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

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