Tag: wisdom

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Life long learners and old wisdom.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge.” Proverbs‬ ‭18:15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Old wisdom is still good wisdom. Wisdom writers captured a truth that made its way into modern leadership principles even today. Smart people are CURIOUS. Leaders are curious. And curious people do not behave brash and have a hubris oder about them. No, they are learners. Smart people are lifetime learners.

Proverbs identify learning as “open ears.” We now know that we can open all our senses to learn new things. So we not only listen with curiosity, we can also see, smell, taste and touch. Stopping to see a beautiful sunset, to smell the roses, to taste a new cultural food vastly different than our favorites, and to touch a worldly-wise, weathered hand of our super seniors.

Smart people are eager, joyful, even giddy to experience new things. And, I believe that as long as we hold a curiosity and pursuit of being learners, it has a way of sifting, processing all that new knowledge into wisdom.

No one wants to simply be a Snapple Cap to impress their friends. Pithy quips and useless facts can get so tiring! Believe me, I’ve tried it, it doesn’t win friends.

Prayer

Dad,
Thankfully I’ve been the curious one since my earliest memories. Taking things apart and just hoping I could remember how to put them back together 🥴. That natural bent has help me be adventurous and kind of an explorer in most areas. You know this about me, I love new tech and new ideas and have a tremendous amount of respect for inventors and dreamers, even if they fail. I’ve always want to invent stuff! I am also thankful that I love and serve a creative God! That’s probably what frustrates me about the Church the most. We have total access to the Holy Spirit and we keep dragging along, often a decade or more behind the times and it just sucks the life out of a LIVING community called the church. I don’t want us to be cool, trendy or really even relevant. I just want us to reflect you in everything you do. You can do something new every second of every day for all eternity and NEVER run out of creative ideas. I just us to live that kind of life – full and ever curious for good, godly ways.

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Lizard brain conversations.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“From a wise mind comes wise speech; the words of the wise are persuasive.” Proverbs‬ ‭16:23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Several axioms pop into my head when I read these passages about WORDS.

One: “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Two: “Better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” Three, incorrectly attributed to St. Francis Assisi: “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” The Franciscans are hopping mad about that wonky phrase being stuck to their founder. The closest quote Francis wrote is, “All the Friars… should preach by their deeds.”

These wisdom words out of Proverbs seem to be positive about speaking words. Words shape people’s thoughts! The cousin to this proverb is “The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive,” Proverbs‬ ‭16:21‬, adding the word “pleasant.” The Hebrew word is metheq: sweetness. And in verse 23, the key word is sakal: consider. Both verses, in Hebrew, are for the purpose of learning. These wise, sweet, considerate words are good for folks who want to learn. Their minds and hearts are open and ready to receive, like eager students who love understanding new concepts in school.

You know what’s sad? Humans are oftentimes to impatient to learn. Do you know what kind of words get quicker results, in terms of action? You guessed it – angry words! Accusations, angry, hateful words move MOBS! Crowds love angry words. No thought, no learning, no homework necessary. Just throw out the vile, trashy rap and it triggers the ol’ amygdala, the “lizard” brain.

Oh man, God’s ways are NOT our ways, His thoughts are NOT our thoughts – wisdom uses a different methodology. You notice how much of our country is filled with angry words and not sweet, persuasive words? Yeah, because we’ve stopped listening, stopped learning. And the results are clear, we’re just behaving like a bunch of raw emotional, darwinian neanderthals looking for a war!

Wisdom itself is a slower path, definitely one less traveled. Followers of Jesus must, must, must believe and behave differently! We must continue to use sweet, considerate words – wisdom words to persuade. Here’s the prefect contrarian picture out of the gospels. The crowd is screaming crucify and Jesus is saying, Father forgive them. Which words sound like wisdom?

Prayer

Dad,
Ouch, those proverbs sting a little. I have a lot of angry thoughts and want to let them fly out of my mouth! Your word challenges me to not only think through my words but choose them carefully to teach and persuade rather than just rile up a crowd and send them off, moshing into the world. I am so thankful for the tools of wisdom to help navigate our angry world.

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Plan once, plan twice.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”
Proverbs‬ ‭16:9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Plans, plans, plans – we all make them, we all have to live with them. I know people that “plan” their “free time,” days off, vacations, daily meals, and even sex! I have friends that are not just planners, they are OBSESSIVE planners. It gives them a certain amount of safety and control.

This wisdom chapter alone drops the word plan three times. And, if you throw in the word path, in a couple of verses, that’s five. We CAN plan… but God determines, God gives, directs the way things turn out.

I like to think of it as walking down a path, and with each footstep I lift my foot deciding where it lands, or maybe even when it lands. I’ve already picked my destination and the path chosen to get there. My feet just follow my will and desires to get to where I want to go. However, just before my foot hits the earth, God may alter its trajectory. Maybe it’s slight, almost unnoticeable, but when I arrive at what I thought was the destination I wanted, it’s different! How did I get here, I ask?

God ultimately gets us where we should go. And, ultimately it’s good. I love the verses paired with this one, “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs‬ ‭16:3‬ or “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” Proverbs‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭NLT‬. Plans show up all through Proverbs because it is wise to do so. However, not all plans are good and not all desires, wishes and dreams should come true. It is good that God determines those steps before they land. The Apostle Paul had a great piece of advice in 1 Corinthians 16:9, “There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.” See the opportunities. Make plans to go for it and carpe temporis! Just know that God, who knows what’s good and best will get you where you need to be.

Prayer

Dad,
I have had MANY plans, ideas and inspirations about where my life should go and what I want out out of it. Yet, through every step of the way you have not only been faithful, you have been extraordinarily gracious and gone beyond my wildest godly aspirations and pursuits. This Proverb, this wisdom nugget got me through the most difficult part of adulting, trying to figure out how to do life with no real roadmap. Yes, I followed my heart. Yes, I prayed. Yes, I got STUCK in indecision far to often for far too long. But every time I look back, I see your hand that directed, determined my steps and they were good. You are good. I am so very grateful for your guidance and patience in my life.

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The heckler.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Luke‬ ‭12:13-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Luke writes that some guy… just some dude yells out complaining about his brother. Is this a joke? Seriously. This could not have been a real comment with the guy expecting Jesus to settle an inheritance dispute with the family.

Then, instead of ignoring the comment, Jesus bantered back – haha “who made me judge?” It is kind of ironic response given that Jesus would judge ALL THINGS.

Arm-twisting is not going to be helpful in this case. However, Jesus does take a heckled comment to give the crowd a perspective on wealth as well as being poor. That’s right, he talks about a rich fool and those worried about their next meal.

For the heckler he says, looking beyond the cheap laughs, beware. He gives this younger brother a gift, the wisdom of God.

Guard against greed. Money? Yes. Power? Yes. Success, stature, social standing? Yes. Yes. Yes. Guard against every kind. Ah, but Jesus used the word, pleonexia: covetousness, avarice, aggression, desire for advantage. The word is two words combined: possess and more, the lust for more.

Jesus warned against the exceeding abundance of possessions. Where certainly the holder of such abundance loses control and the abundance now possesses or owns them! When there is an abundance, you no longer rule over it, it rules over you. Jesus, in a way, asks the brother, that’s not really the life you want, is it?

Who wants to be a slave of anything or anyone, let alone to a bunch of amassed wealth, power or influence. How many rich are trapped by their own wealth? How many politicians are trapped by their own power-base? How many celebrities are trapped behind the image or fame portrayed as success? All of them are simply rich, powerful or influential slaves – they are not free. Do you think money is what you need? How about power or popularity? Guard against pleonexia!

Prayer

Dad,
Whoa. I do not want to be a slave of abundance! No wonder you want me to be generous. Does generosity play a role in not listing for more? Not being owned or enslaved by the obsession for more? Wow. That’s amazing. Can the joy of giving BE the antidote for the poison of pleonexia? That’s a lot to think about. Sounds like wisdom to me!

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Humanity, the epitome of humor in heaven.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health.” Proverbs‬ ‭15:30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Are you happy? Please tell your face. I know the world doesn’t run on giggles and smiles, but I wish it did.

A smile, a cheerful look and countenance changes the environment of a room full of people. Of course the suspect types will wonder what you’re up to, but it’s still worth it.

Science says that a smile will trick your brain into thinking you’re happy! One of the most striking truths of a new series on the life of Christ (The Chosen) is that Jonathan Roumie, playing the role of Jesus smiles A LOT. He laughs, jokes and is playful around children. Most depictions of Jesus are ONLY of a man of sorrows – clearly dying for humanity’s sins will do that. But, to think for one moment that God isn’t joy-filled in the core of His character is a serious mistake.

Besides, humanity may be the epitome of humor in heaven! Wisdom writers got this one right. Jesus even spoke this truth in John’s gospel, “Be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.”

Prayer

Dad,
I have to force myself to remember how absolutely and totally lost and miserable I was before you found me! And, when I get bogged down with excessive minutiae about non-eternal things, I get cynical, grumpy and lose my joy. I hate swimming in muddy, mucky minutiae! I want to be a life-giving person and spend my life in life-giving ways. And, for heaven’s sake, your Church, your people should BE the most life-giving, cheerful, joyous place in this crazy chaos called humanity. It’s not that we have no sorrow or pain, it’s that we know that you hold our future and that you are good.

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Am I a one percenter?

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless.” Ecclesiastes‬ ‭2:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​The heart searches, but does it find fulfillment? First of all Solomon was afforded something most humans never have access to – leisure.

I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard about this 99% of the world don’t have a lot. Does the majority of humanity even have the resources to enjoy leisure?

Solomon had a life that gave him the opportunity to even ask the question, “What do I really want?” Most work, sleep and eat very little and have no time to ask about dreams, wishes or even a moment to search for Solomon’s list.

Look at what he tries out for fulfillment. Pleasure. Laughter, enhanced by wine. Then he pauses and admits, “I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world.” He knew he was entitled. He knew he had the access, money and opportunity to push every boundary possible to see what’s out there to fill the emptiness and/or cravings in his soul.

He tried more noble pursuits, like building. Oh, he didn’t build these things himself, he only dreamed the design and architecture of what he desired. Slaves built HIS dreams. Read the plurality of he “built,” big homes, vineyards, gardens, and man-made lakes (reservoirs). He bought slaves! He bought people to serve himself and his kingdom. And, he had the unashamed, zero self-awareness to couple those purchases with animals. He bought people like he did animals, and used them for his search for fulfillment! He acquired massive amounts of wealth, wealth upon wealth, money that makes more money, by ever increasing in value. He hired singers and had numerous sexual encounters with women and possibly men as well (concubines). He captured his plenty in this sentence, “Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure.” He even tried actual WORK. What did he go out an pull a weed? Did he play slave for the day?

What is the point of all this pursuit? And, why the excess? Solomon decided, since he was the wisest human to ever exist until Jesus came along, that he would find the answers and record them for anyone interested in knowing what’s out there.

You know what he found, exhausting every known pursuit – nothing! Nada! Zilch! He writes, “There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.” I question the wild, abandoned pursuit of any of these things Solomon thought would bring him fulfillment or satisfaction of life itself.

But, I do know this. One, he did it so that I don’t have to wonder, “what if.” Two, Jesus, being the wisest ever, lived a totally and completely opposite kind of life. He didn’t live for pleasure, humor, wine, buildings, vineyards or gardens. He didn’t buy people or animals to amass a popular image. Jesus was financially BROKE, not having any real money or real estate to his name. Every cool little luxury he had was borrowed! Yeah, donkeys, rooms, goblets, gardens and even his own tomb – all donated by others. He died naked and even wore someone else’s burial clothes!

Solomon lived a life of excess and ecstasy so we can see how worthless it really is. Jesus lived a simple life, even a poor life, to show us the perspective of God towards a truly generous and eternal life. Jesus owned NOTHING, but had EVERYTHING. And, in God and accomplishing his mission, found the fulfillment that Solomon searched for.

Prayer

Dad,
If I am living the 1% life, and I believe I am. Then I really need to pay attention to a couple things: To whom much is given, much is required and I need to live a far more grateful, thankful existence. I need to constantly tend to my generosity and gratitude!

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Tell your face

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.” Proverbs‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If you’re happy and you know it, tell your face! The commonly used phrase is “it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile.” That’s a bust. Scientists just don’t agree on the number of muscles it takes. But there is a social science or physiological truth, we tend to mirror or mimic each other’s faces! And, it has been proven that a smile benefits the smiler and the smilee (observer).

The wisdom writers capture a truth about us, an ancient truth about us that transcends culture (don’t tell the Soviets), race, creed or color – when we smile it changes the perspective of those around us. And yes, Americans smile the most out of any country. It doesn’t mean we’re happier, we’ve just been socialized to do it more. And, I like it.

I’m back to driving our beloved freeways on my commute to our church. Traversing “the” 5, 605, 22, 405 and 91 (whew) I am a big-time people watcher with my 3 second neighbors. I can tell who is going to change lanes, or cut me off before they (or if they) use their blinkers. I watch their eyes in their tiny little mirror. I spend MORE time looking in my rear view mirror to see who’s naughty or nice and try to get out their way so they can go and “get my ticket” 😀. Anyways, I see a lot of freeway emotions everyday! Do you know what emotion I like seeing the most? Yep, a smile. When I see people smiling, it really does make me smile. It momentarily makes me think about my own life, circumstances and instead of being all grinchy, I just join in.

Some people think about how much God loves them and it makes them smile. I think about how God is in control of what I see as chaotic, and it makes me smile knowing that I don’t have to fix anyone or anything. I smile thinking I’m going to be obedient to God and give him my best! Even when my heart is broken or one my friend’s spirit is crushed, I still believe that God is at work on his good plan and pleasure. So go on get your heart in a glad place and then your heart WILL tell your face to smile.

Prayer

Dad,
You know I’d much rather be happy than sad. I am completely okay with moving through sadness, madness, frustration or even exhaustion – I just don’t like staying there. I often think about how terrifyingly miserable my life was from four to fifteen years old, eleven years of my precious childhood. Then I look at what life has been like since you transformed me. What a difference! It’s not like everything went perfect, or that some seasons weren’t extremely difficult. But the difference was YOU. You were with me. I was not alone. You walked with me through those times. I have determined to be as happy as I can because my heart is no longer broken. Thank you!

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You can get what you want.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Backsliders get what they deserve; good people receive their reward.”
— ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭14:14‬‬

Am I reading this Proverb correctly? Did the wisdom writers actually have and USE the word, “backslider?” I am shocked! I promise you, I thought it was some judgey word from a holiness/pentecostal era. Backslide? Backslider? The Hebrew writers tap into this idea that if Humans don’t want to constantly, continually move towards God, so be it. No one is forcing them to follow God. Well, yeah, there’s also the idea that they CAN get what they want!

The Rolling Stones had a song, “You can’t always get what you want.” It turns out you can. New Living Translation says, backsliders “deserve,” but the Hebrew word is “derek: way, road, or journey.” God will and does give humans the freedom to walk… away.

Oh, and I get the feeling that walking away feels so GOOD, so mature, so freeing, for the moment. Instead of freedom from sin and a redemptive life story, you get whatever results from the rugged, independence of God, “I’ll choose my own truth, own beliefs, own reality – thank you.”

Let me be honest, my parents (all five of them), and much of my extended family choose that way of life. All it brought was a huge pile of poopy for them and us as kids. I’ve been on this God path for over 45 years and there is no way I want to go for it on my own! I’m not perfect either. I’ve had my short bursts of moving away from God, not really intentionally, but just being lazy. The second I realize I’m drifting into a Glenn path, I turn, make it right with God and get back on His road – you know, the narrow, less travelled one.

So be warned or be encouraged, God will let you move away from Him and make your own way. Just know that either way, you’ll reap the results. My advice: move toward and with God. If you’re not on the right path TURN NOW. Find God’s way and get back to following it.

Prayer

Dad,
I had no idea the word, “backslider” was a real thing! I’m kind of shocked about it. Of course, I remember Jesus warning pharisees and prodigals that they can receive their little praise for cool prayers or loud generosity and certainly the son who demanded his future inheritance so he could squander it on Pig Island. They got what they wanted and it wasn’t your desire or path for them. But wow, this is right in our face! I can move towards you or backwards to slide away from you. I want to choose you always. I want to stay on this path, your path for the entirety of my life.

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Attention dog and dolphin lovers!

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel.” Proverbs‬ ‭12:10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

You may ask why such a strange principle shows up in wisdom training. What does animal care have to do with wicked and cruel humanity?

Whether you’re a dog, cat, duck or dolphin lover you know that there is something inherently good about being kind and yes, caring to animals.

Confession time. When I was a teen I had two unfortunate moments where I killed or injured an animal. Both had to do with a BB gun. The death was a dove innocently sitting on a telephone wire above. It came flying down right at me and died at my feet. I wept. The other was sorta accidental. I also shot at a cat walking down the sidewalk in front of my friends apartment. As it turned out, the cat belonged to MY OWN next door neighbor and I was “coincidentally” asked to cat sit while she recuperated from a vet removing the BB from her back leg. I had to CARE for the cat I had shot. That was it for me and animal cruelty!

I was also an avid reader of C.S. Lewis and he was an activist who constantly opposed vivisection (experimentation on animals). Lewis actually wrote about animal cruelty in many of his books. I came across the concept in one of his books, That Hideous Strength where Weston, the antagonist, picked up innocent little frogs and tore their limbs off, causally tossing them off into the grass along the path. Lewis even believed in animal immortality, and was adamant that animals would be in heaven – and likely talk!

There is scientific proof that children, mostly young boys that systematically harm, torture and kill animals are showing early signs of a psychopathic behavior. And, it’s been widely known that adults, again, mostly males, have used animal abuse and torture to threaten and control children – oftentimes their own children. Why? Why? Why? Lewis believed that it was one of the ways that our deeply evil brokenness gets a chance to lash out at our loving creator.

It appears that throughout our human history that cruelty and abuse eventually spiral downward to harm the most innocent, the most defenseless. Animals, unfortunately, fit that example.

The wisdom writers make a clear connection between care for animals, representing innocent and defenseless to godliness. And it rightly follows that the wicked, are ALWAYS cruel.

No one in their right mind speaks of cruelty as a human right. No one says they believe that evil and wicked people should be free to carry out their every desire. Ah, but follow the thread. Who says evil people shouldn’t act out on their desires? Isn’t cruelty, their self-made, humanistic, evolutionary propelled truth a right? That’s sounds unfair. That sounds so judgey to tell the wicked how wrong they are. Among the benefits of believing in God is the knowledge that He and He alone dictates true justice, true morality. And I for one am glad God tells us to be nice to animals. Believers should be better at it because wisdom says it’s a godly characteristic.

Prayer:

Dad,
I absolutely love the clarity of focus on your righteousness, your justice. Let’s just say I love your eternal and perfect perspective on everything in creation, including us as humans. So for me to “get wisdom,” is to understand you. It’s to understand your character, your ways, your interactions with me, with all of us. And, even in our “freedom” to choose to believe in you, but even further, to trust you with our lives and our future is beautiful and amazing. It does all come back to trust doesn’t it? I guess it’s similar to faith, but trust feels so much more intimate. I don’t just have a “belief” in you, I completely and totally live my life TRUSTING you. I don’t have to know all things. I don’t have to control all things. I just have to trust and obey… there really is no other way to be happy in Jesus!

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Hello, my name is Glenn and I’m a blabaholic.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.” Proverbs‬ ‭10:19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This is one of those Proverbs that keep coming back to smack me in the face. Have you ever posted or put up sticky notes or cards with sayings and Bible verses you’d like to memorize and live by? This is one I should make into a T-Shirt.

I talk too much. I overshare, tell too-long stories and have determined it’s way too much like gossip. I shouldn’t even be writing this because it’s probably the last time you’ll tell me anything! I do have some safety features built into my blabbering ways. Sometimes I remember to ask friends, “is this confidential or is it something I am free to share?” Honestly, if it’s confidential I don’t share it with anyone, not even my wife. That word, confidential, seems to be the key to keeping my mouth shut! And those confidential things shared with me go into the VAULT.

I find it interesting, no HAUNTING, that the wisdom writers associate “too much” talking with sin. It’s like I hear people talk about drinking alcohol. A little, they say, is like “social” drinking. Like Paul telling Timothy to take “a little” wine for his stomach. But TOO MUCH and boom, you’re drunk. I don’t drink, but too often I blab. I’d love to say “oh, I’m just a social blabber,” or, “a little blab for levity.” Truth is I’m kind of a blabaholic.

There, confession is good for the soul or confess to one another so I can be healed. I see the remedy right there in the saying – just keep my mouth SHUT. I’d get that tattooed, but I hate needles. Plus, I’d have to explain it to anyone who asks, then I’d be shunned for sure!

Anyways, Proverbs is right and I need this constant reminder. If we talk please us the phrase, “this is confidential,” that should keep us both safe. Thank you for reading.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Wow. Many times I look into your Word, the Bible and it is experienced much like looking into a mirror. Except, I don’t like the reflection I see looking back at me! Forgive me of my sin. Help me in my sin. Help me change and grow to not increase in foolishness, but instead in wisdom. Thank you for your grace and power to overcome my big mouth.