the truth is actually closer to “no.” Rather, we hold grudges, withhold our trust, and generally are fairly unforgiving. In fact, for some of us, we cling to our offenses like comfort blankets, consoling ourselves with the idea that somehow withholding our friendship from someone who has hurt us actually deals that person a fatal blow. In reality, unforgiveness hurts us a lot more than it hurts the person at whom we are angry.

The problem, I think, is that we have forgotten how to repent. We teach our children the easy “sorry;” we use it ourselves. It no longer has any meaning. And forgiveness and repentance go hand in hand. In fact, we are so absorbed with the idea of tolerance (rather than repentance) that we are even reluctant to admit to another person that they have hurt us, have offended us. So rather than dealing with that issue and forgiving them, we hang onto our hurt. It’s a vicious circle.

The Lord Jesus taught very clearly on this matter:

Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive. (Luke 17:3-4 NRSV).

There are some very interesting dynamics in this verse. First, the Lord Jesus command us to “be on your guard.” Vine’s states that “it suggests devotion of thought and effort to a thing.” In other words, what follows is something that we should regularly attend to, focus on, think about. How often do we think about repentance and forgiveness, even in our own lives? And yet obviously this is something important, very important, in the life of the believer.

What happens next, though, may be a surprise to many of us who are well used to living in a tolerant society. The Lord Jesus tells us—command us even—to rebuke another believer when he sins! Rather than to allow the sin to continue, we are to rebuke them. The sense is to censure, admonish, and forbid them. In other words, we are our brother’s keeper.

Sin is insidious. And it’s very difficult to sin only one sin. It’s likely eating potato chips; you can’t eat just one. Well, sin is the same way. In the vast majority of cases, one sin leads to a number of sins, all of which alienate us from God and most of which alienate us from each other. We aren’t to let sin go unchecked in another believer’s life, but rather to rebuke it. In love and with gentleness, but with rebuke nevertheless: “My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:1-2 NRSV).

The story of Zacchaeus demonstrates repentance (possibly something we don’t even want to look at): Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’” (Luke 19:8 NRSV). Zacchaeus understood the three aspects of repentance: (1) acknowledging the sin (specifically naming the sin); (2) stating what he will do differently, and (3) making up for the collateral damage. Apologies (as we know) are very easy; repentance, on the other hand, is very difficult. Perhaps that’s why we shy away from it. If we are honest, the truth is, we’re not really sorry for the sin nor willing to let go of it; rather, we are sorry we got found out, that we got caught and we’d like to avoid unpleasantries surrounding the sin at all cost. And that attitude makes someone else forgiving us very difficult because forgiveness involves restoration of relationship. And how can they restore their relationship with us when we likely intend to do the sin again?

We need to learn how to forgive and effectively forget (restore the relationship) by also learning how to repent. And if we model repentance in our own lives (as the salt of the earth), we may find that those around us also learn that repentance is a far greater blessing than hanging on to those old offenses. Let’s give our families the gift of repentance and forgiveness this year. It’s likely a better gift than the latest Wii box anyway.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 17:6

“Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their parents.” (NRSV)

My grandmother became a Christian in her 60's. I still have the Bible my mom gave her, her cramped notes in the margins. I can remember her telling my mom her regret for waiting so long before she surrendered to the Lord.

It’s never too late.

It seems that the number of people my age (and younger) who have “problems” with their parents has risen dramatically. Even before my grandmother was saved, my parents (both of them) had a wonderful relationship with her and a decent relationship with my grandfather (who probably was never saved). It wasn’t an easy relationship, but both sides worked at it and made it work. Sometimes I think, particularly those of us who are believers, that we demand too much and forgive too little. And we are the losers because we need our families!

There is, within this proverb, a statement about the interdependence of extended families. Of course, most of us realize that having grandkids is just, simply put, wonderful (and fun)! But we often want to forget or ignore that more difficult relationship, that of adult child and adult parent. What’s interesting is that the Hebrew word translated here “glory” also means “beauty:” “The word represents ‘beauty,’ in the sense of the characteristic enhancing one’s appearance.” In other words, once we are grown, it beautifies us to continue to have a relationship with our parents.

It’s interesting to me to see how we often mangle scripture in order to defend our own views or our own choices. Twice in the New Testament it tells children to obey their parents: Col. 3:20 and Ephesians 6:1. It never qualifies the age of these “children,” though you will hear most pastors saying that it means minor children. But I have to ask myself, how much that my parents asked of me, as an adult, would it have truly hurt me to do? Most parents of adult children realize that their children now will make their own decisions. Few adults want to continue to “manage” their children’s day-to-day lives. Ephesians 5:21 (NRSV) tells us to “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.” So, even if we believe that the other verses are about minor children, we are still told to live in submission to each other. In other words, unless our parents demand something of us that is a sin, what is the harm in trying to please them? In submitting to them? Are we pick and choose to whom we submit? (Of course, if someone demands that we sin, then we do resist. Submission is never an excuse to sin.)

I think that our rebellion against our parents costs us dearly, that we lose a great deal when we refuse to nurture family relationships. Is cultivating family relationships difficult? Absolutely! Sometimes older parents are irascible, sometimes demanding. The vast differences in culture alone can make being with our parents for extended periods of time hard. But I truly believe that in all but the smallest minority of cases in the long run it is well worth it. The Bible can’t be wrong! We are beautified as believers when we are in relationship with our parents. And who knows? Perhaps that parent who never knew the Lord will come to know Him because of your submission (and your prayers).

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 23:22

“Hearken to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.” (RSV)

I’m getting older. Actually in a few months, I’ll be eligible for senior discounts in some establishments. To be honest, I never thought I’d get old. In my teens, I thought—as did many of my friends—that I simply wouldn’t live that long, that the world would implode upon itself (or that the Lord Jesus would return for His Church) before I got old. Recently, Franklin Graham commented on his father’s 90th birthday: "He's always been ready to die," Franklin Graham said. "But nobody's prepared him for getting old." (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2128017/posts). Certainly, that’s how many of us have felt. And now we are having to change our expectations of life.

Youth is arrogant. There’s just no two ways about it. Vernon McGee wrote:

“‘Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.’ This has been reversed in our day—today the elder is supposed to submit to the younger. Young people are the ones who are protesting, and they are the ones who want to discard the establishment. However, the Christian young person needs to realize that the Word of God says, ‘Ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.’ After all, your father, if you have a good or a godly father, has a lot of sense and maybe more sense than you have. A friend of mine told me, ‘I was ashamed of my dad at the time when I went away to college. Although he had made good money, and he was an executive, I was ashamed of him. He had such old-fashioned ideas; he was a real square. When I finished college and got out in the business world, I didn’t see him for a couple of years. When I did see him again, I was absolutely amazed to see how much he’d learned in just six years!’ A lot of young people find out, after they themselves have been out in the school of hard knocks for awhile, that their dads have learned a great deal.”

Even if we didn’t “despise” our parents when we were young, most of us have bought into the “culture of youth” that permeates our society. We want to act young, look young, think young, be young. Our culture is obsessed with being young: plastic surgery, cosmetics, hair transplants, clothing. Even many of our recreational activities are geared to being young (and are done by those whose bodies are protesting such use).

Unfortunately, it seems as if this idea of idolizing youth has also invaded the Church. So many churches are now structuring their services, not based on Biblical admonitions, but on “attracting the young.” I’ve seen pastors in their fifties and sixties dressed in Hawaiian shirts and flip flops, wearing piercings in their ears, trying to look serious about preaching. Instead they look pathetic, old men trying to play dress up in their grandkids’ clothes. The fact is, we are the generation that grew up thinking that old was uncool and heaven forbid we see ourselves in the same light.

It’s really too bad. There’s a lot to be said for growing older. For one thing, age can bring wisdom. Simply living longer brings experience which can result in knowing which decisions are likely to produce the best outcomes. But more than that, it is hoped that the older a believer gets, the more that believer has prayed, has studied her Bible, has listened to the soft voice of the Spirit. Instead of clinging to youth—which, in essence, is clinging to this life—maturity should bring to us some acknowledgment that most of what we do is futile and that our focus should be on storing up treasures on heaven, not trying to refit the decaying treasures here on earth. The next time you look into that magnifying mirror and see another crow’s feet, don’t call them laugh lines or even wrinkles. Call them prayer lines and realize that you’ve been blessed to have had one more time to commune with the Lord, to learn how to trust Him, and to gain the wisdom He promises so that you can share it with those around you

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Romans 6:15-18

What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. NRSV

Can a Christian be a Christian and still sin? I think that all of us know that is true. Unfortunately, our churches have been teaching (for many years) that it’s possible for a Christian to be a Christian and still embrace sin. And that’s not true.

We would like it to be true. All of us have “pet” sins that we do embrace, attitudes, expectations, desires, lusts that make us feel good, that help dull the pain in our lives. And, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, we don’t want to give those up. It’s that simple.

I have watched the growing problem (within the Church and without) of homosexuality, marriage, and ordination with interest because, frankly, we have done this to ourselves. The Church in America has created a social and emotional environment where this was the next logical step. We ourselves—the supposed light of the world—embraced our own sin and then asked the sinners around us to reject theirs. To be honest, it seems a bit hypocritical. If Christians can’t be stringently righteous, how can we expect anyone to even approximate that behavior?

Paul was clear in Romans 6 when he demanded (yes, demanded) that Christians be prudent, watchful, and mindful of their behavior by being “slaves to righteousness.” To be honest, I think that part of our problem is that our society is too far away from slavery, from the idea of complete submission without thought to our own desires or ideas. Being a slave means that we have no choice, no choice at all. In other words, it doesn’t matter what we want or feel or even need. We do what the slave master commands. Period. And in this case, the slave master is the righteousness of God. We don’t have a choice in whether or not we want to do something, want to give up a habit, want to turn away from sin. We simply have to do it!

Paul wrote in chapter 12: I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. (v. 1-2 NRSV).

“Do not be conformed to this world.” A choice. Choose not to be conformed. I think about conforming. Conforming means to look and be like something else. It’s time we looked into a mirror and asked if we look like our unsaved neighbors. Do we dress like them? Act like them? Talk like them? Do we have the same interests, the same goals, the same stuff? This gets it down to the nitty gritty, doesn’t it? I had the wonderful opportunity to know some really committed Christians in my early life. Their lives were very different from the lives of the majority of Christians today. There are so many “accepted” behaviors in our lives they would never have even considered doing. Here are some questions to ask ourselves:

In movies or television, do we watch nudity or listen to profanity?
Do we indulge our children (or grandchildren)?
Do we make food choices (particularly when we go out to eat) based on health and finances or based on what we want to eat?
Do we buy new, discard old, and buy new again (even when something is still usable or worth repairing)?
Do we hold onto our anger and our grudges?
Do we believe that there are things in this life we can’t live without?
Are we devastated by life’s losses?
Do we feel we need a vacation from life, from family, from church?
Do we know anyone who is still in need?
When was the last time we focused our entire life on prayer and Bible study?

While I’m not for gay marriage or ordination, I do think that we need to look at the true cause of what’s happening. It’s not that we don’t have the right to judge; we do! Only, we have the right to judge within the Family:

“But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge?” (1 Corinthians 5:11-12 NRSV).

Judgment wasn’t about having an opinion, but rather about executing a sentence. As Christians, we have the right to execute the sentence of isolation and rejection of relationship which the other Christian is embracing sin. We don’t do that. Why? I think perhaps because we don’t want it done to us. We don’t want our sin to become public and for us to lose our friends because of our immoral choices. And yet, this is how God established the dynamic of the Church.

Notice first, in this passage, that the sins are listed as “sinners.” This is what differentiates someone who sins once and immediately repents and someone who embraces the sin (even, perhaps, tries to justify it). Unfortunately, in America, we have as a Church embraced greed. We have! And some churches, by approving homosexuality, are embracing sexual immorality. So have many other churches that have “accepted” easy divorce, the use of pornography, and watching R-rated movies. (There are reasons for divorce, but most divorced Christians don’t meet the criteria and most of their pastors don’t insist that they do.)

We don’t teach repentance anymore. We teach easy “sorry’s” and try to move on, saying that we have no right to judge. When we take that tack, we aren’t helping our brother or sister; we are allowing them to sink deeper into the mire. When are we going to get the kind of backbone that the apostle Paul had when he wrote this passage in chapter 6? He stated: Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! The NRSV translates one word as “By no means!” The NKJ translates it “God forbid.” It is a strong declarative. It means no! Simply put, as Christians, we shouldn’t sin. Ever. Not for any reason.

The question perhaps we should ask ourselves is, if we are embracing sin, then who do we love? If we love ourselves more than God, then perhaps we’re not really Christians. If we love Him more than ourselves, then why are we choosing the sin?

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 17:4-5

Proverbs 17:4-5

“An evildoer listens to wicked lips; and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue. Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished.”

Gossip. Gossip. Gossip. Our society lives and breathes gossip. Just go to any news site on the Internet. There are usually three categories: hard news, sports, and “entertainment” (gossip). In fact, even in a small town newspaper, how much is reporting on good things that happen and how much is reporting on horrible things?

We have some dear friends who lost their daughter, a number of years ago, in a late night auto accident. Only her car was involved and it was a case of a teenager driving too fast and too recklessly. The car ended up at the bottom of a difficult and steep road, absolutely totaled. Of course, it was devastating to lose their daughter in that way. But the local news organizations continued to put pictures of the car in the newspaper and on TV for several weeks. The mother told me later that seeing those pictures over and over again was horrible for them. They finally stopped watching TV for over a month in order to stop seeing those pictures.

I’ve always asked myself. What was the reason for the news continuing to show the pictures? Ultimately, I think it came down to shock appeal. Shock, outlandishness. Those things sell newspapers, sell TV shows. And they sell because we are addicted to gossip, to wanting to know all the horrible details about someone else’s life.

“Those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished.” We have desensitized ourselves to the pain of others. I remember back this year to some things done by a famous young singer. It seemed like she kept wanting to one up herself in outrageous behavior. But meanwhile, somewhere there were people who loved her (children, parents, grandparents, friends) who were grieved by her choices. And all the while, the world looks on and rejoices that there’s something new to put on the news.

Why should we listen to any of this?

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5 NRSV).

Set their minds on the things of the Spirit. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. What kinds of things are the things of the Spirit? Well, mainly, love. Yes, the Spirit (God) is also justice and peace and power and might. But Father God is always leaning His heart toward us, toward all of us.

Have you ever criticized anyone only to find out that their choice—which you originally thought was wrong or senseless or stupid—was actually backed by an extremely good motivation? A motivation about which you knew nothing? 1 Corinthians 13:7 says that love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (NRSV). Why does it believe all things? Because, I think (and this is still something I’m working on) that believing all things means believing that people have the best motive, the best intentions when they do something. And while I may not understand that motivation, I’m not going to slam them for it. Instead, even if I’m hurt by their choice, their decision, I’m going to believe that they only had the best intention at heart.

Have you ever made a decision only to completely blow it? Rather than criticism, isn’t it way more comforting to have people understand and forgive? To me, that understanding and forgiving spirit is to be setting “our minds on the things of the Spirit.” Because what is the Spirit’s response to our stupidity, our sin? To want to forgive!

I looked up the definition of “mock” in the dictionary. One of the meanings is “to disappoint the hopes of.” (I had no idea). Often, when we ridicule people (even when we think we do it behind their backs), we can crush their hopes. Certainly if we’re Christians, we can crush their hopes that God has made a difference in our lives (and therefore, could make a difference in theirs if they chose to believe).

If we believe that people have the best intentions (and when they fail are only making human and stupid mistakes), then gossip and evil talking becomes a thing of the past. We no longer care to hear about criticism. Instead, our lives will be about reaching out gently and in love to those around us, particularly those who have made (and possibly habitually make) bad decisions, bad choices. People don’t choose to fail on purpose. They choose to fail because they either make a bad choice or they have lost their hope. The Spirit continues to forgive. We should, too.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).