Removing The Waste!

Remove the dross from the silver, and a silversmith can produce a vessel; remove wicked officials from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established through righteousness. Proverbs 25:4,5 NIV

In order for a silversmith to produce valuable artifacts, the first thing they must is to remove all the waste matter–the crud that has no value. The same is true for those who create items from diamonds (mined from layers of coal) and gold (burning off the crud in a hot fire).

How does this segment speak to our daily lives? If we’re going to increase our value or worth, we must remove the crud that keeps us from revealing the true nature of who we are.

On an individual level–many of us have not achieved the success that lies deep within us because we’ve allowed past mistakes and failures to cover and hide the beauty inside. True beauty is often never seen in people simply because they are not willing to get rid of the waste–the crud–that has no value. Sometimes, that means we have to get rid of people in our lives that do nothing but distract us from the path that God has established for us. Sometimes that means we have to be willing to see ourselves–without make-up or delusional perceptions and work to rid ourselves of those things that keep us from seeing our worth.

On a collective level–looking at our communities, our society, our country–we must be willing to remove the crud that has no value. That means we have to see–without bias or delusional perception–all that is going on around us and be willing to remove everything that is “waste” and has no value. Sometimes we must let go of ideologies that oppress and suppress–thinking one group of people is superior to another is one such ideology. We must learn to value all human beings and stop promoting hatred because of race, ethnicity, gender or beliefs. We must stop belittling people simply because they don’t agree with us and we must certainly stop using intimidating, bullying tactics to get our way–in anything.

When we see these things (aforementioned) we must be willing to call them what they are. Racism is a personal bias against others because of a person’s race or ethnic background. Bigotry is hatred of people simply because others are different from them. And any time a person lies--there are no black lies or white lies, little lies or big lies–they are liars. If we’re not willing to be realistic about our biases–we hold onto the dross–the waste–that has no value and we never see what we can truly become.

It’s time we remove the waste–everything that has no value in our lives. It’s time to remove the racism that only leads to racial tensions across the country. It’s time to remove the bigotry that allows people to think they are better than someone else. It’s time to remove the bias against people who believe God versus those who don’t. When we realize that God has given us CHOICE in all matters–we begin to understand that none of us are right about anything and we need each other to survive this journey called “life.”

If we’re not willing to remove all that has no value–the crud from our lives–we will continue to see violence perpetuated against people for any little reason. We will continue to see hatred spread like airborne diseases and we will continue to see a world–filled with ideologies that mean nothing–decimated by bigotry.

Remove The Waste from our thoughts of self and others and we remove the crud in our society so we can shine like beacons of brilliant light!

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On The Journey–Teth

You have dealt well with Your servant,
O LORD, according to Your word.

Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
For I believe Your commandments.

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.

You are good, and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.

The proud have forged a lie against me,
But I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart.

Their heart is as fat as grease,
But I delight in Your law.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.

The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.

The ninth letter of the alphabet and the ninth stanza bring home a reality that most of us can recognize.

How often has someone attempted to tell us how good  God is–before we finally opened our eyes and hearts to realize how true that statement was and is? Looking back on our lives before we accepted God’s truth and His ways, we went our own way. But because He had plans and purpose for our lives–He kept us. And then He allowed us to fall into the pitfalls the enemy had laid because we didn’t want to hear truth, and He rescued us from ourselves.

We didn’t come into knowledge of His truth until we had been afflicted by life and our disobedience. But once we came into the knowledge of His truth and understood just how much He loves us–many of us pursued knowledge of Him through His Word and wanted to cement our relationship with Him.

Can we see ourselves in this stanza? Have we reached a point where we understand that we need to know His Word to overcome all the trials and challenges that are bound to come? When others lie about us–do we recognize the enemy’s attempt to draw us away from God, pulling us astray–forgetting God’s Word?

People full of false pride will lie about us, on us and to our faces when they are influenced by the enemy and have not come to a place in their lives where they acknowledge God. What should our response be to liars? We let them know their lies have been exposed and then we pray for them, encouraging them to seek God and His righteousness. We let them know that God hates liars and the lake of fire is prepared for liars, but because of His love, they have an opportunity to get right with God.

Pride goes before the fall of many–those who are determined to never admit when they’re wrong. Acknowledging where we went wrong and demonstrating a willingness to change is a character trait of the mature. Always seeking the limelight, no matter what a person has to do to get there is a demonstration of character flaws, by those full of false pride and very immature. They will never admit they were wrong.

But in the end, when we reach the place–where the writer is–we own our mistakes and acknowledge we need to know God’s Word and allow His plans to be fulfilled in our lives. Once we get into His Word and allow His Word to get into us, we recognize for ourselves that His Word is indeed more precious than silver and gold.

 

 

Incomparable Woman!

“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.” (Proverbs 3:13-15 NIV).

For those who repeatedly say and believe that God doesn’t use women–think again! Apparently, His perception of a woman is even greater than those who have written poetry and songs and even love letters that attempt to describe her worth. How do I know? God refers to wisdom as a woman. Now, look at that!

Blessed are those who find wisdom, for she is…

More profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. This is why when we lack wisdom, we should God for more of His. Operating in His wisdom is the catalyst for obtaining all the riches we could ever want.

More precious that rubies–better to amass wisdom than precious stones–for the stones are temporary and can turn to dust; while wisdom enlightens, showing us the way, never ending.

Nothing a man could desire can compare with her–with wisdom, and operating in it–he has no need to desire anything else.

Now, if we understand God’s purpose in comparing wisdom to a woman, we will understand what God means when He says, “He who finds a wife, finds a good thing.” God is not calling a woman or wife a thing, but maintaining the comparison of her to wisdom and saying–it is more profitable to have a good woman in a man’s life–she doesn’t have to drip silver and gold, she is better than silver and gold. In fact, if she was clothed in precious stones, they would never outshine her natural beauty ignited by the wisdom from deep within her soul. This is an incomparable woman–created by God to be all He desires her to be!

How many incomparable women do you know? Are you one of them? Some days, I forget just how precious I am to God when I allow the pressures of the day to weigh me down, but then I am reminded of His Word and I know, I am more precious to Him than silver and gold and all the precious stones combined. I am that incomparable woman, when I operate in His Wisdom!

Enjoying The Lord this morning and reveling in being a woman–from beginning to end!

The Foundation!

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 3:10,11 NIV)

Paul admonishes those who are attempting to “teach doctrine” other than what they learned. He reminds them (the Corinthians) that everything he taught was based upon his relationship with Jesus Christ and who He is. He goes on to tell them in (subsequent verses) that if they attempt teach any other doctrine, their works will be tried with fire.

Now, for clarity’s sake, I must explain that in the subsequent verses, he mentions the building materials that will be tried and possibly burned up with fire. Paul uses the building materials–gold, silver, etc. in a figurative analogy. He does not mean that churches cannot use gold or silver in the buildings, as some have taught.

What is more important–the church (Body of Christ) or the building? I think this is where some err. The body of believers is the “Church of Jesus Christ” and the buildings are simply places where people go to worship, ideally. So, Paul is really concerned about the condition of the believers and the foundational truths they are taught and believe. When we change the foundational truths of God’s Word, then we subject our works to being judged by the fire. EVERY TIME WE CHANGE GOD’S WORD TO PACIFY FLESH, WE ERR AND ARE CREATING AN UNSTABLE FOUNDATION.

When a firm, stable foundation has not been laid for a physical building, it will not withstand, the moves of the earth as it settles and sometimes, the foundations crack, lean, or fall apart, causing the entire building to crumble. When a firm foundation has not been been laid regarding the truth of God’s Word, people lean, fall apart and crumble every time a crisis comes their way–their foundational knowledge is flawed and will not withstand the wiles of the enemy when the attack comes.

We should all aspire to be like Paul–as a wise builder–teaching and proclaiming only the truth of God’s Word so when He comes, we will be found blameless and not guilty of promoting false doctrine trying to make ourselves to be something we are not. God knows the truth of all and He knows when the foundation is His or ours. If we think we can fool Him, we only delude ourselves. Make sure the foundation laid regarding God’s truth–is His Truth!

More Precious

“She is more precious than rubies…” (Proverbs 3:15); “I will make a man more precious than gold…”(Isaiah 13:12).

Be encouraged, all is not lost.  Even though the world seems to be tumbling far from God, He has not forgotten those of us, who believe.  Notice how God compares wisdom to a female and says “she” is more precious than rubies (v.13).  He says in that verse, “blessed are those who find wisdom and gain understanding” (NIV).  Are we seeking wisdom?  Do we have an understanding?

For all those who understand the purpose of the bible and have a steadfast faith in God, we are walking in wisdom (most of the time).  We understand that it is He who formed the worlds and not man. We understand that man could not reconcile himself back to God without Jesus.  We understand that only the foolish think there is no God and that man has achieved all he has, without God.  We are more precious to God than precious jewels and minerals.

We could also understand that the man, made more precious than gold is Jesus!  How precious is The Lamb, that precious blood that flowed on Calvary that you and I might be saved at the end to receive our rightful place in heaven. Our precious is His love towards that He was willing to die for us.

Because He is, He can say, we are more precious than any thing ever created–when we walk in the faith, given to everyone who desires to receive.

Know who you are and how He sees you–more precious–and walk in His favor with your head held high–with wisdom and understanding of who He is.