Proverbs 11:23-26

“The desire of the righteous ends only in good;
the expectation of the wicked in wrath.
Some give freely, yet grow all the richer;
others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.
A generous person will be enriched,
and one who gives water will get water.
The people curse those who hold back grain,
but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it.” NRSV

The heart of the true believer is generous. And not as some teach, that if we give, God will make us wealthy and able to have everything that our hearts would desire on this earth. That, I believe, is a false gospel for it places our hearts and our minds on the temporary things of this earth, rather than on the lasting things of God. Instead, as believers, we are generous because we are aware of how temporary this life is and how much God has prepared for us in the unending years in heaven. Thus, if we give here and that causes lack, what does it matter? The things of this earth are useless because they don’t last.

I am a special education teacher and I had a student who had a compulsion to collect things. He would go out on the playground and fill his pockets with all kinds of junk: dirty pieces of string, old cast-off scotch tape, little rocks, even pieces of food that fell from the lunch tables. His mother would sign with discouragement when she would find his clothes, even his backpack, filled with this junk. He didn’t need to collect trash. His parents were fully able to give him nice things of value . . . once he got home.

I think that Father God must sometimes think the same of us. We become so focused on the “junk” that we can collect here on earth, forgetting entirely about the wonderful treasure that He has stored up for us . . . once we get Home.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21 NRSV).

Where your treasure is . . . What is our treasure? If our treasure is God’s heart, then we will easily be able to be generous with our things, our money, our time because they aren’t our treasure. Our treasure—if it truly is God’s heart—cannot be taken from us. However, if our treasure is our money, our home, our stuff, then we will not easily give it.

“The desire of the righteous . . . “ What is our desire? To accumulate here on earth? Then that desire isn’t righteous; instead, we are holding onto things of this world. But if our desire is to please God, to truly know Him, to obey His Word, then our actions will become good to others. We will be generous with everything that we have, everything that we are, because we know that our Father will replenish anything that we need. If we have need of it, He will give it. If He doesn’t give it, we didn’t need it 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 11:22

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout
is a beautiful woman without good sense. NRSV

I hit the mid-century mark several years ago. And, as with everything else in this world that has more than a few miles on it, my body’s beginning to show the wear and tear of living on a gravity planet. Plain and simple, more than anything else, gravity takes its tole. Gravity is why we have wrinkles, why our spines begin to give way (we get shorter as we get older), why body parts begin to sag. And aside from spending thousands and thousands of dollars on plastic surgery (and then that’s still not always the answer), I have to accept the fact that I’m beginning not only to get older but to look older.

Beauty is fleeting.

At least outward beauty is. One of the consequences of living in a sin-ravaged world is that everything made up of atoms (including us) has a life expectancy. Nothing in this current world is permanent. Thank the Lord for the promise of a new heaven and a new earth! Thank the Lord for the promise of new bodies!

But meanwhile, I need to make the most of what I’ve got. This “rented house,” as temporary as it is, is also where I’m living until I “change residences.” And as a woman, as a Christian, I need to decide where my priorities lie.

Because America is so prosperous (yes, even in the middle of this recession/depression), I have a myriad of choices available. I can try to hang onto my “youth” (meaning, try to continue to look gorgeous and young and sexy), or I can realize that such a pursuit is a losing proposition and trade it in for becoming more godly and honoring to Christ. Personally, the latter seems more possible since I just don’t see my future being a Joan Rivers imitation (plastic surgery after plastic surgery).

I’ve been fortunate to have a number of female role models in my life: mom, aunts, grandmothers. All aged and all chose to age gracefully, wrinkles, and gray hair and all! And while a few dollars of Miss Clairol might (temporarily) cover the gray, at some point no amount of Maybelline is going to conceal the wrinkles . . . or the age freckles . . . or the sags.

Who cares?

Life is much more than simply about what I look like. There’s so much to do and see and enjoy! So many people into whom I can invest my resources (rather than myself). If I throw out my mirrors (or at least only use them briefly to make sure my head’s on straight!) and focus instead upon the joy of seeing another young child fed or another family led to the Lord, I think that I’ll be better off. That, I think, is the “good sense” of which Proverbs speaks. After all, in the long run—eternity—which is more important? That I continued to look like at twenty-year-old long after I hit my forties (or fifties) or that I used my resources (time, money) to help spread the gospel? That I focused on myself and my own “beauty,” or that I ministered to those around me and helped them see the beauty inside of themselves?

© 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 11:20

Crooked minds are an abomination to the Lord,
but those of blameless ways are his delight. NRSV

A few years back, my aunt and uncle took my son and me on a day trip to San Francisco. Because my son had never been, my aunt enjoyed driving her big luxury car down Lombard Street. Now, if you’ve never been to San Francisco, there are some things you should know. First, this is a city built on hills, very steep hills. Many of the streets in town are very, very steep. (I’m not fond of heights, so stopping at a stop light where my car is at a 45 degree angle isn’t my idea of fun!). Lombard Street, however, was built differently. This street is a switch-back built right in the middle of town, a very narrow street with houses built right to the sidewalk. One misstep (or one failure to have your foot on th brakes) will end you up in someone’s living room. So, when you drive down Lombard, you go back and forth, back and forth (almost dizzily) until you reach the bottom.

(There’s a great picture of this street here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_(San_Francisco)

Now while a street isn’t sinful (in itself), my experience of riding down Lombard Street was brought to mind when I read this passage in Proverbs: “crooked minds.” This scripture tells us that “crooked minds are an abomination to the Lord.” Well, what’s a crooked mind?

Matthew Henry writes:

“That nothing is more offensive to God than hypocrisy and double-dealing, for these are signified by the word which we translate frowardness, pretending justice, but intending wrong, walking in crooked ways, to avoid discovery. Those are of a froward heart who act in contradiction to that which is good, under a profession of that which is good, and such are, more than any sinners, an abomination to the Lord . . .”

You know, as much as we don’t want to admit it, we are sometimes froward, that is, we say or do things to manipulate others so that our ends are met, but we are not wholly honest and forthright with them about our motivations. In other words, we sometimes try to back others into a corner so that they will do what we want them to do, rather than allowing them the freedom to make their own choices and our trusting the Lord to work it all out in the end.

We manipulate. We walk in crooked ways. We seem like we’re going in one direction when, in actuality, we are going in another. Just like going down Lombard Street, going left and right, when actually we are going down. You know, I think we manipulate because we don’t trust God. Plain and simple. If we did trust Him, we would take our hands off the reins of our lives (and the reins of others) and allow God to work everything out for our good as He has promised (Romans 8:28). Instead, I think our fear often rises up and we try to control everything around us . . . circumstances, people, outcomes. And in doing that, we often become crooked, seeming to go one way when we actually want to go another.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29 NRSV).

These words from Jesus, I think, are about trusting Him rather than going our own way. This yoke was a double-yoke used to train young oxen in the discipline of pulling loads. The farmer would hook an experienced ox to an inexperienced one and, in that way, the young ox would learn how to pull a wagon or load. When we take Jesus’ yoke upon ourselves, we hook ourselves to Him and follow Him. We learn from Him obedience to the Father and in doing this, we find rest for our souls!

The rest, the peace we so desperately seek in our efforts to control everything around us is actually found when we let go and allow Father God to work things out for our good, when we stop being crooked and begin living blameless lives in obedience to His word.

© 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 11:18-19

“The wicked earn no real gain,
but those who sow righteousness get a true reward.
Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live,
but whoever pursues evil will die.” NRSV

It’s really easy to get trapped by the frenetic mindset of the world, to believe that the ultimate goal of life is to win or to acquire or to succeed.

It isn’t.

We lose so much when we think that what we gain now, that what we rule now, that what we control now somehow has meaning. We lose because we fail to see the horizon. We are so caught up with the temporary demands of the now we don’t remember that life continues (and continues long) after this day of life is over.

The Lord Jesus told a parable about such a man, a man who was so consumed with what he was doing in this life that he failed to plan for the next.

“Then He told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21 NRSV)

The man’s attitude was simply to forget about eternity and to believe that controlling this life was the ultimate goal. The Lord Jesus uses a phrase that would have been familiar to the disciples: “Eat, drink, and be merry.” Most of us have heard the passage like this: “Eat, drink, and be merry . . . for tomorrow we die. This saying actually comes from a verse in Ecclesiastes and a verse in Isaiah. The Isaiah passage says:

“In that day the Lord God of hosts
called to weeping and mourning,
to baldness and putting on sackcloth;
but instead there was joy and festivity,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating meat and drinking wine.
‘Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.’
The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,
says the Lord God of hosts.” (Isaiah 22:12-14 NRSV).

The passage in Isaiah emphasizes the idea of frivolity in this life, ignoring the fact that we will ultimately be brought to account by God Himself at the last judgement. In the Isaiah passage, the Lord was calling them to repent . . . and instead they wanted to party. That is the message that the Lord Jesus was bringing in His parable: that we focus so much on gaining in this life, thinking that there is some value in it, when, in fact, we are better suited to be at the Throne in prayer, confession, and supplication; we are more well served to be thinking about who we are as believers, than whether or not we are successful by the world’s standards.

In Proverbs, “the wicked” is often used to refer to those who chased after the dreams of this world without regard to how much they harmed those around them. There is, then, this comparison between the wicked and the righteous, those who are self-centered and pursuing gain at any cost and those who would choose to serve others (rather than themselves) and live lives that please God through their righteousness. And while we made righteous by the blood of the Lord Jesus, we also choose righteousness (to the best of our ability through the power of the Holy Spirit) when we choose to obey Him rather than the impulses of our flesh.

© 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 11:17

“Those who are kind reward themselves,
but the cruel do themselves harm.” NRSV

Our expectations kill us!

A number of years ago, I did a study on heart attitudes, those things we believe that are foundational about who we are as people, as individuals. The Lord showed me that, if we want to stop habitual sins, we need to examine the root of the problem: our heart attitudes. I think that the attitude that most controls us (and is the deadliest) is expectation. What we expect from others, from situations, from life determines the direction of everything: how we relate to others and how we respond.

Kindness is something we don’t practice much these days. It’s much easier to be self-assertive, to be demanding, to be angry and offended. We are kind when it’s instinctual to be kind, but other than that . . . As a society, we are less and less kind each day.

Unfortunately, the antonym of “kind” is . . . cruel! (And I can hear the protests now.) Cruel is the last thing I would consider myself to be. And yet, I’m sure that in my unthinking plundering around, I hurt people and am probably seen as being cruel (and heartless and unkind).

Hmm.

As with most characteristics of being a Christian, being kind isn’t something that I can just hope I will become. Rather, it’s something that I need to strategically and deliberately practice. And in order to become kind, I must be aware (confess) that I am unkind, that I am cruel, that I am unthinking (and uncaring) when it comes to those around me, that I think of myself first—of what I want, of what I hope to achieve—rather than thinking of others first.

In studying Proverbs, I keep coming back to Philippians 2:3:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.”

The NCV says it this way: “When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves.”

The NLT says it this way: “Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.”

I don’t think that anyone intentionally wakes up in the morning, determined to be cruel and mean. I think that, instead, we are frightened, untrusting people who are determined to make sure that we get what we think we need (and want), regardless of the consequences to others. In other words, we are often unwilling to suffer so that someone else doesn’t. And yet, because the world is full of suffering, the fact is someone is going to suffer. And if we are practicing kindness, we may be actually embracing suffering so that someone else doesn’t have to.

The Hebrew word translated here “kind” (actually “the person who is kind”) also contains the connotation of merciful. Someone who is merciful is someone who forgives readily and easily, who doesn’t demand payback or tit for tat, who allows others to be less than perfect and doesn’t try to even the playing field so that life becomes “fair.” When we are kind, we are patient, merciful, and loving. We are willing to sacrifice for the cause of others. We put their priorities ahead of our own.

Most of us have lived lives with the idea that “someday I’ll be able to do what I want to do.” The fact is, we are not our own. We have been bought with a price (the precious blood of the Lord Jesus) and every second that we live, we live to serve Him by reaching out to those around us in love, in mercy, in patience . . . in kindness. And by living this way, we do indeed reward ourselves because we gain the kingdom of heaven and eternity with our Lord! When we are cruel, we harm ourselves by separating ourselves from Him because of our sin. I think what we have to decide is whether or not we are going to be kind . . . today!

© 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 11:16

“A gracious woman gets honor,
but she who hates virtue is covered with shame.
The timid become destitute,
but the aggressive gain riches.” NRSV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” Matthew 5:6 NRSV

It’s amazing to me how aggressive we can be when it comes to earthly (temporary) things and how laid-back (May I say “lazy?”) we are when it comes to spiritual things.

When my husband and I first got married, twenty-five years ago, we considered going to a Catholic church in town. My husband’s family is Catholic; mine is evangelical. I didn’t mind switching because I had saved Catholic friends who were serious Christians and I knew that it was possible to serve the Lord there as well as in the church I was already attending. The reason we made a decision not to go to that particular Catholic church wasn’t the preaching or the music or even necessarily the doctrine. What distressed us the most was that the attenders didn’t carry (or read) their Bibles. They relied on their priest to tell them what scripture said and then just disappeared into the night, so to speak, without worrying about whether or not they should actually apply what they heard. (Fortunately, several years later a revival took place in that parish and it became on fire for the Lord.)

Lately, as we have visited several evangelical churches, we have, unfortunately, witnessed much the same thing. Many attenders don’t carry their Bibles to church nor check to see whether or not what the pastor is saying actually lines up with scripture. In fact, I’ve talked to several people professing to be Christians who simply aren’t concerned with their lives—with how they behave or the addictive, sinful behaviors they have—insisting that God will change them when He’s good and ready (or words to that effect).

We have become passive, at least where it pertains to our spiritual growth. What’s interesting is that “passive” is the antonym of “aggressive.”

“The aggressive gain riches.”
“Those who hunger and thirst for righteous . . . will be filled.”

I think that we focus on what’s important to us. I think that if we want something badly enough, we will make sure that we get it. I mean, isn’t that what discount shopping—which has taken America by storm—all about? Getting what we want? Isn’t that one of the reasons our country’s in such a financial mess, because we got what we wanted without considering the cost (buying on credit)?

We need to focus on what we need spiritually as believers. And there must be a reason why the Lord Jesus taught about hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Think about being really hungry or really thirsty. Those desires are insatiable; you can’t think about anything else until you get something to eat or water to drink. Your body demands it.

Do we hunger and thirst for being righteous? Is that what we long for, what we think about, what we pray for and wish for? Or are we so absorbed with getting the very-temporary things of the life around us that we don’t even have the time or energy to think about pleasing God? For that’s what righteousness is . . . behavior, thoughts, and choices that please Him! Do we surround ourselves with reading books and listening to teaching tapes that talk about His Holy Word or are we too busy with soap operas and reality shows and fulfilling the lusts of our flesh to even bother?

Virtue is righteousness. A woman who hates virtue will be shamed, but a believer who is aggressive about getting righteousness (the true riches in life) will receive them . . . and more. If we long for the Lord with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, we will receive that blessed relationship with Him.

© 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).

Matthew 16:24-26

“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?’” NRSV

I’m constantly amazed how self-centered and selfish I am. And then I’m amazed that I’m amazed!

A number of years ago, a wonderful saint of the Lord, someone I called “aunt” all my life and loved as a second mother, someone whose name you would recognize and be surprised, said this: “As I get older, Robin, I realize how much I still need to grow and mature as a Christian.” At that time, I was astonished at what she said. My initial reaction was, “Well, if she feels she hasn’t arrived, then I don’t have any hope at all!”

The apostle Paul—a man whom most would admit was probably the greatest Christian of all time—considered himself to be the “very least of all the saints” (Eph. 3:8).

Oh my goodness!

I got to thinking of this again (and it’s something I usually end up thinking about several times a year) as I was thinking last night and this morning about “best friends.” Most of you know that I teach at an elementary school. And, so, of course, many of my students’ are obsessed with the idea of my “best” friend. Now, according to kids, a best friend is someone who is exclusively my friend, someone who prefers me above everyone else, and who will remain loyal to me through any situation.

In other words, this is someone who considers my needs paramount.

Well, that’s really what it boils down to. Having “my” best friend says a lot, the “my,” because it means that it’s all about me, what I need, what I want. It’s the same idea as having “my soul mate” for a spouse/partner. It’s all about someone else considering whether or not I’m happy, I’m content, I feel wanted.

That, my friends, is self-centeredness. Pure and simple. You see, I’d been bemoaning the loss of a friendship this week. There is this couple and we considered them to be very close friends (perhaps our closest friends). And then something happened that indicated that they might not consider us in the same light (to be their closest friends). It was a blow to me . . . and it shouldn’t have been. If I was truly denying myself and considering them first (Phil. 2:3), then this “loss” would have never occurred to me. Period.

I realized that I was operating under the very immature idea of “best friends,” exclusivity, wanting them to owe me something, to be loyal, to meet my needs.

The only person who can meet my needs is the Lord Jesus. If I truly feel that I want or need a best friend, He needs to be the person to whom I run, to whom I cling. Everyone else—running their own race of life, of spiritual maturity—will at some time let me down. The Lord Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother . . . or sister (Prov. 18:24).

With those around me, I need to rethink my expectations. Rather than expecting from them, I need to expect that I should be ministering to them, without thought for what I might get back in return. Any “return” on an earthly relationship is fleeting and will ultimately be unsatisfying. My thoughts need to be about giving to others . . . and receiving from the Lord!

© 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).