Flight Paths

Have you noticed the number of commercials and advertisements for weight-loss products, nicotine patches, fitness equipment, and gym memberships?  The ad man is not dumb.  This is the week we decide on our resolutions.  It happens every year.
            Just think about the sales you see in the grocery flyer each week.  February it will be chocolate, strawberries, and roses, and in March it will be corned beef and cabbage.  Candy, eggs, ham, and legs of lamb will top the list in April.  May through August will feature ribs, ground beef, steaks of all sorts, hot dogs, potato salad and baked beans—typical summer cook-out fare.  Then September will devote a whole page to notebooks, paper, and pencils.  And you know what the fall brings—chili beans, apples, turkeys, cranberries, sweet potatoes, and standing rib roasts.  And we all buy most of that “in season” don’t we?  Then we load our carts with salads, yogurt, and Lean Cuisines on January 1, and begin the whole sequence all over.
            They have us pegged.  They pay attention to our habits.  They even know when a trend is about to start so they can cash in from the beginning.  Low fat gave way to low carb, and now the buzzword is “organic.”  It seems to me that labeling food “organic” is a bit redundant, but that’s another topic for another day.
            If men can figure us out that easily, why don’t we understand that our adversary can too?  He knows what will tempt us the most and when it will, and he is persistent.  We can get rid of him for a time, resist the Devil and he will flee from you, James 4:7, but he will always come back and try again.  Just like those ad men, he uses the things he knows will work, and is never afraid to branch out and try a new tack. 
            When you pick up that flyer in the Thursday paper, use it as a reminder to be careful.  Our lives are an open book, in more ways than one.
 
For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.  For whosoever is begotten of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith.  And who is he who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, 1 John 5:3-5.
 
Dene Ward

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
Refrain:
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God, to Thee.
(Refrain)

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy giv’n;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.
(Refrain)

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.
(Refrain)

Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
(Refrain)

There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,
There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;
Age after age to be nearer, my God, to Thee.
(Refrain)
 
              If you know your Bible, you will recognize that this song was written about Jacob's trip to Haran as he fled his angry brother Esau (Gen 28:10-22).  "My rest a stone," and "in my dreams…steps unto Heaven," are anything but vague.  We too often think of the Jacob who stole his brother's birthright and connived the blessing of the genealogy of the Messiah from his father, while steadfastly ignoring that the Hebrew writer calls Esau a profane man who for one bowl of soup sold what he later claimed to be so important.  He may have been hungry from a long day hunting, but he was not about to starve any more than we are when we say, "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."  And as far as the blessing, Isaac may have been blind, but God was not.  He knew who was receiving this most important blessing and He was perfectly happy with the choice, and that was someone other than a man whose god was his belly.  Even Isaac later recognized that.  And why?
              Read the verses above in your Bible and this is what you will see.  Jacob may have been less than we with our judgmental attitudes want our Bible heroes to be, i.e., perfect, but he learned from this dream to be mindful of God in his life, no matter where he was, not just in the Promised Land.  (How do we do outside the church building on a weekday?)  He was confident enough of this relationship that he took the initiative in making a vow.  Not even Abraham did that.  And God was confident enough in him to pass the Abrahamic covenant on through him (Gen 28:13-15).
              Jacob not only learned that God was always with him, he longed to be even closer.  How about us?  Can we truly sing this hymn and mean it?  Can we understand the "good" that comes from trials, or do we declare God to be "good" only when we get what we want?  Look at verse 4, one we never sing because I have never even seen it in any of our hymnals. 
              "Out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise."  Bethel, the "house of God"—Jacob was fleeing for his life, yet he realized that in that flight, he had become closer to God and raised an altar to him.  In other words, he recognized God's presence even in that time of trial.  And us?  "So by my woes to be nearer my God to thee."  Are we?  Do the struggles and trials—the "woes"--of this life bring us nearer to God, or do they chase us away, putting a dagger through our faith with statements like, "Why me?"  Do we think God owes us a life of ease and plenty because we have been faithful?  The Health and Wealth Gospel has struck again!
              Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (Jas 1:2-4)  I may not jump up and down with glee when I suffer, but can I see beyond this all too present world to the strength I will gain through successfully enduring trials?  The enduring is the key, along with its growth in wisdom.  If we do not endure and become stronger, even the trials are a waste.  You can sit around in a gym full of barbells and never gain anything from it until you pick them up and actually exercise your spiritual muscles.
              Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. (Acts 5:41-42)  These people were not the sometimes neurotic sounding masochists that certain ancient Christians were, who thought physical pain was cleansing.  They knew that pain itself was not the goal, but that being worthy enough to even suffer for Christ was far superior to being honored by the world.   And they were willing to bring on even more suffering by continuing in their faithful obedience.
              And so their woes brought them "nearer to God."  How are you faring with your woes?  Are your trials working steadfastness (commitment) or do you give up at the first difficult thing that comes your way?  Are we even as good as this fellow Jacob whom we all want to malign as being less than godly?  Are we recognizing God in our lives and trying our best to grow closer to him day after day?
              Would you be willing to ask your song leader to add verse 4 to the song and sing it this coming Sunday?
 
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Rom 5:2-5)
 
Dene Ward

You will find dates from 1793 to 1796 for its opening, but evidently this one is on record and cannot be denied.  The property for the City Hotel in New York City was bought on January 24, 1793.  It was the first building built to be a hotel in America.  At 73 rooms it was huge for the time, but then New York City already boasted a population of 30,000.  It was also the first building in the city with a slate roof.  Hotels have come a long way—some of them anyway.
About fifteen years ago, a music teacher friend and I attended a state level vocal competition in a small Florida town.  She was the state treasurer, the one who handed out checks to judges and scholarship winners.  I was the accompanist for two of the entrants.  When we tried to make our reservations, the one hotel in town, an old Southern relic complete with ceiling fans and rockers on a wood-planked front porch, was booked solid and had been for months.  Our only choice was the motel up by the interstate.  We did not expect much, given the name on the sign and the price, so we weren’t surprised when we quickly stopped by to deposit our bags and saw the size of the room in the gloom.  We had no time to inspect the premises or even turn on a light or open the shades.  We just dumped our bags and drove on to the competition.
              When we returned about ten o’clock that night, we almost left our things and fled, but there was no place to run to.  The parking lot had been empty at 5 pm, but now it was full of souped-up, high rise, four wheel drive pickups, their fenders caked with streaks of mud and their windows with dust.  Evidently their owners also found their rooms cramped, because it seemed like all of them were standing outside, laughing uproariously at one another’s jokes and adding to their flannel-clad beer bellies by the six pack, several of which they tossed around. 
              We actually had to pull in between two of those trucks, and all talking ceased as we left our car.  I have never been so thrilled with my regular accompanist’s attire—a plain, black, mid-calf dress with a high neck and long sleeves.  My friend wore a dressy business suit, and we were both on the wrong side of forty, so they let us pass without a word.  When we got inside, we locked the door, put a chair under the knob, and pinned those still closed draperies overlapped and shut. 
              Then we saw our room in the light for the first time.  You could barely get between the outside edge of each bed and its neighboring wall.  The rod for our hanging clothes was loose on one end, and couldn’t support the weight of even my one dress, much less it and her suit.  The soap was half the size of the usual motel sliver, and the bath towels more like hand towels.  The pipes rattled, the tub sported a rust streak the color and width of a lock of Lucy’s hair, and the carpet had so many stains it looked like a planned pattern.
              After we managed to shower in the tepid, anemic stream of water, we pulled down the sheets and my friend moaned, “Oh no.”  With some trepidation I approached her bed in my nightgown and heels—neither of us wanted to go barefoot and they were all I had—and there lying on her pillow was a long black hair.  Her hair was short and very blond, she being a Minnesotan by birth with a strong streak of Norse in her veins.  “Please tell me the maid lost this hair when she was putting on clean—very clean—sheets.”
              “Okay,” I muttered.  “The maid lost that hair when she was putting on clean—ultra clean and highly bleached—sheets.”
              When we got to bed, it wasn’t to sleep.  Not with the noise going on in the parking lot just outside our door or in the neighboring rooms.  The walls seemed as thin as tent walls.  We rose in the morning bleary-eyed and ready to leave as quickly as possible.  This place offered no “free breakfast” and we would not have eaten it if it had.  We promised one another that if we ever had to come back and couldn’t get a room in town, we would stay anywhere else, even if it meant a fifty mile drive, one way. 
              It was a horrible experience, but some of us offer one just like it to the Lord.
              For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, Eph 3:14-17.
              According to Paul, it takes effort to allow Christ to dwell in our hearts, enough that he prayed for them to have the strength to allow it.  Are you allowing it?  And if you are, what sort of accommodations are you offering him? 
              Making a welcoming environment for him may not happen overnight, especially if we are dealing with deep-seated habits or even addictions of one sort or another.  He understands that, but we must constantly be adjusting our behavior to suit him, not ourselves, putting his desires ahead of our own, becoming, in fact, a completely different person altogether.  Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new, 2 Cor 5:17.
              But this isn’t just a problem for new Christians.  I have seen older Christians act as if Christ is nowhere nearby, much less dwelling in their hearts.  Their language, their fits of pique, their dress, their choice of entertainment, and the complete lack of spiritual nourishment they partake of starved him and ran him off a long time ago, and they don’t even seem to realize it.  What?  Do you really think he will stay in a flophouse instead of the four star hotel you should have offered him?
              What it all boils down to is a failure to live like we have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, Gal 2:20.  Did you see that?  Allowing him to dwell in you (Eph 3:17) and living a new crucified life both happen “by faith.”  Even if you have been claiming to be a Christian for decades, if you are not living up to it, you do not have the faith required.  It doesn’t matter how many times you were dipped into a baptistery if nothing about you changed, or if you have gone back to that old way of life.
              What sort of room are you offering the Lord?  He spent a lot for it, and he will walk out if you don’t live up to the name on your sign—Christian.
 
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Cor 13:5.
 
Dene Ward

This year I will celebrate a landmark birthday.  Suddenly birthdays have become less than exciting.  But all these years have given me one thing that I find invaluable, at least now that I am past them—a boatload of experiences.  In fact, you may be getting tired of hearing about them.
            Here is one that struck me just the other day:  I now need more than two hands to count the number of times a Christian has told me about having his horoscope read, having a tarot card reading, or going to a palm reader—“just to see what it’s like”—and have him tell me how astounded he was.   “I know it isn’t real, but it was so close, it was uncanny.”
            And do you think Satan is going to allow them to be so far off that you won’t even be tempted to believe in them?  Really now, Satan is not that stupid.  But sometimes I wonder about us!  Excuse me, I guess the word should be “gullible,” or perhaps the more politically correct “naïve.”  Solomon was not nearly so concerned about being PC.  The word he used when a child of God put himself into a position to be deceived was “fool.”
            Because deception is what surely follows if we are not careful.  This “uncanny” ability to be so accurate (we think) draws us closer and closer, until finally we are relying on those things more than God, and eventually instead of God.  Yes, it can happen to you.  I have heard Christians I thought were strong tell me they could not make a decision until they had read their horoscopes for the day. 
            And you know what is even scarier?  When it becomes obvious that we want to rely on these things instead of God, He will allow it.  And for this cause God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie, that they might all be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, 2 Thes 2:11,12.  He considers all such things “idolatry” because they are more important to the person than He is, and “adultery” because that person has been unfaithful to Him.  This is a serious matter.  That is another way Satan can get to you.  He will tell you it is just a fun little pastime.  Read Ezekiel 16 sometime today and see exactly how God depicts this “harmless” recreation.  I will judge you as women who commit adultery and murder are judged, and I will bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy, Ezek 16:38.   
            So think about it today.  What are we doing that seems harmless but that could have dire consequences if we let it go to its natural end?  Satan has dozens of beautifully crafted lures to draw us in, set the hook, and catch us before we even realize we are in danger.  He is not so stupid that he will make the traps obvious.  Be careful out there today.  Rely on God and Him alone.  Be faithful to Him and He will never be unfaithful to you.
           
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.  And no marvel, for even Satan fashions himself into an angel of light.  It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works, 2 Cor 11:13-15.
 
Dene Ward

God makes it plain in the Old Testament exactly how He feels about human sacrifice, specifically sacrificing one’s children as a part of pagan idol worship.  It is “an abomination;” it “shall not be found among you;” it “defiles you;” it “pollutes the land;” it “did not even enter into [God’s] mind” to command such a thing” (Deut 12:31; 18:10; Ezek 20:31; Psa 106: 37,38; Jer 32:35).
              And I suppose most of us think we are past that—we would never participate in something so heinous; we would never be caught up in worshipping an idol to the point that our children no longer mattered to us.  Think again.
              How many people have sacrificed their children to their careers?  And don’t automatically jump to working mothers.  God holds fathers accountable as the spiritual leaders of their families, especially in raising their children (Eph 6:4).  Too many fathers delegate everything to the mother, expecting her to somehow communicate to his children that he loves them, even when he spends practically no time at all with them, when he regularly misses piano recitals, school programs, or ball games; when he has never drunk an imaginary cup of tea at a tea party; when he has never read a bedtime story; when he has never dried a tear or given a hug, changed a diaper or given a bath, helped with a science project or played catch.  Career-minded, status-conscious, money-grubbing parents need to give thought to what they are sacrificing.  When you chose to have children, you chose to sacrifice yourselves, not them.
              And we also have those who sacrifice their children on the altar of their own feelings and opinions.  The sermon hurt my feelings, the elders told me I had to change my lifestyle, this brother or that sister came and told me I needed to repent of my sins, so I won’t go back to that church ever again.  And guess what?  Your children miss growing up among godly people, attending Bible classes that would have helped you teach them about God, and at least hearing the gospel every Sunday, whether anything you did at home ever cemented it into their minds or not.  You may not have sacrificed them to Molech, the heathen god most often associated with child sacrifice, but you actually did worse—you sacrificed them to the maker of those “abominations”—Satan Himself.  He is the one who will swoop in and claim those young souls, who have now learned from you that God isn’t all that important after all.
              Then we have the big one, for on this day in 1973, in Roe vs Wade, the Supreme Court legalized abortion.  The blood of innocent children is being shed in the name of my body, my rights, and my choice.  Read what actually happens in an abortion and it will make you sick, especially late term abortions.  I am sure the numbers change, but as I write, 60,000,000 babies have been slaughtered, and that is not too harsh a word for it.  Abortion is nothing more than human sacrifice so I don’t have to bear the responsibility of my actions.  I, me, and mine are the biggest idols we have today, and precious souls are bearing the brunt of that pagan ritual to the idol of self.
              Interestingly enough, Norma McCovey, the original Jane Roe in this legal argument, changed her mind.  In her book, Won by Love, published in 1998, she writes:

I was sitting in O.R.'s offices when I noticed a fetal development poster. The progression was so obvious, the eyes were so sweet. It hurt my heart, just looking at them. I ran outside and finally, it dawned on me. 'Norma', I said to myself, 'They're right'. I had worked with pregnant women for years. I had been through three pregnancies and deliveries myself. I should have known. Yet something in that poster made me lose my breath. I kept seeing the picture of that tiny, 10-week-old embryo, and I said to myself, that's a baby! It's as if blinders just fell off my eyes and I suddenly understood the truth—that's a baby!
I felt crushed under the truth of this realization. I had to face up to the awful reality. Abortion wasn't about 'products of conception'. It wasn't about 'missed periods'. It was about children being killed in their mother's wombs. All those years I was wrong. Signing that affidavit, I was wrong. Working in an abortion clinic, I was wrong. No more of this first trimester, second trimester, third trimester stuff. Abortion—at any point—was wrong. It was so clear. Painfully clear.[3]

              While I am certainly thrilled for her change of heart, she had to live with the results of her actions for the rest of her life.  Her repentance on this matter did nothing to stop the continuing murder of children.
              Child sacrifice is alive and well in the world today, and too many of us are guilty in our own ways, too.
 
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things? When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you, Ezek 20:30-31.
 
Dene Ward
 

I wonder if it means as much to us.  I wonder if it would have even gotten our attention.  We take so much for granted, so many things people have not always had access to, things they would marvel at were they alive today. 
            Noon on a hot, dusty day saw a thirsty man sitting by a well after a long walk.  A woman trudged up, not during the normal hours of drawing water; a woman, we would later discover, who was on the fringes of her society, a society that was on the fringes itself, especially to people like this man, who sat where she had hoped to find no one.  To her utter amazement, he asked her for a drink.  It was not just that she was from a hated caste, but she was a woman, and men seldom talked to women in public, especially not one with her background.  And not only that, but he offered her something wonderful--she would never have to come draw water from this well again.  She was so excited she ran to tell the others in the town, even the ones who before would not speak to her because of her questionable morals. 
            He stayed for two days, teaching about this miraculous water, water they eventually realized was not wet or even real, as the world counts reality, but far more real in the dawning light of a spiritual kingdom that would accept them all, not just those other people who hated them.  Soon, everyone would have this living water available, and no one in that kingdom would be considered “second class.”
            I wonder if Jesus would have gotten my attention with this talk?  I don’t have to draw water from a well in the heat of the day—enough water to clean, bathe, cook, and stay alive.  But one day, 30 years ago, that little story meant a whole lot more to me than it ever had before.
            We came home from a trip to discover that our well had collapsed.  We did not have the several hundred dollars it would have cost at the time to fix it.  Keith had to dig a new well himself.  For a month, every night after he finished the studying and home classes he conducted as a preacher, he worked on that well, even in the cold January rain, even running a fever. 
            A farmer neighbor filled and carted a five hundred gallon tank outside our door.  That tank had held things not good for human consumption, so we used that water to carry in five gallon buckets for flushes, and pressure canners full for bathing.  Every morning I went to another neighbor’s house to fill up gallon jugs for the water we used to brush teeth, make tea and coffee, and wash dishes.  The boys were 5 and 3, way too little to help cart water.  I learned the value of carrying a bucket in each hand—balance was everything if you wanted to slosh as little as possible all over your carpets.
            We learned to conserve water without even thinking about it—no more water running in the lavatory while brushing teeth, shaving, or putting in contact lenses!  Suddenly, carrying water was a time-consuming, back-breaking job. Modern homes are simply not geared to anything but running water.  It would have been much simpler to have had an outhouse in the backyard, and a pump handle in the kitchen.  The amount of water that needed hauling would have been cut in half.
            And after a month of that, I understood what this woman must have thought, what a luxury the concept must have seemed to her hot, weary body.  Do we feel that way about “living water?”  Is salvation such a luxury that we marvel at it and run to tell others?  Or do we take it for granted like running water in our kitchens and bathrooms?  I would not wish the month we endured on anyone else, but you know what?  I think it was good for all of us.
 
Therefore with joy shall we draw water out of the wells of salvation.  And in that day shall you say, Give thanks unto Jehovah, call upon his name, declare his doings among the peoples, make mention that his name is exalted, Isaiah 12:3,4      
 
Dene Ward

Ignorance is an opiate that lulls many a conscience to sleep.  (Robertson Whiteside, Doctrinal Discourses) 

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.  (1Thess 5:5-6)

Dene Ward

All the stories my mother told me have come rushing back to me that past few weeks since her death.  One of the most special was the story of her conversion.  We could all learn a few things from this.
              Nearly a century ago, preachers often traveled from city to city and town to town, setting up tents and preaching every night for a week or more, depending on how things were going.  One of those preachers was Byron Conley, who toured Central Florida.  He was responsible for the beginning of many of the churches in that area.  One of those congregations was in a small town called Winter Garden, about 10 miles west of Orlando—at least in those days.  Now you can't tell where one ends and the other begins.
              All of my grandparents lived in Winter Garden, the typical Southern town with a train track running down the middle of the main drag, and diagonal parking in front of storefronts like Piggly Wiggly, McCormick 5 and 10, a barber shop, and a drug store complete with soda fountain.  My father's mother, Thelma Ayers, attended one of those tent meetings and was converted to the Lord, and eventually became a member of the new congregation there.  Although her husband, my grandfather, was never baptized, she taught her three sons and all of them followed in her faith.
              My daddy was the oldest.  At 17, he took his high school sweetheart to church with him.  She had been raised a Methodist, mainly because it was the closest church to the house and they could all walk.  She told me that all she heard were slow dirges on Sunday morning, so that morning when she went to church with her boyfriend Gerald, she was in for a shock.  "They sang happy music!" she exclaimed.  The first song she heard was "Heavenly Sunlight," and the day she told me that story she added, "And I want that sung at my funeral."  And we did.
              So let's consider a few things this morning.  This was a small Southern town.  As is our custom and belief, they sang a capella.  It may have been "happy" compared to the slower organ pieces she was used to, but I imagine there were a few places, especially by the end, where the music dragged a bit.  I imagine there were a few flat Southern altos and a tenor or two that stuck out like a sore thumb.  This was not a performing choir, certainly not a pro or semi-pro praise band.  So why did the singing impress her so?
           Because it wasn't just a happy song.  It was sung by happy people, people who knew they were saved and pleasing to God, people who believed they were going to Heaven, people who, despite the trials of life, knew it was all worth it.  I have heard it said that our singing can be an evangelistic tool.  It certainly was for my mother.  But if the people do not match their songs, it is just another form of hypocrisy. 
           "Heavenly Sunlight" isn't as deep as some of the other older hymns but it certainly doesn't sit in the wading pool with the babes either.  It takes a mature spiritual mindset to see the "Sunlight" even in the "deep vale" and to have the faith to know that no matter what happens He will "never forsake thee."  She could see that faith in the faces of those people and eventually it became her own faith, a faith she passed on to children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
            Many of these thoughts ran through my head that afternoon as we sang for her the song that made all the difference in her life.  A small town southern church sang it like they meant it, and she wanted to know more about how they could do that when so few other places did.
           Would your singing begin the journey of conversion for a visitor?  It does not have to be ear-catching, toe-tapping, and rhythmically complex.  You just have to sing it like you mean it, and then live it that way too.
 
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.  (Ps 5:11).
 
Dene Ward

One evening as we sat with our grandsons in the family room of their home, two year old Judah found three small bins, about the size of the largest coffee cans these days, and summarily emptied them one by one.  Small figurines, farm animals, blocks and other toys covered the family room floor.  He stood there looking around with obvious satisfaction, lifted his hands in the air and, with a big grin on his face, proclaimed, “I made a mess!”
              Then, surprising us both, he began to pick up each and every tiny toy and place them in the back of his dump truck, the big one he can sit on and push with his feet, until every toy was off the floor.
              “What a good boy!” I exclaimed.  Naively, as it turned out because he immediately knelt before the truck and began tossing the toys over his shoulders with both hands until once again they were scattered everywhere.  Again he looked on his work with satisfaction, then began picking them up and starting over.   This must have occurred five or six times before it began to bore him, but for a while there, “Making a Mess” was the game of the hour and he was quite good at it.
              Do you know any mess makers in the church?  You know, the ones who ask questions in class that are deliberately designed to foil the teacher’s carefully laid out lesson and confuse the newcomers; the ones who enjoy starting a discussion they know will end in arguments; the ones who delight in pulling people aside, especially teachers and preachers, and “setting them straight” about some detail that doesn’t even matter; the ones who pride themselves on taking the opposing view, not because it is the right one, but because they enjoy a stir.  They might as well stand in the middle of the room with my two year old grandson and proclaim, “I made a mess.”
              What does Paul say about them?  They “quarrel about words to no profit.”  They participate in “irreverent babble.”  They engage in “foolish and ignorant controversies.”  They have “an unhealthy craving for controversy”—indeed they can hardly control themselves when they see certain subjects coming up.  That lack of self-control comes because they are “depraved in mind.”  In short, these people thrive on making messes.  They live to cause trouble.  They even brag about their tendency to do these things. 
              And why is it so bad?  Their actions “subvert souls.”  They “lead people to more and more ungodliness.”  Their foolishness “eats like a gangrene.”  It “genders strife.”  It serves only to “produce envy, dissension, slander, suspicion…and constant friction.”  It troubles the new Christians and “unsettles minds.”
              At least my two year old grandson’s activity did not hurt anyone.  It was entirely appropriate for a child his age.  What excuse does a middle-aged mess-maker have?  He might as well go play with the babies.
 
But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.  Titus 3:9-11
(Passages quoted in the body of the article:  1 Tim 6:4,5; 2 Tim 2:14,16,23; Acts 15:25.)
 
Dene Ward
 

Our guest writer, Lucas Ward, will be discussing the book of Proverbs throughout this year.  I have taken the liberty of dividing his first lesson into parts A and B.

We are about to begin a topical study of the book of Proverbs with the hopes of learning to be a bit more wise.  So, the first question I want to address is "Is gaining wisdom really an important pursuit for a Christian?"
No, really, I'm serious.  Yes, wisdom is important.  Yes, our lives are easier when we approach them with a modicum of wisdom.  We would all like to think that we are wiser today than ten years ago, but as a Christian aren't there more important things to work on?  Shouldn't I be focusing more on building my faith?  Increasing my patience and perseverance?  Cementing my hope?   Is gaining wisdom really a priority for Christians?  Let's see what the Word says.
 
Rom. 11:33  "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!" 

Mark 6:2  "And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?"

These passages show that both God our Father and Jesus our Lord are described as being wise.  Wisdom is one of the basic attributes of each.

1 Cor. 1:30  "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" 

Eph. 3:10  "so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places."

These passages teach that both Jesus and the Church epitomize God's wisdom.  And both God and Jesus are described as having wisdom as a basic quality.  So everything that has anything to do with the religion we are following for our salvation is based on wisdom, described as wise and is encompassed by wisdom. 

To nail it down further, note that the seven men chosen in Acts 6 to solve the problem of the daily ministration were known as wise (Acts 6:3).  The power behind Stephen's preaching which confounded his opponents was the Spirit and wisdom (6:10).  Do you want to be able to serve the Lord to the best of your ability?  Learn wisdom.  Do I want my teaching and preaching to be the most effective it can be?  I need to learn wisdom. 

Paul, not a man with a lot of free time on his hands, thought wisdom important enough that he twice told churches he was praying for their increase in wisdom.  (Eph. 1:17, Col. 1:9)  He then commanded the Colossians to walk in wisdom (Col. 4:5). 

So, is wisdom important?  The God we serve and the Savior who leads us are described as wise.  The Church we are a part of and our Lord Himself are called manifestations of God's wisdom.  To best serve Him we must be wise.  To best spread his word we must be wise.  His Apostle to the Gentiles spent precious time praying for increased wisdom for all Christians and commanded that we walk in wisdom.  Yes, I think growing my wisdom is important!  How do I do that? 

James 1:5  "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

Does that mean God reaches down and deposits wisdom in my brain as soon as I ask?  It seems He did that for Solomon; is that what James is promising for us?  I think most everyone would agree that is not what is being taught.  Rather, God will give us opportunities to grow our wisdom and all the help needed to see that we do if we truly desire to grow.  One of those opportunities to grow our wisdom has already been provided in the book of Proverbs.  Just read the mission statement of the book:

Prov. 1:1-6  "The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:  To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles." 

To know wisdom, understand insight, receive instruction, give prudence to the simple and increase the learning of the wise.  It sure seems like if I study this book I will gain in wisdom.  Does Proverbs have all the wisdom a Christian needs?  Of course not.  There is wisdom regarding God's plan of salvation that wasn't revealed until 1,000 years after Solomon wrote this book.  The wisdom of the Gospel and the Church was also yet to be revealed.  So maybe we can't rely on Proverbs as the sum total of all wisdom we need, but 31 chapters of God inspired wisdom writing is a pretty good place to begin our journey to greater wisdom. 

Lucas Ward