A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart. – Proverbs 21:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 14, 2013): Proverbs 21

I received an email the other day concerning the billions of dollars that were given out in the memorable buyouts in the economic crash of the last decade. The intent of the email was to try to give a graphic representation of exactly what a billion is. So, as the email went, one billion seconds ago it was 1959 (actually it was 1961 – but it was probably an old email.) One billion minutes ago Jesus was alive (actually, no, but close. The last of the Apostles of Jesus – John – had probably just died.) And one billion hours ago it was the Stone Age (the email got this one right, although the Stone Age lasted for roughly three and a half million years and one billion hours ago there was still 100,000 years left in the Stone Age.) So the conclusion of the email is that the next time a politician uses the word “billion,” we need to understand what a billion is.

Again, the purpose behind the email was to question the economic buyouts of the last decade – and some future ones looming. And there is no doubt that the email was attempting to draw a moral conclusion on what was right. I am continually surprised at how quickly we give moral reasons for our actions and the actions of others. This is maybe most radically seen is in the arena of politics and economics. We seem to believe that those who share our own political thoughts are righteous, and those that oppose our way of thinking are evil. It seems that every political decision that is made is placed on a scale of morality – the decision is either good, or it is evil – and therefore the people are either good or evil.

And so we come to this Proverb. It seems that we come to the conclusion in interpreting this writing that we might think that our answer to a problem is right (bailout of the banks and the auto industry being a case in point) while God knows that it is obviously wrong (because God always agrees with me.) But that is not really what this passage is saying. The problem is that our “right (meaning correct) driven” contemporary culture does not want to hear the message of the Proverb. What Solomon is saying is that whether or not a decision is right is actually not God’s concern. God does not care about the reasons behind the buyout of the last decade. What God cares about is the motive behind the action. Because, in reality it is the motive that makes any action (and person) morally right. A right action undertaken for a wrong motive is just as evil as a wrong action with a wrong motive. And a wrong action undertaken with a right motive is much more desirable than a right action undertaken with a wrong motive – although often we do not understand that.

What really matters is the reason why you do something. No matter what the issue is, whether or not it is evil lies only in the reason hiding behind the action. Everything we do is right in our own eyes – why would we bother doing what is wrong. But a right motive, while it does not guarantee a right action, will lead us more often into right action than a wrong one. And when we are attributing evil to someone, it is only the intention of the person that we really need to understand.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 22

Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise. – Proverbs 20:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 13, 2013): Proverbs 20

A number of years ago I was given the task of picking up an African who was about to start a Canadian speaking tour. He arrived at the local airport in all of his native garb, and it was about a forty-five minute drive from the airport to the place where he would be staying. And to complicate the task, I am extremely shy and I knew that for the better part of an hour I was going to have to converse someone who might as well be an alien from another planet.

He arrived and the conversation started and I had long ago learned in these situations that the easiest way keep the conversation going was to get the person to start talking about himself. Unfortunately, I think he went to the same school of conversational thought that I did, and so as intent as I was on having him talk about his background, he seemed equally intent about me discussing mine. At the time I had just returned from denominational meeting in Indianapolis, and so the conversation quickly turned to that content – and he asked this question, what was the biggest argument about at the denominational meetings. We talked about a couple of the conflict areas and then finally the conversation turned to the consumption of alcoholic beverages. That issue had been a huge area of unrest, and the two dominate forces on the issue were geographical – North America argued for non-consumption while Europe argued for moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages.

But my new friend was from Africa – and I had no idea where Africa stood on the issue. So I cautiously began to lay out both sides of the argument to the best of my ability – and admittedly I was a little apologetic in laying out the North American view, which as I understand it is to limit the consumption of alcohol not necessarily because there is something evil about alcohol, but rather because in our society alcohol has caused, and continues to cause, and inordinate amount of death and damage. And my suspicion was that because the consumption in Europe starts earlier in life, the damage potential may not be as great there as it is on this side of the pond. But when I started to apologize for the North American stance, by new friend quickly stopped the apology. As far as he was concerned, alcohol in all of its forms was evil – everywhere.

It has been noted that this Proverb places an absolute ban on the consumption of alcoholic beverages. While some have tried to say that this passage is about moderation, there is precious little here to lead us to that conclusion. And the predominate idea is that alcohol deceives us – it promises more than it can deliver and leaves us worse off than when we started. Of course, deception about our own life (or escaping our own life) is precisely why some of us drink in the first place. But, whether or not we decide that consumption of alcoholic beverages is permissible (and I very strongly believe that this is a personal choice issue), we need to be well aware of the effects that alcohol has on us – and our motives for drinking in the first place. For me, my stand continues to be that I do not drink not because I am morally opposed to alcohol, but rather because I know that there are people around me that cannot drink, and I want to support them to the best of my ability. And if that means removing alcohol from my life, I am okay with that.         

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 21

Note: The VantagePoint Community Church Message "I Thirst" from the Series "Blood, Sweat and Tears: Death on a Friday Afternoon" is now available on the VantagePoint Website - you can find it here.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. – Proverbs 19:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 12, 2013): Proverbs 19

In 1932, Mahatma Gandhi started his campaign for the bettering of the living conditions of the Dalit – the untouchables of India. Gandhi’s involvement was controversial, but it was not his first foray into the fight for the rights of the poor. He had entered the political arena fighting against the high taxes that was making life impossible for the poor of India. In the 1920’s it was the salt tax that attracted his attention. Salt tax was thought to be a woman’s issue – or at least an issue close to the heart of women, so it was a small step from a campaign against the salt tax into the arena of women’s civil rights. Gandhi fought so hard for the rights of women that his female supporters considered him one of them. But maybe his biggest challenge was the campaign in support of the untouchables. But the name that he gave to the untouchables of India revealed his passion on their behalf – he called them the Harijan – literally the children of God.

The idea that God honors the poor is an ancient one – even though it seems to be often forgotten. And in the book of Proverbs we find the idea that whatever actions are undertaken in support of the poor are undertaken in support of God. And God is good to repay the debts of his children. So it is not surprising that Jesus would take up the same cry as he announced that any action done in support of the least of these – the untouchables of his society – was done on his own behalf. And any person that was willing to take action for these would certainly not lose out on their own reward. But the key is action. We are to live our lives in such a way that we are acting on behalf of those who are less fortunate all around us.  

Politicians often come to us with messages of what they would do on our behalf if we will just let them. It has become the given of every campaign. But the question that we ask in return is “will you stand behind the promises you are making to us after the final moments of campaign are behind you. ” And the honest answer seems too often to be “no.” When Mahatma Gandhi was asked to give the same kind of message to his people, he would simply reply “My life is my message.” For Gandhi there seemed to be no distinction between the things that he believed in, the actions of his life, and the character of who he was. It is a sentiment that Jesus would have applauded – along with the Bible’s ancient man of wisdom – King Solomon.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 20

The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly. – Proverbs 18:23

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 11, 2013): Proverbs 18

Louie Giglio tells a story about being the low man in the hierarchy at First Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia. At the top of the Church structure you would find Charles Stanley, and at the bottom – at least in that place in time – was Louie Giglio. As the bottom rung guy, one of his jobs was to deal with people who came to one of the many doors of the church. Most of them were poor and in need of money. They would come politely and make “the ask.” Often the visit started with the words “I don’t want to bother you” and ended with a request for a sum of money. And I have been there. I have seen my own share of polite people coming to my door to see if I had any left over money – and often they are surprised to find out that we are in almost as much need for money as they are.

Money is one of the tender topics of our society. None of us believe that we have enough of it, and there are way too many ways to spend what little of it we have. It was not that long ago that most people would have considered themselves financially independent if they could get their net worth up over the million dollars mark. Today millionaires abound but none of them feel financially safe. For most people, the number that is needed to be financially secure is somewhere around the five million dollars level.

So, we all consider ourselves to be poor – at least privately. The public persona that we take on ourselves is usually that of the rich person. Again, in our culture we consider money somehow to indicate how intelligent we are (which it doesn’t), and how creative we are (which it doesn’t), and how hard we work (which it doesn’t) and even how moral we believe ourselves to be (which it definitely does not.) And because if we have money, and we are therefore intelligent, creative and moral, we then feel that we have a right to speak into the ills of the world. And because of this simple fact, many pretend to have more money than they really do.

This proverb does not describe an ideal state, rather it summarizes what actually is. The poor come and politely make “the ask.” Often the conversation still starts with the words “I don’t want to bother you” and ends up asking for a spare twenty. But because of our belief in money, what “the ask” does is reinforce the idea that I am the one who is intelligent, creative hard working, and moral – because I have the money. Often this means that we feel that we can orchestrate how the person asking for money organizes life. Often there is good reason for that mental attitude, but the danger is that we begin to fail to recognize that we who have money (even though it is not near the amount we believe we would need to be considered rich) are just as broken as the poor that come asking for a hand out. We may pretend to be people of consequence (often meaning money) but deep down we are all just broken people in need of mercy from the world around us – and mercy from our God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 19

Personal Note: A big Happy Birthday to my little sister. Have a great day, Cheri!

Whoever loves a quarrel loves sin; whoever builds a high gate invites destruction. – Proverbs 17:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 10, 2013): Proverbs 17

I love to read Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was the first American writer to make his living with just his writing (unfortunately that also meant that he would lead a financially challenged and troubled life.) Poe is most widely known for his tales of the macabre, but it was not only those scary types stories that he wrote. And some of my favorite Poe stories actually fall into the genre of mystery.

One of my favorite of Poe mystery’s is “The Purloined Letter.” Written in 1844, it is the first of three mysteries involving the fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin and involves a certain stolen letter. The authorities have a suspect and they have thoroughly searched the residence of the accused – including measuring and poking everything to make sure that there are no hidden compartments or rooms in which the subject could have hidden the letter, but all such efforts have come up empty. Finally the detective finds the letter, crumpled as if it had been discarded and then placed it with other papers hanging from a ribbon on the wall. Dupin observes that thief was not stupid enough to believe that the police would not make an extensive search of the hiding places in his abode, so he had hidden the letter in plain sight – a place where the meticulous police would never think of looking.

This proverb has been rendered - 'One who is fond of crime must be fond of trouble, and to make one's doorway inaccessible is to invite destruction.' The idea is almost tongue in cheek. The proverb stresses that what crime brings you is not fortune or riches or even revenge. These are some of the obvious reasons for why a person would commit a crime, but they are not the most likely result. According to the proverb the reader is warned that the most likely result of crime is trouble. In the same way one who builds a high (or inaccessible) door must love destruction. And the reasoning is quite close to the plot of “The Purloined Letter” – if you build a high gate you must have something inside the door that you need to protect – and is worth stealing. We think that a high gate will shelter us, but in reality it just invites those that love crime (and trouble) to come look for what it is that we have. The best way to protect something is to not let anyone know that it is there – or to make it look like it could not be something of value.

The proverb and Poe both remind us that the intended objective and the obtained objective are seldom the same. We are sometime surprised by that fact, but the truth is that it is these unintended results are the ones that will most likely be the predominate shapers of our lives – and that the safest millionaires in our society are the ones we walk with on a daily basis, but in their anonymity no one recognizes who it is that they are. The normality of their lifestyle becomes the wall that protects their fortune.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 18

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. – Proverbs 16:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 9, 2013): Proverbs 16

Leonard Gaston Broughton was a medical doctor and a pastor. In the closing years of the 19^th century he was called to Third Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. It has been said that when Third Baptist Church called him to come and be their pastor, his response was that the only way that he would come to the church was if they agreed to move the church closer to the downtown area of Atlanta. Unfortunately, that common telling of the story cleans up the rough edges of the tale. In actuality, Broughton came to Third Baptist Church before the church moved. A year after Broughton arrived at Third Baptist Church he started building the new and larger church facility. But the older members of the church opposed the move. So the matter was taken before the congregation and Broughton plans were confirmed by a positive vote of 69%. The vote sounds good, but in church circles it is a very marginal win – and one that would cause a lot of churches to step back and re-evaluate whatever it was that they were doing.

But Dr. Broughton believed that it was God that had brought him to this point. So he continued the plans to move the church. And then the church split. Dr. Broughton had been at Third Baptist Church for a little more than a year, and already he was a failure. Some of the church would decided to stay at the site of Third Baptist Church – others simply left the church – but still others decided to move to what would become Tabernacle Baptist Church. But the story does not end here.

Dr. Broughton now ministering in downtown Atlanta discovered a need (okay, I think he already knew the need was there.) And he decided to do whatever it was that he could do to meet the need. The reality was that there were people who were being turned away from medical care in Atlanta because there was no place for them. And so Dr. Broughton opened up the Tabernacle Infirmary in a rented house to help out those people.

Tabernacle Infirmary became Georgia Baptist Hospital. Today it is Atlanta Medical Center – a top level trauma care center in Atlanta – and really all because Dr. Broughton understood in some of the darker moments in church leadership this Proverb. Our job has never been more than to follow God and commit to him the things that we feel he has called us to do – and it is up to him to establish the plans that he has given to us – and make them his reality.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 17

Mockers resent correction, so they avoid the wise. – Proverbs 15:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 8, 2013): Proverbs 15

The first century historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus wrote that “to show resentment at a reproach is to acknowledge that one may have deserved it.” The idea is that the only reason to be angry with someone who is trying to help us is if we recognize that we have a deficiency in that area of our lives. The criticism then comes in contact with a tender spot that has been created by our own weakness – it is an area that needs to be protected because the correction causes pain – and those that give the correction end up being resented. This situation is complicated by the fact that we seem to have the idea that we can be proficient at everything. We have built a society where minimal knowledge seems to be accepted as expertise. We have become a civilization where it seems that everything is our core proficiency – and how dare anyone say anything otherwise.

So we walk around pretending that we know, and hiding from anyone who might prove us wrong. And if they do make a suggestion that would make us more proficient in an area, we walk away hurt – and often quit what it is that we have been doing.

I recently had a chance to sit down and play guitar with an excellent violin player. In between the songs we talked. Violin was not his only instrument; he was also an accomplished piano player. And as we talked, he spoke of the early days of playing the violin – a time when even the cat and dog shunned him. But he persisted through that time in his life; every day getting just a little better. Now his violin playing was beautiful – but the playing had not been automatic and it had not been achieved with minimal effort.

I think that Tacitus was wrong. It is not those that deserve correction that resent being reproached. It is those that do not want to become excellent in the various areas of our lives that resent the correction. The idea that we can be experts with minimal effort is a shortcut only leads to mediocrity. In the beginning of any task we will not be proficient. But over time – and especially with a wise and proficient person walking with us and correcting us as we go, we can become proficient. A friend commented to me after a recent production that if the task is not challenging; it is just is not worth doing. I think he’s right. But it is also a path to doing things better – and when we receive reproach and are able to grow through it – it is excellence that hangs in the balance.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 16