humility & harmony

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

Romans 12:16

Humility and harmony go hand in hand. The way to obey the first positive command (live in harmony) is to personally follow the second two negative commands (do not think highly of yourself; never be wise in your own sight). Christian care, christian charity, and christian community all work together in a beautiful picture of the gospel.

We get along because it is Christ Who brought us together. We have Jesus in common. He set the example by humbling Himself, stooping from heaven to our need, and giving His life for us. And that is how we should care for one another. He is our peace because He is our Savior, our Lord, our King, and our example. We are called to be daily growing in His likeness. And so we humble ourselves in order to truly care. If we refuse, God may humble us so we learn to stoop down in love like Jesus!

We associate with those in need and defy social positions. We encourage them with the gospel. We welcome them like family into the church. We help them grow, learn of Jesus, serve beside us, minister to us, living equally in the Body of Christ. All people thus find themselves dignified in Jesus by the grace that we all humbly receive from His hand. Humility is the way to harmony. May Christians show this way, live this way, be this way in a contentious and broken culture.

isolation destroys

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

Proverbs 18:1

We were made for community. Along with fools, isolationists are derided by Solomon as lacking wisdom. By isolating they are idolatrous with themselves, shutting themselves off from sources of wisdom. By exalting their own intellect, their own emotions, their own opinions without the healthy “peer review” of meaningful relationships, isolationists live a self-centered alternate reality, often to the point of delusion. This is exactly the message of the book of Jonah. You isolate too much and you will even run from God!

What’s more, if we isolate into the kind of foolishness described here, we lose all sound judgment. Lack of community warps a soul. It creates skewed perspectives. It is ultimately destructive to our souls.

God created community. Fist with marriage: it was not good for the man to be alone. Then came family. Then came groups, cities, assemblies, and governments. Eventually God made Israel His covenant community to worship Him. With Jesus came redemption not just of individuals, but of people groups and a new community of Christ-followers that Jesus named “church”.

It honors God when I live in community well. It is sinful to deliberately disengage from the community God has placed around me of friends, family, and faith community. It is wrong to live in the echo chamber of my own thoughts, even if I think virtual community is a substitute. It is not. I am made communal. I thrive in a network of friends and fellow believers. I need my neighbors. I need my family. I need the wisdom of God as it is taught in the Church.

All things His glory

From Him

From Jesus all things came

made by Him in the beginning

Firstborn of creation, Father’s Son

From Jesus this world has sprung

From hands that later bore our scars

came frogs and flowers, planets and stars

Through Him

Through Jesus Who bore sin and strife

came redemption and eternal life

Savior climbing Calvary’s mount

through Him flows now a saving fount

through Him brought to the Father’s side

we finally in peace with God reside

a place for us Jesus has made

there to dwell soon unafraid

To Him

To Jesus belongs all that there is

this universe is the realm of King Jesus

we are His… He is our Lord

we order lives around His Word

we worship our King now wild and loud

we gather with His rejoicing crowd

we make Jesus known so others see

a Savior, a Sovereign they desperately need

From Him, through Him, to Him are all things!

treasure house

In the house of the righteous there is much treasure,

but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.

Proverbs 15:6

In this simple truism the treasure of the righteous is contrasted with the income of the wicked. To seek and follow God’s call to know, love, and obey Him is the real treasure in life. To find sins forgiven in Christ, true life in following as Jesus’ disciple, and all the riches of the fullness of faith in Him is to know a true wealth that lasts forever. It is to know wisdom. It is to receive what is most valuable and be outrageously wealthy in abundant grace.

Contrast that with the “income” this world wants to bribe us to settle for. It is temporary. It is fraught with anxiety, hustle, and fear of loss. It can be taken away by a market drop, a Ponzi scheme, a trade war, an economic downturn, or a war. In an instant trouble befalls it. And then where are those who trusted in worldly wealth alone? When they stand before God, exactly which mutual fund will commend them to their Judge?

It is not wrong to seek to wisely invest what income you can. In fact, it probably should be done by most people. It is however quite wrong to look to wealth for happiness or for your sole purpose in living. Righteousness bestowed on us lavishly in Christ it the real treasure! It enriches us for eternity.

Romans 10: All Who Call

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

Romans 10:12

a message of salvation to all

a righteousness based on faith is given to all

the Word is near all

confession of sin for all

belief in Christ’s death and resurrection for all

salvation for all

all who believe will not be put to shame

all have the same Lord

all will be given riches in Christ

all who call will be saved

will we believe all need such salvation?

will we make this faith known to all?

will we bring the word near to all?

will we urge repentance upon all?

will we make the gospel available to all?

will we hold salvation out as a shared gift for all?

do we secretly hope some refuse to believe?

do we want some to know only Judge and not Savior?

do we wish spiritual poverty on some for whom Christ died?

do we really want all to call on Jesus for salvation?

babbling fools

The wise lay up knowledge,

but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.

Proverbs 10:14

When fools speak it is never a good thing. Proverbs ten is the “opener” to the section of the book of Proverbs that is a loosely organized collection of the wise sayings of Solomon. One unique subtheme only found in this chapter is the character known as the “babbling fool”. The statements here underscore the damage done when fools use words to get their way.

We can deduce three things from what is said about “babbling fools”:

1. Their babbling ruins them (Proverbs 10:8). Wise people know when to share and when to keep knowledge to themselves. Babblers gush it out to their own shame and folly.

2. Their babbling is provocative (Proverbs 10:10). Gossip and secrets are their stock and trade and that draws people into their circle of ruin.

3. Their babbling ruins others (Proverbs 10:14). They bring ruin to all who will listen to them. It is the “gift” they bring to any gathering. They leave a wake of misery and destroyed relationships in their path.

How should we respond then to a babbling fool? First, turn the spigot off on their stream of verbal diarrhea. Some fools need to be confronted straightforward and with blunt concern. “I don’t think this is right for you to talk about right now.” “You need to share this only with the people involved.” “I have no desire to hear this… it is wrong of you to share it with anybody! Just stop it!”

For those who use provocative tone or insinuate things slyly, don’t click their click bait! They need to know that dressing up their “bad talk” as a “prayer request” or as “seeking help” is both sinful and foolish. Offer to pray right then and there, not for their tale against another, but for them: “Lord, I pray you will go with this person as they seek to talk to another person about this concern. Convict them of their need not to share this with others.”

Some babbling fools need to be cut out of your life altogether. A pattern of constant babbling will leave ruinous relationships behind. This destroys marriages, erects unnecessary barriers in families, perpetuates lies, rips apart churches, misunderstands boundaries, and is exploited by political parties for divisive power grabbing. Stay far away from a babbling fool who creates chaos in their path. Warn them, confront them, and wisely refuse to give them a platform in your life for their ruinous rambling to continue destroying what is good.

beyond our questions

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

Romans 9:20

We may not enjoy our circumstances, but a sovereign God is at work to create the good He desires from them. They may be difficult experiences, but they are not bad in the sense that God is somehow not in control over them. God uses even the worst moments to bring about His purposes. Human sin and worldly sorrows complicate this perspective while we live upon the earth. But God is moving, shaping, and creating good even from the very worst things.

Political upheavals, economic downturns, natural disasters, wars, man-made catastrophes, famines, and pandemics all bend to be molded by God’s hands to shape people to believe the gospel, trust Him, and prepare for a future that makes all things new from every bit of this current mess. 

And that is good! It is more than wishful thinking. It is a certain hope. The clay is molded. It is fired in the oven. It emerges to be exactly what the potter wanted to make for his use. We must trust in this certain and sure hope… a future history much better than what we now know.

Like Tolkien’s brilliant and thoughtful insight of a question: “Is everything sad going to come untrue?”… we will know a day where all life’s pains and miseries melt into a forgotten past in a bliss beyond our current imagining. Until then, we are the clay lovingly sculpted. Our lives are the grand tapestry God weaves. We should not question His wise designs for us. We wait only for when all the sadness will become untrue.