Author: Dave Dishman (Page 283 of 475)

How many graduation speeches over the last month involved a speaker ensuring a crowd of distracted listeners that they can be whatever they want to be, follow their passions and reach for the stars and so on and so forth? How many kindergarteners hear that they can be anything they want when they grow up, even president, if they’ll just believe in themselves?

All those kindergartners cannot serve as president, although we’ve had some presidents who act like kindergartners (you pick the president you’d like to reference here). We give lazy advice to young people stepping out into life—most of us simply cannot be whatever we want to be. I planned a professional baseball career as a kid, and I’m still waiting for the St. Louis Cardinals to call.

Paul’s advice to the church members in Rome runs counter to most graduation speeches: Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Later Paul describes the church as a body, with each member possessing different gifts for use in serving the community. I must look hard and determine my role in that body. No matter how mundane, my gift counts as important. All of us contribute to the health of those around us.

Sober judgement—not necessarily a highly promoted value in our world of entertainment and fluff and social media mobs. But sober judgement takes you farther than any go get-em speech from a celebrity. Dig out the gifts the Lord created within you, and use those gifts to build a life way better than we all hoped for when sitting in those hard graduation chairs.

Romans 12 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Emmanuel Offei

Just before lunch a friend entered my dorm room bed-headed and bleary-eyed, quoting this verse: Go to the ant, you sluggard. He preached the sermon to himself, but I could relate. I missed a few early morning classes when the comfort of my bed trumped a hike across an icy campus for a 7:40 am Physics class.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

What soulless administrator thought a 7:40 am Physics class was a good idea? I needed that specific class that specific semester, only offered at that specific time. The gods of academia conspired against me. Several bitter mornings I succumbed to the temptation to slumber, until the first test came in like an armed man and I made like an ant to catch up.

I’ve known only a handful of sluggards. Most everyone in my crowd works in some fashion and many are enjoying long careers. But all carry stories of learning to get out of bed, pull on their pants, and go to work. It’s a learned behavior.

Consider the baker at Dunkin Donuts. The way of the ant leads to prosperity—with time to enjoy a few donuts along the way as well.

Proverbs 6 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by tripleMdesignz

If I claim to be a person trying to live out my faith, if I talk up the teachings of the Bible as the foundation to my life, then it behooves me to pay attention to certain markers I find in scripture. One involves the things God loves, like a cheerful giver. On the opposite extreme simmer those things God hates.

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him; haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hand that shed innocent blood, a heart the devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

While I could get lost digging into this list (which I did for a bit in one of my commentaries), I notice that lying—telling falsehoods—makes an appearance twice.

First, a lying tongue, which brings to mind a deceiver or betrayer. Then a few lines later, a false witness, leaning toward perjury, or deception in an official sense.

While everything on this list is hateful to the Lord, I tend to look at the worst and skip over the rest. I wasn’t out last night shedding innocent blood. But aspects of not telling the truth appearing twice raises red flags.

Where do I tend to be less than totally truthful? Where am I hesitant to speak the truth in love? When do I hold my tongue to my benefit? Do I share congratulations for a job well done with those who helped behind the scenes? I rarely tell out-and-out-lies, but the temptation to shade the truth toward my gratification always exists. And I sense the Lord’s displeasure in such practices.

We encounter a loving, caring God in the scriptures. But God wouldn’t be all-loving without hating the actions that hurt the people he created. So it’s worth a few minutes of contemplation, with the Holy Spirit alongside, to sift through a list of such insights.

Proverbs 6 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Muhammad Daudy

As a young man I thought I hit on a fool-proof way to stamp the Lord’s approval on my areas of interest. I hatched my plan from this passage in Proverbs:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

My interpretation? If I trust God, he will carve paths straight to where I want to go in life. If I do this for God, then he is obligated to do that for me. It felt like a lever to move the Almighty.

I approach God this way because I interact with people this way. I lean toward others to help them, but at times also subtly maneuvering them toward my desires. This heart of deceit is as old as the serpent whispering to Eve, who manipulated Adam, who tried to hide from the Lord.

Proverbs also says your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines your paths. My game of quid pro quo with the Lord yielded unintended consequences. In the original plan, I carved the path and the Lord blessed it. As things worked out, the Lord directed me along paths of his choosing. And you know what? I’m so happy he did.

All along I meant to follow paths to peace and prosperity. However, those roads actually belong to God, and they require a toll—submission to the Lord. Not simply a head nod, but deep acknowledgement of the Lord’s kingship over me.

It’s the wisest decision you’ll ever make, and once that’s settled you can wander his paths and enjoy the journey laid before you.

Proverbs 3 & 5 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Patrick Fore