Archive for the ‘ Wisdom ’ Category

The Fool’s Delight

This last week a friend of mine blogged about some of the silliness surrounding the Trayvon Martin killing, and I re-blogged it over here. Today, I look into it further.

An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment.

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.
Proverbs 18:1-2

I often wonder if men such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton knew they would become such media lightning rods when they began public speaking. I like giving the benefit of the doubt that they truly began as individuals seeking equality and peace.

However, it would appear that, as it is said, “power corrupts.”

These are men who seem to enjoy the spotlight more than true justice to the point that they say some truly foolish things.

These are men who seem to enjoy saying what they think both before and after they understand what may be happening.

What is worse is that they are ordained ministers. They are ones who are to fight for peace and equality, yet we get statements that sound more like race-bating than many of the situations of which they speak.

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
James 3:13-4:1

Men such as these are not following God. They delight in themselves and this world.

Pray you will not follow this path. Pray for the wisdom of God, that He will direct your heart. (And here is a reminder to go read Proverbial Thought and what the amazing contributors have to say. I am still amazed I am allowed to write with these amazing people!)

Pray for these men, as well, that they will truly seek God and become men of peace.

2012
04/17
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Responses to Christmas: God’s Parents

It is time for a special series … THIS WEEK ONLY!

Yeah, I kind of gave into some of the materialistic hype. This special is only available the week leading up to this Christmas.

I have a seen a few similar series going around, but mine is better because … uhhh … I am doing it this week? This series is about how people responded to the birth of Jesus.

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
Luke 1:26-38

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This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25

God clearly chose these two to raise the boy Jesus for a reason. Other than being descendents of David, they also were kinda righteous, as humans go.

Take Mary:

  1. She was presented with something impossible: pregnancy without … the fun part. Her reaction to hearing this: “Help me understand how this is possible!”
  2. With a response that would make most humans say “Yeah, okay. Whatever that means!” she replies “I do not really get it, but I will follow You and see what amazing things you can do!”

Now Joseph:

  1. His first response to the unknown was to protect the girl he loved yet bow out gracefully. He wanted to protect himself (not bad) and the girl who apparently had been unfaithful, someone who apparently had sinned rather egregiously. He was a pretty cool dude, man!
  2. He has a dream telling him that the baby will be God and save people from their sins, therefore he should still marry Mary. Based on that dream, he complies. This is really all we know about Joseph (other than he and Mary forgot Jesus at the age of 12, and he also looked for Him). Personally, I see there is more than enough information here to understand his character: awesome!

What can we learn from these two?

  1. It is okay to have doubts, provided you are willing to listen to God (or His messengers).
  2. It is okay to question God, provided you are honestly seeking answers and not trying to justify yourself or simply asking rhetorically from disbelief.
  3. Sometimes, perhaps many or most times, we will not fully understand (if at all) what God is doing, but that is okay provided we continue to follow His leading.
  4. Enduring something inconvenient can lead to amazing blessings!

What about you? When you have doubts do you listen for God’s leading? Do you ask God any of the who, what, when, where, why, or how questions expecting a reply and being open to the answer? Are you willing to move forward in your confusion and lack of understanding? Do you trust God? If you do, amazing blessings await. To be fair, the blessings may not appear until eternity, but a lifetime of worries and pain is worth an eternity of peace and joy. (Think of a road trip someplace, like Disneyland or to family you have not seen in a while. It may be uncomfortable getting there, but the joy and experience of getting there almost help you forget it or even make it worth it.)

2011
12/19
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Belief
Bible
Birth of Jesus
Christmas
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 12/18/2011

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ” James 1:5

That is all for now. Happy Advent, and Merry Christmas!

wisdom
daniel m  klem

wisdom is what we want

some people want it to
get ahead in life and
make money to buy things

others want wisdom to
get ahead in the life and
be with God in heaven

if God is pleased with you
the He will bless you and
you may not need things

your wisdom can take you
up to where God is and
to be with Him in heaven

just ask for the wisdom

Taken from simple words for God from a simple man of God by daniel m  klem, page 51.

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2011
12/18
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Belief in Unbelief

I have discussed before about how doubt is okay in certain circumstances. I was recently reminded of this topic while listening to one of my favorite songs (Jason Gray, For the First Time Again, and today I refer to the verse mentioned in the song and will get back to this later!), and it also reminded me of a conversation I had with me own mum a few years ago.

The verse I refer to is Mark 9:24: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

The man who said this to Jesus believed that Jesus could help, but he struggled with doubt. He just handled it in the correct manner. He asked God.

What if our doubt has to do with whether or not God is involved?

The Bible deals with this.

John, in 1 John 4:1, says “Dear Friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Did you know we are not supposed to have a blind faith? Many in the Western Church have been raised to “just believe and not ask questions.” This verse seems to declare otherwise. (Another is 1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Some people send out and/or forward e-mails that sound very inspirational or seem to raise awareness of some injustice or cause. This is the very reason Snopes.com (atheistic, as far as I know, but still quite trustworthy if you are concerned) was founded, to discover which stories are true and false. (Something I found ironic, my mom raised me to study things, and when I e-mailed her a link to something cool she asked forgiveness for not trusting me and checking Snopes! I had already checked it myself! This is the conversation I mentioned above) It is more than okay to look into these e-mails and reports.

As we get into the presidential election, we are going to be hearing many things from the candidates and their supporters both for and against each candidate. We have seen some of these stretch the truth pretty far in the past. We should check everything we hear about a candidate before choosing what to believe about them. It is just smart and an all-around good idea. If you believe we can trust everything every politician says, you need a little more help than I can offer!

Every time we meet for church or to study the Bible or for a fellowship event (concert, Promise Keepers, Women of Faith, leadership/missionary conferences, etcetera) we should approach each teaching with sound reason and a healthy dose of skepticism. I am not saying we doubt everything that is said, nor I am saying we should discount our knowledge of what each speaker has said before. For example, if you have attended the same church with the same pastor for years with solid teaching, you should be able to trust what the pastor says this Sunday, too. However, as many of my pastor friends have said over the years, we should follow along in our Bibles with every teaching to make sure there is no mistake! This is not questioning everything that is said, rather it is confirming truth or revealing mis-truthes and mistakes.

Similarly, whenever a new teacher comes along, a new theologian theologizes, or science proclaims new evidence of something, we should test the statements and information for validity and trustworthiness both with Scripture and logic. I am sorry if your feelings are hurt, but outside of Christianity all religions do not pass most tests. Even some spheres of Christianity (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints [Mormons], Jehovah’s Witnesses, Westboro Baptist Church, some separate congregations within mainline churches, and many others) leave Scripture and logic behind. We must be careful.

This is why doubt is a good thing. This is why we can believe in God and His Church but show signs of disbelief. My mom sometimes regrets feeling like “a Doubting Thomas,” but when we are receiving teachings from a fallen world and those who may be false prophets (which can come from other religions and secular society) it can be wise to not believe everything.

If we continually seek our Lord, it becomes easier to know when it is Him speaking and when it is not. I teach the young men I mentor (and anyone else who listens) to test everything I say. They are not to accept everything I say as truth but make their faith their own. We do not always agree on every little thing, and that is okay. It is not okay when our unbelief gets in the way of our belief in God and our ability to love Him and other people.

Have some doubt, but as I said in the posts I referenced at the beginning of this one, make sure your doubt pushes you toward God and not away.

2011
08/09
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In passing …

I get updates from Rachel Held Evans, and she shared a link today (07/10/2011) to another blog. I really like the post, so I am linking to it, as well! That is all. Here is hoping your Sunday (and any other day you may read this) is a good one!

2011
07/10
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Weekend Words and Sunday Stanzas – 05/01/2011

Today I bring to you one of the first poems I ever wrote for God, and it happens to be based on one of my favorite passages. The passage is a reminder to me that God works in and changes us to be holy, but He still requires us to do something. You can call it “God helps those who help themselves” (which I might explain my thoughts on this in the future) or “We have our role to play in our sanctification.” Either way, God gives us the freedom to either choose Him or choose ourselves in every moment.

i submit to You  God
daniel m  klem

if i draw near to You
You draw near to me
You will purify my heart
my hands will be clean
i am double minded
i am a sinner  indeed
i will now resist the devil
We will make him flee
i submit to You  God

so You are with me

****

 James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God,
and He will draw near to you. Wash your hands,
you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-
minded.

Taken from the book simple words for God from a simple man of God by daniel m klem, p. 157.

2011
05/01
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I doubt that is true. I can’t believe it. I SHANT believe it!

Doubt has a bad rap.

I also think it rightly has a bad rap, but I think that sometimes gets in the way of people acknowledging or even confronting their doubt.

I just started the class “Systematic Theology” this week, and doubt is one of the first issues we are tackling (hence the idea to write about it!).

When is doubt a good thing?

How about when God is crying out for us, leading us to Him? Doubt can be a very good thing. We start to doubt the wisdom of the world. We start to doubt everything we have been raised to believe about what the world is telling us. If our doubt is truly from God then we will find ourselves doubting the world more and more and God les and less. This doubt will lead us to the saving knowledge of Christ as Lord and Savior.

Doubt can also be good as a believer. Poor Thomas, that Apostle of Jesus, gets a bad rap that comes with a nickname: Doubting Thomas. If someone does not believe something, they might be called a “Doubting Thomas” in more of a derogatory way. But sometimes it is okay.

If we sit in a church pew (or chairs, as they are becoming more popular all the time) and blindly listen to what the preacher is saying, are we really growing? Especially if the message being preached is weak, heretical, or even blasphemous, doubt can play a big role. If your church preaches “God hates certain people, so we are going to go to funerals and protest and yell at people that God wants them to go to hell”, then doubt might push you to research and find the truth. It could be a message that God only wants you happy and rich and have your best life now, but doubt gets you to find the Bible says something a little different.

Is this to say that certain people will not be sent to Hell or that we can have happiness and financial prosperity here on Earth? No. In fact, the Bible tells us that there are righteous people and evil people who both do well.

But people still doubt. Sometimes when a person says “I don’t believe it”, what they are really saying is “I can’t believe it”. Or if they say “I can’t believe” they may really be saying “I won’t believe it!” Zechariah had trouble believing angel and was punished; Mary had trouble believing the same angel and was considered righteous. Why? Zechariah allowed his view of the material to interfere with his view of the power of God, but Mary sought understanding. Zechariah said “I can’t or won’t believe this, because it is so strange”, but Mary said “I am unable to understand this. Help me!”

This is the same issue many people face with the Bible. Everyone asks “Why did God have the Israelites destroy all the people in the Promised Land?” One person may say “I refuse to believe a loving God would do that!” Here is something to mull over:

If you had learned that a violent pedophile had moved into your area, would you not want them gone while wondering “How could they let someone like that live near me?” Or perhaps this pedophile moved right next to your child’s school. You would do everything within your power to make sure that your child was safe.

Now look at Israel. God knew what would happen. Here are these various nations and tribes who undoubtedly would have heard about the army of Egypt being destroyed by the Hebrew God, but they all said “We won’t believe in that God!” God knew these people would turn the hearts of the Israelites away from Him.  He knew that if these people were allowed to remain in the area, they would do very naughty things to His people and lead them astray.

We should be aware of doubt and willing to allow God to use it to move us closer to Him. Proverbs chapter one tells us who refuses to listen. They doubt and suffer. Instead, the beginning of wisdom comes from seeking God (see verse seven). It is okay to doubt as long as it leads to God. If it begins to turn us away from God, we begin walking the path of fools.

What say you? Are there doubts you struggle with? Do those doubts hurt your relationship with God or help? Do they confuse you about which way they are pulling? Further on, do you have people around you to help you through your doubts? A pastor is good, but a friend is better (especially if that pastor is a friend!).

Grace and Peace!

2011
01/25
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