Category: Bible (Page 282 of 419)

I watched an ad on TV last night, featuring innovators (including kids riding bikes in fancy ways), risk-takers and a professional basketball player. The theme of the ad? Fortune favors the brave. What product was I to buy? Cryptocurrency. I don’t know enough about cryptocurrencies to determine whether it’s a good investment or not. But the ad came across as fortune favors the brave, cool hip young people are brave, so send us your money.

Actually, I believe that fortune often favors the brave. But this ad felt foolish to me. Maybe I’m old and out of touch.

Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, expended a lot of ink on the topic of the fool. His insights always balance with the actions of the wise, or prudent. Apparently the kingdom Solomon ruled held plenty of foolish subjects to use as object lessons.

The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.

So much insight contained in so few words. At times I’ve plunged ahead thinking, what could go wrong? I should have listened to the wisdom I brushed aside.

For sure don’t listen to me on investment advice—I miss out on pretty much all the major trends. But don’t listen to manipulative advertising either. A financial advisor seems a better place to start.

While fortune may (at times) favor the brave, I read in the Good Book how fortune always favors the wise.

Proverbs 12:15 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Zoltan Tasi

I used to visit a local coffee shop and bakery to meet people or enjoy a coffee while getting some work done. The place was always busy, and I usually saw someone I knew. More than once I noticed someone reading their Bible or discussing it with a friend.

Then one morning I walked up to a locked door plastered with official notices. Closed on the order of the State of Colorado and the County of Boulder—Failure to Pay Taxes. I nearly collapsed. Along with the denial of the cream cheese cherry danish I’d been thinking about for at least two days, a favorite meeting place now stood barred. On top of my disappointment, the spiritual health of our community took a real dive.

The apostle Paul wrote about money and taxes. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue, if respect, then respect, if honor, then honor.

Pay what you owe. If you owe the government, pay up. I notice that Paul does not say to avoid hiring an accountant to keep from overpaying. But a good citizen gives the government its due.

I also notice the call to give respect and honor to those deserving respect and honor. This includes public officials, as well as those around us living honorable lives. Who do I overlook or take from granted that deserve a word of honor? I benefit from servant-hearted people who work quietly and effectively. Offering my thanks for their service acknowledges their value and lifts their spirits.

Nearby my office a new bakery just opened—a French place with coffee and chocolate croissants. I’m hooked. I wonder if a quiet talk with the owners on taxes would be in order?

Romans 13 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Kelly Sikkema

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