Saturday 30/6/12

1 Corinthians 13:4 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.

In 1 Corinthians 13, God teaches us the way of Godly love. Not the romantic passionate feeling, but love as in "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'". Godly love is the highest ethic of Christians, above faith & hope. Love is the chief virtue which all believers have to cultivate, for exercising love (love God, love people around) is the sum of all God's commandments.

1 Corinthians 13 defines Godly love as what it is, and what it is not. Love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude.

Think how we treat a small kid, I find small kids draw out  Godly love in people, which usually clouded by sin. We are very patient with kids, willing to tolerate & forgive their crying & silliness. We are also very kind to them, willing to help and to care. And while kids enjoy an easy life (playing & sleeping), we never envy them. We are a lot stronger & more successful, but we never boast to them "our better", or think we are better & they are loser, or act rude to them.

Overall, we love children with a Godly love. They are good objects to exercise Godly love. Why can't we treat people like wise?

Friday 29/6/12

Proverbs 28:26 ESV

Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,

but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

In this verse, God contrasts our own mind with wisdom, and the consequence thereof.

Our own knowledge, understanding and reasoning are limited. We can only know a part, understand some aspects, and reason some scenarios (often too optimistic). Trusting our own mind means trusting our limited thinking, which set us up for troubles and make us a fool.

On the other hand, walk in wisdom means following the best common knowledge available. Wisdom can come from God and His Words, the Bible. Wisdom can also come from more experienced & mature (wiser) people around us. We distill their advices and make use the best plan / instruction / insight given to us. Doing so will deliver us from many troubles and give us success.

Wednesday 27/6/12

Proverbs 28:19 ESV

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,

but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.

In this verse, God taught us to work hard in our land (our job, our home, our society...) and pursuit only worthy things. That will give us a plentiful and meaningful life.

In contrast, pursuing worthless things and neglecting our land will lead us to poverty and a meaningless life. We are essentially wasting our time on worthless activities.

But what are meaningful and meaningless activities? That we have to use our wisdom and prudence to decide. However, this verse does give us hint. Whatever benefit to our land (i.e. our domain, our job, our home, our society) are meaningful, more or less. Whatever waste our time and money without any benefits to anyone, except for short term pleasure, are meaningless and to be avoided.

So in whatever we do and pursue, make sure they're meaningful and beneficial. That will give us a plentiful and meaningful life.

Monday 25/6/12

Proverbs 28:14 ESV

Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always,

but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

In this verse, God gives us two choice with the corresponding consequence: fear Him and be blessed, or harden our heart and fall into calamity. What's fearing God? It means love and do what are good, while shuning what are evil. It also means we follow God's words and His advices, while rejecting the world's advices.

God's advices and good things are aimed for slow but enduring gain, for a safe and peaceful life. That's a blessed life.

On the other hand. The world's advices and evil things aim for quick but fleeting gain, a risky and evil life with many enemies. Whoever choose this way will eventually fall into calamity.

Friday 22/6/12

Proverbs 28:13 ESV

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,

but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Our human sinful nature likes to hide and deny our transgressions. In this verse, God warns us that thus sinful tendency will ruin us. We cannot prosper by hiding our failures and transgression. Doing so, we leave holes & weaknesses in our foundation which will cause our downfall somedays.

Instead, we need to confess our sins and forsake them, repent and avoid making the same mistake again. That will give us a solid foundation to prosper.

Moreover, God promises whoever confess and repent will obtain mercy, and will be given help and strength to overcome the weakness that cause them to err.

Thursday 21/6/12

Proverbs 28:9 ESV

If one turns away his ear from hearing the law,

even his prayer is an abomination.

In this verse, God asserts the importance of learning and following His law. If one refuses to learn or follow the law, even his prayer is abhor to God.

But often we learn & follow human teaching on God's laws and commandments. While the teachers have good intention, to err is human, and they tend to add new laws, omit some commandments, focus on the visible practices, while neglecting the important yet invisible parts... So we need to read, learn, meditate, and read commentaries on God's word regularly ourselves to decide for us what important to follow.

.... Take responsibility and think for ourselves.

Wednesday 20/6/12

Proverbs 28:4-5 ESV

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,

but those who keep the law strive against them.

Evil men do not understand justice,

but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.

In these two verses, God contrast the lawful who know God with the lawless who don't know Him. The lawless who don't know God do not understand what is just and right, thus they do evil and praise the wicked. On the other hand, the lawful who know God understand justice and righteousness, so they strive against evil things and keep to what's good.

Again, the Bible evaluates a person according to his/her deeds and tendency, not according to what he/she profess.

Tuesday 19/6/12

Proverbs 27:23-24 ESV

Know well the condition of your flocks,

and give attention to your herds,

for riches do not last forever;

and does a crown endure to all generations?

In this verse, God teaches us to be mindful and watchful of our rice bowl: our flocks, our herds, our company, our career... Because present riches and status do not last: Hard time will come, technology will change, social order will be upheaved. Only by being diligent in our business, our career and our wealth that we can guarantee a good life. We will fall and we will lose a lot, but a diligent man will stand up and recover from any lost, every time he falls.

Monday 18/6/12

Proverbs 27:18 ESV

Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,

and he who guards his master will be honored.

In this verse, God advices us to take a whole-hearted care to our master. The master is the one who gives us job, salary, and many other things. He is our fig tree that gives us fruit. Thus we should respect and honor him, "guard" and care for him, even if he may be stern. And we will be rewarded.

God is our ultimate master. He provides us with good things and plan the best for us. Thus we need to care deeply for Him and His work - the church, and His people - other Christians. God assures us that even if we only give a cup of cold water, we will not lose our reward. He knows and He will reward.

Thursday 14/6/12

Proverbs 27:12 ESV

The prudent sees danger and hides himself,

but the simple go on and suffer for it

In this verse, God teaches us the benefit of prudence - able to see the consequence of things: able to avoid danger.  The simple will unnecessarily suffer many things, while those who listen to God's words and good instructions will avoid them.

Friday 8/6/12

3 John 1:5 ESV

Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church.

This verse reminds us that our good deeds are known by other people, and surely by God who knows even secret things in the heart. Therefore, we can be assured that God notices, and other people notice our work, good or bad.

Thursday 7/6/12

2 John 1:9 ESV

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

Actions speak louder than words. I believe in this verse, God wants us to check if a Christian by the way he acts. If he abides, respects and practices the teaching of Christ, he has God in his heart. If he does the contrary, he is not.

We can also evaluate ourselves the same. If we align and correct our own behavior according to the teaching of Christ, we have God in our heart. If we do the contrary, we better check ourselves.

Wednesday 6/6/12

2 John 1:5 ESV

And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

I guess when God brought Eve to Adam, He commanded them to love each other (although this is not recorded in Genesis). Thus love is a commandment humankind received from the beginning. And we have never practiced it well.

Nevertheless, in Jesus, Christians are commanded to forgive the wrongdoings and practice loving each other. Biblical love is described in 1 Corinthians 13, love is patience, love is kind, it does not puff up or easily provoked or returns evil with evil, but with grace & mercy... While we all fail from time to time, we should seek strength from God to practice this commandment, gradually overriding our tendency to retialiate wrongs with wrongs, hurts with hurts.

Love your enemies, bless them who curse you, do good to them that hurt you...

Tuesday 5/6/12

Proverbs 24:30, 33-34 ESV

I passed by the field of a sluggard,

by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,

A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest,

and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man.

I find the Bible understands men more than they understand themselves. We are tempted to think: a little sleep, just a little more... Those littles add up and the day is gone. Not working means the lazy person will be in poverty and want.

A lazy person lacks sense and wastes time. Every moment is precious, every minute counts. As time is the building block of time, the one who makes the best of his minute makes the best of his life.

Monday 4/6/12

Proverbs 24:10 ESV

If you faint in the day of adversity,

your strength is small.

In this verse, God encourages us to be strong in hard time, for this is the real test of strength.  In good time, all is smooth and well. In hard time, trial follows trial, then we can see who can persevere, who can keep hanging on and progress slowly day by day. Bearing failures and disappointments, keeping hope and confidence to continue, that's true strength which we can only see in hard time.