Learned or reminded?
Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today Mal Calladine gets into our seventh monthly chunk of ‘Practical Proverbs’… nuggets of knowledge that have loads of life application.
What did I like about today’s passage?
These are like little discipleship pieces of chewing gum – each little couplet being like a Wrigleys Extra of chewy freshness that has enough flavour to consider over my life for a while to get everything out of it. And as I do it improves my oral health!
I write lists of action items nearly every day. I am a list writer & a “cross-er off-er”; in fact a double tick cross-er off-erer – way more satisfying… These chapters were like reading an old reminder or ‘to do’ list from a pile of old papers (I’m too good at hoarding those! Lockdown has been a time to deal with my backlog of them!). There was a familiarity to these chapters’ words that I know I’ve been impacted by before – it’s trying to identify & remember where they impacted me deeply & into what situations in the past…, and then to note & embrace the reminder, & where the impact feels live to me now… Am I living into what I think I’ve already learned? Where these reminders still feel live, & deeply convicting! These reminders are not for nostalgia, but for now!
Home de-cluttering guru Marie Kondo (anyone else a fan of her books or Netflix show?) has a saying she advises to say to things we need to de-clutter as you throw them away (that no longer ‘spark joy’ as you pick them up): “thank you for your service!”. In other words, “I’m grateful for the past when you were useful, but you aren’t now & I want to thank you & now discard you.” I think I don't do this quickly enough in some areas of ‘Life-Min’ (where I should discard quicker); but do maybe think that too easily with God’s Word. i.e. things that are disposable I treat as still having value (& might be needed in the future), when there is no evidence for that; whilst God’s conviction from his Word is NOT disposable - using it once & throwing away is NOT what it was made for. Just because I learned from it once, doesn't mean I should then discard it; I need to be open to how it will challenge me again! These reminders are not for nostalgia, but for now!
Samuel Johnson is quoted as saying: “people need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed”. This explains to me why there are a number of recurring themes in the couplets of gum; where a point is repeated, not just once! We need a reminder! A check in, and chance for conviction, to reflect on: ‘am I actually doing this?’ These reminders are not for nostalgia, but for now!
So am I living into what I think I've already learned?
I was impacted by lots of reminders from this 3-chapter checklist… that have old impact, but have fresh application to my life today as I read them again…
(21:3) “to do what is right & just, is more acceptable than sacrifice”. As I think on this for my life, sacrifice can be more noticed or observed by others; but am I doing what I think I should be doing that the Lord is getting my attention in? That is probably more between me & God, & not defined by what others notice?
(19:11) Wisdom should give patience & it should be my glory to overlook an offence! When I am offended, I normally look to confront pretty quickly as I know I carry it otherwise. So where I am offended & need to choose not to confront? (otherwise I’ve been impatient and unwise). In this Lockdown season, I can get shorter-fused; who this most applies to today in my life is different & new. Lord I need wisdom, if that is the root of patience!
(19:3) We so often look to play the “Blame Game” with God when life is hard, yet 19:3 tells me that its my own folly that ruins things, yet my heart rages against the Lord. What situations do I know I am angry about life, wanting to blame the Lord, rather than my choices & emotional responses?
(20:11) “Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure & right” – we are all defined, observed & noted by what we do & don’t do. Don’t think others aren’t seeing how you live, and coming to conclusions from it – after all, don’t you look at kids that way too? Let me change the pronoun: “Don't think others aren’t seeing how I live…” and finally…
(21:30) – There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan, that can succeed against the Lord – a healthy reminder of my place & His!
I could go on, there is SO much in here to chew on (from the gift of my wife – 19:14b) to the reward of giving to the poor (19:17). There are even some health warnings (21:16) and sour looking gum pieces (20:30), where there is a temptation to spit it out; but the above are the pieces of gum I’m chewing for now… that feels enough pieces to chew on – my mouth is feeling pretty full, any more gum pieces & I think I’ll be getting lockjaw!
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
Father God is bigger than me, I need to be reminded of my place, that he does want the best for me. But He also wants me to be open to change… That the Holy Spirit really does bring conviction and illuminate God’s Word – and these words from Proverbs are easy for that as they SO point to discipleship. I’m just looking for the places of conviction – that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would bring about, when he explained what the Holy Spirit is coming to do in John 14-16. He will convict me about 3 things: what is right in my life, what is wrong, & what will bring judgement with big consequences (John 16: 7-11).
It also made me think about how lots of these convicting little statements, take me to a place of repentance, as my response to the Holy Spirit. A desire to change and respond. And that repentance is only made effective and powerful because of Jesus. I’m reminded that Jesus started his ministry by calling us to keep on changing our lives & attitudes – Mark 1:15 – that each convicting word probably needs to start with change of attitude (repentance) in me. And Jesus provided the way to make that on-going repentance a thing of enormous power; that I can then make a plan to act on, with faith, for His ‘kingdom to come’ in that situation.
And ‘on-going repentance’ is the issue. The tense Jesus used in this Mark 1 command is ‘present continuous’ ie – “keep on keeping on” being open to where God is getting your attention. These reminders are not for nostalgia, but for now!
What am I going to do differently as a result?
Where do I need to be most open to the challenge of each of those arrows to my heart? Both that God is bigger than me (& do I trust Him to come through?); & where do I need to respond and change to where I know his specific conviction from these words, into a few specific situations for me?
The key elements seem to be ‘trust’ & ‘response’ – faith in action. So more faith & response needed. A reminder that there are no short cuts, no silver bullet. That resilience and perseverance are the main characteristics that really lead us into change & ‘being transformed’ (Romans 5:3; Hebrews 12:2). So where is that place of perseverance most embodied for me?
I need to “keep on keeping on” responding to these places God is getting my attention. And what helps me most trust & respond? I think most that is more time in His presence, so I’m going to review how I’m doing worship, prayer & bible reading rhythm at the moment. Where does that need to be freshened up a bit? I think it’s most in my early morning time (I normally wake earlier than the rest of the house); which I think might need to become a focal point again more, rather than the admin time its become. I lost that worship time after we fostered a young baby, and haven’t returned to that rhythm. Now I think is the time…
Who am I going to share this with?
My immediate household & family we call the FamBam on our text group J. How can we be more God-conscious as a household through this summer?
We keep a tub of gum in our key cupboard, and a tub of gum in the car. Much to a posh friend of mine’s dismay we are often all chewing! But they bring regular refreshing. I’m wondering how I can work these little pieces of truth deeper into my life; I want to discuss how do we have the Proverbs version of these little nuggets more available to chew on – I’m going to talk to my family about this at our next planning Family Summit (monthly meeting with calendars in front of us!), as we look to prep the different rhythm for us of August; or maybe on a car journey to the beach this week. I think overall this reading has made me thirsty again that I need to respond more to the attention-getting Proverbs in my life... that they really are a route planner to discipleship.
These reminders are not for nostalgia, but for now!