Plans that honor God must be done with the awareness that your plans do not determine your future or bind God. It is possible, even probable, that God has a different outcome than what you planned for tomorrow, even if your planning is impeccable! Proverbs 16:3 is familiar passage regarding planning: Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. It would be easy to take these words as a formula that says: 1) Make your plans; 2) Commit them to God; 3) Therefore you will succeed. But this kind of thinking is a miscalculation of what is being taught. To understand this verse you have to take into account the lines immediately above it: All the […]
Monthly Archives: May 2018
7 posts
You can never be certain that your motives are pure. You know all too well the deceptive nature of your good intentions. Yet, we still tend to trust them. And, we believe the lie that we can know the motives and intentions of others. This combination is destructive to peace, contentment and stable relationships. Solomon makes this warning about motives in Proverbs 16:2: All the ways of a person are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord is the one who evaluates motives. Here are three important lessons to take away from this proverb. First: Your own motives are deceptive. In short, trusting your motives to justify your actions leads to self-deception. The phrase, “all the ways”in the verse […]
The Holy Spirit has this radically shocking idea that it is better to acquire wisdom than gold. Solomon is not saying that it is wrong to have precious metals. He is simply saying that without wisdom, gold and silver will lead to evil and a destructive life! Here is how Solomon talks about the value of wisdom over gold in Proverbs 16:16-17: How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver! The highway of the upright avoids evil; he who guards his way guards his life. These two verses are designed to be taken together. Verse 16 openly states the value of wisdom over gold and silver. Then verse 17 shows the true value of […]
Questions, questions, questions: just what every parent wants, more questions! However, your children’s questions are an invaluable tool to help make you a better parent. The questions they ask provide you a window into their heart. Their questions tell you what is important in their world. Questions tell you if your child is sad or happy, what he values and what he doesn’t. Questions are huge! Moses anticipated that the law of God would be so rich and stimulating that it would bring questions from children (Deuteronomy 6:20-21). This is because the word of God does penetrate deeply into the heart. God’s truth is unsettling because it demands change. The light of the Spirit shines into the dark corners of […]
John urges us not to love the treasures of this world. Another way of saying this is not to fall in love with time. Time has do with the earth. Yes, time is important, but it is not a thing to be worshipped or to serve. If time becomes your master, you will not be able to serve God. If time becomes your treasure, your heart will be enslaved to the wrong master. How can loving time be a bad thing for your family? Time is the enemy of building relationships that address the issues of the heart. Schedules, appointments, practices, tee-times are all good things that have their place. However, when they take precedence over healing the wounds of […]
The character of God is the one subject that is limitless. Because God is infinite he can be contemplated, adored, worshiped and loved without limit. But, still, the Holy Spirit wants you talk to your kids about God’s character, about who he is. For example, Moses describes God with many expressions of awe and fascination. In Deuteronomy 10 he speaks of God in comparison to the false gods of the surrounding cultures. This is a huge consideration. Throughout human history there have always been pretenders to the rule of God in the hearts of people. These false gods took the form of wood or stone. Or they masqueraded as religions with competing deities. Finally, human lusts for greed, power and […]
When Moses was giving his last words to Israel, he told them that loving God was first, everything else was secondary. He equated the person of God, Deuteronomy 30:20, and the word of God, Deuteronomy 32:47, with life itself. Not only was God their life, he was to be the love of their life. Who God is and what God said were to be met by Israel with a heart of love. The success of the individual families and the nation as a whole was directly connected to loving God first in all that they did. Hear the urgency in Moses’ challenge: Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, love the Lord your God, obey him, and remain […]