Proverbs 16:9

It is better to be poor and godly than rich and dishonest.

I was reading to our boys last night (I know, we’re lame… we read Bible stories and Psalms and Proverbs and such before bed instead of fairy tales… but they don’t know or care right now) and read this Proverb.  I immediately thought of my husband.  He helped some very rich people get through the various theme parks here, and while the husband was really cool, the wife was awful!  John refuses to be unethical and dishonest in order to move through the lines faster, but even knowing this, the entire time she kept urging him to lie or use a lane for the disabled so that she could avoid waiting.  John kept saying no.  I was SO proud of him.  We may be poor, and we may not have a ton of stuff or our own place to live right now… but John was godly in this situation (and oh-so-many others).  I choose to believe that it will pay off in the end.

That aside, here are a couple of other parts of Proverbs 16 that I liked:

vs. 3 Commit your work to the LORD, and then your plans will succeed. (Hope Inspirational Schools)

vs. 7 When the ways of people please the LORD, he makes even their enemies live at peace with them. (Our nation)

vs. 23 From a wise mind comes wise speech; the words of the wise are persuasive. (I would like to be wise)

vs. 32  It is better to be patient than powerful; it is better to have self-control than to conquer a city. (Teaching)

And on a completely unrelated path…  I usually read the Bible on my laptop in the morning (cut-and-paste is a lot easier than retyping), but last night I read out my physical, paper, Bible and I remembered how nice it is to have it in my hands and to feel the pages and be able to write in the margins.  There’s something soothing about an actual book, and even more so about an actual Bible (mine, particularly, but I’m biased).  I wonder why that is, that the Bible in my hand (a printed version) can feel so different than the one I read online.  Weird.  Very weird.

2 Corinthians 6:17

Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.

This seems to me to go against what Jesus said about loving others, and doesn’t make sense in light of the fact that Jesus walked in the world and touched the dirtiest people society had to offer.  So, what does it mean?

Here’s Chuck Smith’s (a pastor) take on it:

So, God’s call for His people to separation. You are to be different from the world. You cannot have real communion with the world. You have no common ground of meeting. You’re trying to bring two diverse situations together. You’re trying to join together the life of the flesh with the life of the Spirit. They cannot co-mingle. It’s an unequal yoke. So, God’s call for you is to come apart. “Be separate, saith the Lord. Don’t touch the unclean thing. And God said, I will be a Father, and ye will be my sons and daughters.”

As a child of God, you do live different than a person who is not a child of God. You’re expected to live differently.

This makes a lot of sense.  As children of God, it’s not that we’re physically going to separate ourselves and live in little communes.  Jesus didn’t do that.  He lived among us and walked among us and talked to people, ate with sinners, played with children, and healed the sick and dying.  He didn’t get away from people and live all by himself in the wilderness.  Instead, he lived differently than the people.  He didn’t sin the way people sin (even the righteous sin).  He didn’t lie or cheat or steal.  He wasn’t violent (remember how he healed the man’s ear after Peter cut it off with a sword?).  He lived differently and that set Him apart from the world.  So we are to follow Jesus’ example and live differently.  We should try to live like Jesus did – loving others and doing what is right.

My husband has to struggle with that a lot.  Yesterday he felt like he was being asked by a client to do something that he didn’t feel was right or moral, and while he was discussing the situation with the people he is working for he offered to give up the contract even though we really do need the money.  When they saw how serious he was about doing things right, they decided to back him up against the client that was asking him to be dishonest.  I was so proud of him!!!  That’s not an easy choice to make!

Anyhow, God doesn’t want us to never associate with lost people.  If we never talked to them or walked among them then how will they ever know who Jesus is?  How will they hear if we don’t go (it says that somewhere in the Bible)?  So, it’s not about staying away from people who don’t know Jesus, it’s about doing life differently and being set apart in our morals and actions.   Chuck Smith does make a good point, though, about not making an unbeliever our best friend.  Our best friends tend to have a lot of influence in our lives because we tell them our deepest thoughts and listen to their counsel.  So, that’s a good point.  But it doesn’t mean that you don’t ever associate or hang out with non-believers.  You just have to be wise and thoughtful in your actions.

Romans 12:9

Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good.

This is an area where my husband really shines, and I wish I could do better.  He stands up for what is right all the time, even when it’s not popular or easy.  He hates injustice and works really hard to make sure he’s fair and good to his employees.  At his work place, he constantly fights to make sure those under him don’t get thrown under the bus by corporate and often stands up against those higher up than him in order to make sure somebody says what is true and right.

I, on the other hand, tend to be more timid and less courageous to stand up when everyone else is doing something else.  It’s gotten me in trouble in the past, and it frustrates me that I’m not always strong enough to stand firmly in what I know is right.  Now, I’m a horrible liar, which is a good thing, so if someone asks me what I think I’ll probably tell them (couched in the nicest possible terms, of course).  This irritates me about myself.  I want to be courageous and bold, but I’m not.

Pretending to love people is something that I see a lot, especially in workplaces.  It’s expected that everyone will smile and be nice to each other and generally “fake it.”  As mentioned above, I’m awful at lying and am pretty bad at the smile and fake it game.  This can be really annoying, or it can be really good.  At my job right now, it’s bad because my boss wants everyone to have “a good attitude” which equates to smiling and being happy and cheerful and positive all the time.  I struggle with this because I’m not always thrilled with things all the time and pretending that I am makes my stomach flip.  However, being “real” with him about my concerns and frustrations would get me fired.  Sad.

So, from this verse I realize two things… my husband is an awesome man (I already knew this, but it’s always nice to be reminded) and there are ways I wish I could be more like he is, and I need to work on loving everyone in my life, even the unlovable ones who drive me nuts.

Psalm 50:13-14

“…What I want instead is your true thanks to God; I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High.  Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”

In this Psalm God is telling His faithful ones that He doesn’t need their sacrifices because He already owns all the resources of the universe and beyond.  What He really wants is different – their thanks, the fulfillment of their vows, and their trust in times of trouble.  I’d imagine those are the same things He wants from us.

I was listening to the radio yesterday (Z88.3) and one of the DJs told a story of this woman she’d talked to who didn’t have anything to give her child for Christmas and didn’t really have any way to celebrate Christmas at all.  The DJ was making the point that Christmas isn’t really about the gifts and presents and lights, but it’s about Jesus and what He’s done for us.  What hit me though, was that I am so blessed!  I don’t have a lot of money and most months I’m really happy to squeak by without running the accounts to zero.  But God provided enough to buy gifts for my children and for my husband and me.  He has been SO faithful about making sure we have what we need (not what we want, but always what we need) and then a little extra.  That story really made me realize how much He blesses us.

Trusting God in times of trouble sounds like it would be easy, but it’s easy for my first thing to do is try to fix it myself.  Of course, that usually makes a bigger mess…  But trust is hard for everyone, I think.  So often when we trust people or things our trust is broken.  I see this in politics a ton, but also in day-to-day life (someone says they’ll do something  but they forget about it).  We trust big companies to make products that help us but find out later they make them specifically to break down after a certain amount of time so that we’ll all have to go buy more stuff…  The list goes on.  So trust is hard.  But God wants us to trust Him.  In fact, He promises to rescue us if we trust Him!  That’s a pretty nice deal!  But, I suspect that we have to completely trust Him, without holding on to that last bit of rope.  We have to completely open our hands and trust that He’s got us.  That’s kind of scary for most people, I think.

Ultimately, we can tithe all we want and we can give God things all we’d like, but what God wants is our thanks, or honesty, and our trust.  That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Zechariah 7:9-10

This is what the LORD Almighty says: Judge fairly and honestly, and show mercy and kindness to one another.  Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And do not make evil plans to harm each other.

You’d think that these guidelines would be common sense, that people would do this naturally.  However, maybe it’s because of the sin in our world that we no longer naturally judge fairly and honestly, are merciful and kind, and take care of others.  I suppose if you look at the news it’s even more obvious that these laws are broken all the time…

But then you hear stories that bring a smile to your face.  This morning on the news (while I was waiting for my computer to wake up – it’s worse than I am!) I heard a story about a law firm here in Orlando that is giving away 1000 turkeys for Thanksgiving!  I thought that was awesome!  There were some men lined up at 4am to get a turkey for their family because they didn’t have the money to buy one otherwise.

In a time when the message seems to be all about plenty and getting more and more and more I am challenged to remember just how blessed I am.  Have times been easy?  No!   But God has so faithfully provided us with everything we need, and a little extra to do some things for Christmas.  No matter how many packs of diapers we’ve needed or how much food the little ones were packing away, He’s always put the money there to cover it.  We are healthy (mostly) and have good doctors to get us well if we need it.  We have a place to live that is comfortable.  We have family that loves us.  We have a church we love.  We are truly blessed.  There is still honestly and goodness and kindness in the world.  No, it’s not everywhere, but little things like the generosity of this law firm remind me of how much we’ve been given and that there are people who want to do good for others.

So, as we start out this holiday season (or continue in it, depending on your perspective), I want to remember to give a little more away – even if it’s just a kind word or deed.  I think that makes God smile.  And that’s a great thing!