Archives for 2012

 

Be generous to the poor—you’ll never go hungry;
shut your eyes to their needs, and run a gauntlet of curses.  Proverbs 28:27

Last Sunday I posted Answer the Cry of the Poor and shared about our church’s Compassion Day.  It may seem redundant to reference a verse about helping the poor again but I love in these verses it says be generous.

We talked this week in our small group about the Good Samaritan and how he didn’t just throw an encouraging word or fistful of money, but went way beyond.  He was generous with his time, money and efforts towards someone he not only wasn’t responsible for, but by cultural standards, should have hated. 

I thought I’d also share the video we contributed to for the special.  It is a rare occasion to get Scott Bennett on camera.  Love his heart.

Compassion Day 2012 – NRHC Sponsors from North Rock Hill Church on Vimeo.

Challenge: If you didn’t take the challenge last week, go sponsor a child.

This post is part of The Nester’s 31 Days Series

The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but people are tested by their praise.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Proverbs 27:21. I’m tested by my praise? Like, when I praise God for what he’s done? How am I tested?

After checking out some commentary, I realize that’s not at all what Solomon meant.  Just as gold is tested in the furnace, a man’s wisdom is tested by praise—from other people.  When you get complimented, does your pride puff up? Do you pat yourself on the back?  Do you become conceited? 

Or, when you are praised, do you remain the same other than to be more thankful to God?  

Challenge: Take note of how you act the next time you’re praised and you will see if you are indeed wise!

This post is part of The Nester’s 31 Days Series

Without wood a fire goes out;
without a gossip a quarrel dies down.

I really have struggled with gossip over the years.  Not that I made up lies and spread them or purposely spread untrue things.   But I think at some points in my life I prided myself in knowing something another person didn’t.  It took a few times of breaking confidence and hurting people’s feelings that I learned my job was not filling a person in on the finer points of someone else’s life.

Gossip is not just hateful or untrue talk.  It’s ANY chit-chat over someone else’s personal life.  Sure, there’s a time and place for talking about specific situations but overwhelmingly, it’s just plain old gossip.

Proverbs 18:8 from the Message says it like this: Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy; do you really want junk like that in your belly?

It’s junk.  Just plain old junk.

Proverbs 26 continues teaching against gossip and says a quarrel would just die down if people would just quit gossiping!  Oh boy, does that strike a chord.  Everywhere from junior high to church have I seen that to be true.  Just like a fire can’t burn without wood, a lot of problems between people would just disappear if people would quit talking about the problem.

Challenge: What quarrels or arguments are you in the midst of gossiping about?  Put an end to it.

Post edited from Words

This post is part of The Nester’s 31 Days Series

If you find honey, eat just enough—
too much of it, and you will vomit.

If there ever was a verse I need to memorize, it’s this Proverbs 25:16.  I’ve read it so many times and just now is the truth of it settling in.

I’m well known for my addictions.  Whether it be to a TV show, artist, song or food, I’m either in or out.  When I like something, I LOVE it.  It’s my favorite.  I have to find out every single detail about it.

I’ve learned over the years that Solomon was right…you end up vomiting too much of a good thing.

My addictions become chains that I can’t seem to step away from and then I no longer enjoy it just to enjoy it.

Solomon isn’t suggesting to abstain but to have just enough.

But what I’ve learned is when you’re like me and you can’t have just enough, don’t have it at all.

Challenge: What is your honey?  Are you having just enough or too much?

This post is part of The Nester’s 31 Days Series

Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

At first glance Proverbs 24:11-12 describes those literally being led away to death.  I thought about those in the sex trafficking rings or those being persecuted in foreign countries.  We need to save them!  We are responsible!

But at second glance, I wonder if these are figurative as well. 

We see people around us that we love and have our trust that are being led away to death in sin.  We can’t stand by.  We can’t say we knew nothing when our heart knows differently.

We’re not here to be each other’s Holy Spirits.  He does well without us.  But sometimes we need to be David’s Nathan (2 Samuel 12) to say wait a minute.  You’re better than that. I love you more than that.  You don’t want that.

Go to those people you are invested in going down the wrong path.  Rescue them.  Hold them back.

This verse is not a license to chastise and judge but an invitation to a conversation.  The wise aren’t responsible for the outcome but they are responsible for the first step.

Challenge: Who do YOU need to have a conversation with?

This post is part of The Nester’s 31 Days Series

Work hard. Build it. Get rich. Live comfortably.  It’s the American way.  It’s often my way.

Proverbs 23:4-5 offers up the wise way.

Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
do not trust your own cleverness.
Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings
and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

Work hard but not for wealth to be the end (but maybe to Get Out of Debt and Answer the Cry of the Poor).

Don’t trust yourself.  Rely on God.

Realize that money is fleeting.

It sounds simple but it’s an entirely different frame of mind.

Challenge: Are you wearing yourself out to get rich?  If you work, then why?  What is your dream end goal in mind?  How would your work life change if your goals changed?  What do you need to change in your heart or in your life for it to line up with these verses?

This post is part of The Nester’s 31 Days Series

The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

At first glance, Proverbs 22: 3 might seem to give a reason to skip all the scary dark alley ways and loop-de-loop roller coasters. But it’s deeper. 

Solomon is warning us against sin.

When we are going along and see a temptation to sin, the wise takes refuge. 

For some of us, that might be going along and running into an ex, for some that might be an invitation to a party at a bar, for some that might be stumbling on pictures on a web site.  We all have our pitfalls. 

Solomon says the wise run.  They see danger and do the opposite.

The simple, or foolish as Solomon calls them, simply let things happen.  They strike up a conversation with the ex, accept the invitation to the party and go ahead and click on the pictures.  And eventually they pay the price.

Challenge: What danger do you see today that you can actively take refuge from?

This post is part of The Nester’s 31 Days Series