Christian Living
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This writing has grown out of a study; a time of sharing and discussion taken up years ago. It was one that was meant to make each personal life richer. The only way this writing has any value is if it serves as a guide to help you see where you are and where you may want to go.
I hope that you will not only read these thoughts but that you will contemplate what is written, then consider what you think and how it may affect or change you. You were given a brain and you need to use it to come to your own honest conclusions. Today's common practice is to tell you what to think and how to act. My hope is that this will help you take control of your own life and be your own person...not someone you have been told to be.
As in all my writings you will encounter Scripture references. Some I will write out for you, others I will just list and challenge you to look them up. The authority for these thoughts are taken out of the Bible and therefore you need to read them for yourself. I am human, just like you, and so when you compare what is written against God's Word, you will be able to find the truth or error in what I say. That way you glean the truth and throw away the chaff.
Chapter One
To begin this journey we need to get some point of reference. We need to set a perspective. So this first Scripture will help us define and set it. This passage helps us set a Divine Perspective.
Proverbs 1:1-9
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
2 To know wisdom and instruction,
To perceive the words of understanding,
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom,
Justice, judgment, and equity;
4 To give prudence to the simple,
To the young man knowledge and discretion—
5 A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
6 To understand a proverb and an enigma,
The words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 My son, hear the instruction of your father,
And do not forsake the law of your mother;
9 For they will be a graceful ornament on your head,
And chains about your neck.
*************
Proverbs 1:1-9 according to the Living Bible
1 These are the proverbs of King Solomon of Israel, David’s son:
2 He wrote them to teach his people how to live—how to act in every circumstance,
3 for he wanted them to be understanding, just, and fair in everything they did.
4 “I want to make the simpleminded wise!” he said. “I want to warn young men about some problems they will face.
5-6 I want those already wise to become wiser and become leaders by exploring the depths of meaning in these nuggets of truth.”
7-9 How does a man become wise? The first step is to trust and reverence the Lord!
Only fools refuse to be taught. Listen to your father and mother. What you learn from them will stand you in good stead; it will gain you many honors.
********
Solomon is considered the wisest man who ever lived. He wrote many words of wisdom and chronicled his learning in the book of Ecclesiastes. He did not always do the wise thing just because he knew what was the wise thing to do. And so even as we look at these thoughts we too may not always make the best choice. However, like him, we can change the direction of our life at any time.
Setting a godly perspective means we have to define what that is and how it may differ from the one we have held in the past. A godly perspective is called seeing things or life from God's point of view. This viewpoint sometimes puts us in opposition to the world. We normally respond to life from a human perspective. One that is horizontal and based on the world we see in front of us.
We use the statement of ' not seeing the forest for the trees', but if we take an aerial view the trees blend into the forest we missed while on the ground. We see the bigger or whole picture. I think that is the difference between a human viewpoint and a godly perspective. It is the same elements only the view has changed. We see more than what is just in front of us. So our first question has to be do we have a divine perspective of our world today?
To answer that we have to think about how much of human opinion influences us more than God's commands and principles. Who's point of view is most important to us and why.
How often I find myself being influenced by what others will think of me if I act or respond to a particular situation or event. Will they ridicule me, or attack me, or will I just fit into the crowd and go un-noticed? And perhaps it is this last response that influences me the most. There is so much pressure to be politically correct and conform to what is acceptable in today's society. We see so much violence towards those who do not conform. So maybe our perspective is to just get by without being noticed by the world and therefore avoid any real confrontation.
The above passage gives us the blueprint for what God sees a having a divine perspective. But before we dissect that I want us to understand how God views us. God knows the human heart and understands that we fail more times than we succeed. [Psalms 103:10-14] He is more concerned about our 'heart attitude' than our external actions [1 Samuel 16:7, Proverbs 21:2]
In order to evaluate the two perspectives and which one we tend to live by we must also stop and see how we react to life. When we face a choice between what we know is good or bad do we use the excuse . 'no one is perfect' to do as we want instead of making the hard choice? Or when we get caught do we justify our behavior with, 'I'm not as bad as...or look what he/she did? You must decide if you choose to have a human perspective or a divine one. What is your true 'heart attitude' ?
Okay we are ready to see the five reasons and resources Proverbs gives us for using the Bible as our guide in developing a godly perspective. This is the point of view that will let us not only see what is right in front of us but the long term effects of our choices today. It is seeing not only the trees in front of us but also the forest that includes these trees.
This first reason speaks of a working knowledge...one with feet. [verse 2] The feet creates a symbol of being grounded in reality and ready to respond effectively. To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding. This verse speaks of not only hearing but also thoughtful consideration of what one is learning. It goes beyond spouting platitudes but incorporating the lessons learned to create a more successful future. It establishes a solid perspective that is not swayed by pressures or the changing values of society.
This verse also gives us a look into point two, discernment. That means our growing knowledge of God and His view of the purpose of life helps us to understand what is right and what is wrong. It gives us good judgment. We develop a sensitivity to situations that helps us know what is the right course to pursue. In today's world there is so much grey and so little black and white, according to society, this discernment is critical.
Verse three leads to a development of alertness. To receive the instruction of wisdom,
justice, judgment, and equity; This wisdom gives us three tools to take with us every day. This knowledge is divided into three parts. Justice which denotes impartiality, honesty and fair dealings. Judgment as a way of thinking when evaluating events. It is more than just common sense it is a reasoning that takes into consideration the long term effects of decisions and actions. And equity which identifies the way God deals with us. He has no favorites and delights in blessing everyone. This wisdom makes us a blessing to humanity and a vessel God can use to bless others and show how He loves us all.
To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion—
[Verse 4] tells us Scripture helps us establish a sense of purpose to our life. Some translations use the word youth while others use naive. Both of these words here denote a level or lack of maturity; not age. It implies a lack of experience or an unawareness of the dangers we may face in life. Whether we are talking about physical or spiritual maturity they both come from learning and experiences. God wishes to give us His perspective on what life is really about so that we can avoid many of the dangers that can prey upon the ignorant or immature.
Remember we are looking at the value of choosing God's view of life or continuing with the human perspective. A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.[verse 5] This verse speaks of a keenness of mind. With a divine perspective we learn to solve life's problems and riddles more easily. It broadens our view of things and sees beyond the obvious human view. 2Timothy 3:16,17 tells us that God's Word sharpens our mind.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
This is the key to acquiring God's Divine Perspective. The word fear here does not mean to be afraid but rather to be in awe. To recognize in amazement the width and breath of wisdom one gains when one embraces life with a divine perspective.
Learning about God's point of view is not always easy. Sometimes it will be painful and there is a price to pay for it. The result of embracing a divine perspective will mean you will see the world differently and people will not always understand or accept your new point of view. However it is and will always be your choice. God will only open your understanding to His viewpoint as you allow Him to. He will never force it on you. But if you decide to travel the this road then there are more things to learn and more changes that will occur as you decide to accept or reject each new lesson God offers.
In our next chapter we will look at the price tag for gaining a divine perspective.
Chapter 2
James 1:22-25
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Once we have been given information that can affect our lives we have to make a decision. We must decide if we will embrace this new view or reject it as not for us. However, if we accept the new view then we must move this knowledge into the realm of action...obedience.
It is not so much that we are ignorant as it is we are disobedient. To develop a godly perspective would logically lead us to be more Christ-like in our behavior. The problem is we would rather go our own way than change our behavior. The result is we often suffer the painful consequences created by our own actions. If we want to be honest we must stop here and reflect on how many times we have created our own mess because we chose to be disobedient to what we knew was the right way to go.
The book of Proverbs personifies wisdom. She is the personification of a godly perspective. [See Proverbs 1: 20-28,31,32] We will be referring to these verses in this chapter. Her goal is to help us live a successful life. The more abundant life Jesus talked about in John 10:10. It is a life that may not be filled with material stuff but it is a rich life just the same. Wisdom [or the godly view] wants us to take her along with us as we live our life. Proverbs tells us 3 things about wisdom.
She is available to everyone [20,21] She seeks us out and is portrayed in the mental picture of her going out on the public thoroughfare and calling out trying to get our attention.
She can be refused and unheeded [24,25] We get to choose whether to include her in our life or reject her companionship.
There are natural consequences for our choice. [26-28, 31,31] She is blunt in what happens depending on our choices. Our rejection of wisdom will lead to harm, un-necessary danger and serious calamity.
The first step is making the choice as to whether we want to continue with our human perspective or a godly one.
The godly perspective is attained by obedience. That is doing what we already know to be right. When we veer off the path we can expect to receive God's reproof. [Proverbs 29:1] Reproof means to correct. Depending on our sensitivity to God that can mean something as small as a nudge of our conscience telling us to adjust our course. Sometimes if we are stubborn or indifferent reproof may turn into a painful experience. Reproof may come from the authorities that are over us, from a parent to a law enforcement officer. The more we are obedient in doing what we already know is godly the more our godly perspective will grow.
We can all say why we choose to be disobedient, but Proverbs give us 4 common reasons. [see verses 24,25] Stubbornness is one. 'I call and you refused'. It is deliberately choosing to go the opposite way. It is the attitude of the little child who says to the parent, 'you may make me sit down on the outside, but you can't make me sit down on the inside.'
How about insensitivity? 'I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention.' Too busy to bother. Focused on me and my agenda. Not considering how my words and actions affects others. What are the long term effects of my choices? Worse than that is the attitude of indifference. 'you neglected my counsel.' You just don't care. It is ignoring the results of your actions as it pertains to others because what you want is most important to you.
The last one is defensiveness. 'and did not want my reproof'. No one likes to be corrected although we seem to find it easy to correct others. We will defend our actions even when we know we are in the wrong rather than just taking responsibility. Defensiveness keeps us from moving forward because we refuse to face the problem and correct it.
This is a painful chapter because it calls us to take a honest look at who I really am. It calls us to look at me in the mirror and then change those things I see there that need changing. Wisdom or a godly perspective asks us to exchange stubbornness for a willingness to be obedient. To trade insensitivity for thoughtfulness. To abandon indifference for compassion towards others. Then most importantly to exchange defensiveness for taking responsibility for my choices.
Chapter 3
Proverbs 2: 1-11 [New American Standard]
1 My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,
2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
3 For if you cry for discernment
Lift your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will discern the fear of the Lord
And discover the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 Guarding the paths of justice,
And He preserves the way of His godly ones.
9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice
And equity and every good course.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart
And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 Discretion will guard you,
Understanding will watch over you,
As we continue our journey to gaining a godly perspective we need to address the depth of our character. Someone once said something that goes right to the heart of this chapter. 'In our image-conscience, hurry-up lifestyle, hitting the high spots is in vogue...doing just enough to get by...so long as you project an image that says 'you've got it all together'."
This calls up to explore the deep places in our life, those places where you feel like you have an honest handle on 'who you are', and 'what you stand for.' But in doing so you will also uncover the shallow places where you fool yourself and try to fool others. The goal is to become your best self. The person who lives what you say and is what you seem to be. This is an on-going process that encompasses your whole life. You are always becoming.
Once more we will look to the book of Proverbs for guidance in becoming this genuine person. The first step is to read God's Word consistently.[see verse 1]Daily Bible reading is a discipline. Of course there will be days when you forget, get too busy, have unexpected events interfere with your Bible reading...that is life. Just make sure you don't let that become the norm. When you miss a day jump right back into God's Word the next one.
Scripture is quoted to us on various occasions. Unless we know the Bible we may not be getting the whole picture. Until you begin to read God's Word regularly and memorize portions of it for yourself, you are only getting second-hand knowledge. It is like watching someone else eating a meal and having them tell you how delicious it is, and you are only getting to enjoy the aroma of the different dishes. Not only are you being deprived of the pleasure of the food but you are not getting any of the nourishment it affords.
Developing an inner desire to know and understand what is a godly perspective will take us out of the superficial and lead us to a new depth of understanding and growth. It is not automatic either. Verse 2 states we must make our ears attentive to wisdom. This involves making ourselves stop and think about what we read. It means we will consider it there is lessons to be learned by what others say and do. It is becoming sensitive to the inner nudges of our conscience as we mature in gaining a godly perspective.
I learned that true listening not only involves our ears but also our brains. My father was deaf and he had been without hearing for so long that when he got his hearing aids he had to learn to listen all over again. He could hear the words but if his brain was not involved it was just words with no meaning.
If we truly have an inner desire to acquire wisdom and a godly perspective it will lead us into a life of prayer. Verses 3 and 4 tells us we will cry out and search for this new way of thinking and acting. Too often we see prayer as a drudgery rather than a conversation. It is talking to God about the things you don't understand, the things that are tripping you up, and the things you can't handle on your own. It is developing a friendship with Someone who has only your very best interest at heart.
This is the hardest thing for me. My prayers are usually the 'God bless' kind. I don't sit and discuss with Him what I am truly struggling with. I figure He is too busy or I am embarrassed to expose my short-comings. The funny thing is He already knows about them and is just waiting for me to be honest enough with myself to address them and ask for His help.
There will never be true depth in our character until we are willing to take an honest look at ourselves and desire to change. There is discipline involved and many times we just don't want to make the effort. Perhaps that is the first step in changing, admitting we don't want to make the effort.
Lastly, we need to honestly observe as to when we choose to do what is right. Is it only when others are watching? I think about how we all drive. As long as there is no policeman around we drive as we want, but once one is observed watch how we all slow down and change our driving habits. This is a simple example of how we all have areas where our character is shallow. This chapter is to remind us that if we are to develop a godly perspective there must be consistency in our lives. We must discipline ourselves to choose to do the right thing regularly regardless of what others are doing or not doing.
The rest of this passage tells us that if we desire to pursue a depth of character that the Lord is just waiting to pile on benefit after benefit. He desires to bless us. Consider this in closing, trying to dress an animal in human clothing is not only uncomfortable for the animal but it hinders it from its natural tendencies. Forcing godly behavior on us when we don't desire it is just as uncomfortable and unnatural for us. That is why we must choose to change and then God is right there to help us. He wants to help you become your best self at the pace you choose and at the depth you desire.
Chapter 4
We have covered a lot of material in these first three chapters and I think it may be a good idea to review what we have talked about before we proceed. I felt that what we have already shared to this point was a lot for me to digest all at once and putting it into some kind of big picture was a lot like putting a 1000 piece puzzle together. So let's look at the outline we have hopefully created so far.
We live in a world that has two world views. One is the physical one that everyone has. The other is a broader view found in looking at life from God's viewpoint. It takes our level of wisdom to a whole new level because we not only see what is directly in front of us but we can see the long view of what may lie ahead depending on our decisions. God desires we have both viewpoints to guide our life and the choices we make.
If we decide to accept having God's viewpoint added to our life then we will become known as someone who practices justice, judgment, and equity. We speak of these qualities all the time but how often do we know someone whose life incorporates these into their living? Sometimes these virtues lead us to make hard choices and that is when we often abandon them.
In order to get this far we must make a choice to be honest with ourselves and become teachable. The place we need to look for the lessons we need will be found in two resources; the Bible and prayer. The Bible will give us the principles we need to learn and prayer will help us recognize where we need help in incorporating them into our lives.
Notice I said the 'principles' we need to learn. Scripture gives us principles to follow. It tells us the consequences when we follow or reject these principles. We like to identify these principles as rules so we can check off the boxes rather than develop the right attitude. The purpose of the Ten Commandments was to show us that we need help and to give the world a framework to build a civil community. Sin has warped our world view and thus the Ten Commandments was to get us to recognize the damage sin has caused.
If you want to know the 'rules' God has placed on us in order to live like we ought then we must look at what Jesus told us all the Ten Commandments were built one [Matthew 22: 37-40 New Living Translation]
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
These are the only 'rules' found in Scripture. Love God and others.
Prayer is the other place we need to go to learn. Prayer is just talking stuff over with God who already knows everything. It should help us learn to be honest with ourselves. Since God already knows the truth it makes no sense for us to lie to ourselves; but we do. We talk superficially to God as if we think we are deceiving Him. The only one fooled is us. God wants us to talk over our true feelings with Him. There have been times in my life when I have been very angry and felt like God had let me down. Over the years I have learned to be honest and even yell at God over what is going on in my life and world. That is when I have received the most help in understanding and dealing with whatever I am facing.
Prayer should be a place we go often and talk to God in true honesty. He really wants that.
Finally, we need to stop here and look at who we really are. The person inside that no one sees. Are we genuine or do we just put on the facade of being someone we are not. We all tend to wear masks as it protects us from being vulnerable. But God wants us to be a person of deep character not a shallow shell.
We must take responsibility for being and becoming the person we are. People will try to mold us into what they want us to be. They will not always see the real you. They will sometimes accuse you of being someone you are not. Don't buy into their perspective if it is wrong. Too many times we give up because others say we are a failure and so we accept that and become one. Don't do that! Take responsibility for the mistakes you make but remember you can learn from them and correct your behavior to become your best self. God gave you the choice to be who you want to be; not others.
If you choose to add God's perspective to your viewpoint then the information in the Scripture we talked about in Chapter 3 will help you reap the positive consequences found in that passage.
Since we are talking about living a life that incorporates God viewpoint we need to address the circle of living and learning we will encounter. We need to know how to put all this new wisdom to work as head knowledge isn't good if we can't use it.
Chapter 5
Peter gave his view of what the cycle of Christian growth looked like
2 Peter 1:5-8 New Life Version (NLV)
5 Do your best to add holy living to your faith. Then add to this a better understanding. 6 As you have a better understanding, be able to say no when you need to. Do not give up. And as you wait and do not give up, live God-like. 7 As you live God-like, be kind to Christian brothers and love them. 8 If you have all these things and keep growing in them, they will keep you from being of no use and from having no fruit when it comes to knowing our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:5-8 New King James Version (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's see if we can take these ideas and put them into steps to follow. The first step seems to be to just start living the life you have chosen. This sounds easy but not always so. For some of us it is a real change and so we will slip up but then God does understand that and so don't fret. Just make sure you fall forward. Meaning you recognize you have slipped, seek forgiveness and get up and keep going.
God doesn't want us to beat ourselves up when we fail. He knows our hearts and if we are honestly seeking to live according to God's perspective, He wants us to come to Him and let Him help us keep going forward.
'A better understanding' means taking the time to learn what God is saying to us when we read the Bible. King James calls it 'diligence'. It means the same thing. We can read words and if we aren't really being attentive we miss what the words convey. Remember God's Word teaches us concepts, not so much rules and regulations. So sometimes we need to read more than just one verse to get the whole picture.
Sometimes the words used do not have the same meaning today as they did when it was originally translated. Sometimes we need to read a passage from several translations to get to the meaning the writer was trying to share.
Once we get a good understanding of the new idea we need to see where we should include it in our daily life. I like where the New Living Version says, be able to say no when you need to. Do not give up. God wants to make sure we get the precept and apply it but He also wants us to not give up when we make a bad choice.
I think one of the hardest things we need to learn is the art of saying No. We have this built in desire of belonging, fitting in, and being accepted. But sometimes following the precepts of God's Word do not fit in today's society. Sometimes we need to say No even though we know it will make us unpopular and perhaps put us at odds with others.
As each new insight into God's perspective for living becomes a natural part of us our life we will be introduced to a new one. Spiritual maturity is just like physical maturity. When we learn a new skill we are not proficient in it. But as we continue to use it, our skill level becomes better and it is easier to use it.
Babies learn to crawl, then walk, although clumsy at first. Once they master walking they begin to run and after they master running they start jumping and skipping and on it goes. This is the same when we are growing spiritually.
In the same way, as new Christians God doesn't expect us to run before we have learned to walk. Which brings us to the last part of the passage. 'As you live God-like, be kind to Christian brothers and love them.' This part is written for both the new and the older Christian. So often we tend to expect new Christians to act like those of us who have been growing in Christ for a while. We forget that they are 'babes in Christ' and may just be learning to sit up/
; forget crawling.
Peter is really wise in reminding us to be loving to each other regardless of where we are spiritually. There will be times when each of us will need loving understanding as we traverse through this life. It is a bit sad that Peter needs to tell us to love each other.
So living under God's perspective is defined by just living. Reading God's Word and putting into practice the things we learn as we study it. To persevere no matter how many times we fall. To be sure we are loving and understanding towards others, especially other Christians. The steps are simple but the application is not always easy.
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