Today's post is by guest writer, Lucas Ward, and is a second part to last month's installment on Proverbs and the tongue.
 
As Jesus originally instituted His church, it is to be many people coming together to make one body working together to accomplish God's will. 
1 Cor. 12:12-13  "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."
1 Cor. 12:24-25  "which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."
Eph. 1:22-23  "And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,  which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."
 
We are to be one unified body under Christ, serving Him.  A careless mouth can undo this relationship. 
Prov. 13:10  "By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom."
 
To be insolent is to be rude, disrespectful, and contemptuous.  It is easy to see why Solomon warns that such speech causes strife.  Wisdom leads us in another direction.
Prov. 16:21  "The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness." 
Prov. 16:23  "The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips."
 
If we want to be considered wise, our speech should be judicious, or thoughtful.  If we want people to listen to us without a fight, our speech should be persuasive.  Such is helped by sweetness of speech, not insolence.  We need to take care how we speak of our brethren.
Prov. 11:12  "Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent." 
To speak ill of another just doesn't make any sense.  All it does is cause fights and destroy relationships.  The wise man knows when to keep his mouth closed.  That leads us to the topic of gossip.
 
Prov. 16:28  "A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends."
A whisperer separates even close friends.  This reminds me of Iago from the Shakespeare play Othello.  At the beginning of the play, Othello is a strong, confident man, a leader widely respected and trusted by the highest authorities.  Then Iago becomes offended and begins a whispering campaign.  He spreads lies, rumors, and innuendoes until Othello is a broken man, having lost his wife, his job and his confidence.  All because Iago whispered.  This kind of thing cannot happen in the church. 
 
Prov. 17:9  "Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends."
This happens all too often, even by those who, in all innocence, mean nothing by it.  Random, happy babbling can cause as many problems as the determined whisperer.  Again, the wise man knows when to keep his mouth shut.  I am naturally curious about all things.  That has led me at times to be nosy.  One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn is that I don't need to know everything about everyone around me.  And, if I do know something, I don't have to tell my friends all about it.  I'm still working on that one.  Even innocent babbling can cause strife, and not all are innocent.
 
Prov. 24:28-29  "Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.  Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.” 
Revenge is not a good reason to gossip.  We cannot allow ourselves to speak ill of someone just because we are angry with them. 
 
Prov. 12:6  "The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them." 
Prov. 11:9  "With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered."
Notice how these people are described, who want to destroy others with their words:  wicked and godless.  If we want any hope of Heaven, we cannot allow those descriptions to ever fit us.  That means we need to watch our verbal attacks on others.
 
Sometimes gossip isn't fueled by anger and revenge, but that doesn't make it any better.
Prov. 18:8  "The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body."
Prov. 26:22  "The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body."
Another case where Solomon repeats himself.  It must be important.  Gossip is fun.  Most of us do it, not out of maliciousness, but because we like the juice.  It's satisfying to know what is going on.  It is titillating to hear secrets about others.  But, who are we getting this juice from?  The whisperer.  The one who separates close friends.  I may not be malicious about it, but in listening and passing on gossip, I am participating in something that could destroy the fabric of God's family.  And that is evil. 
 
Prov. 20:19  "Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler."
It is amazing how much the fighting and bickering dies down when gossip ceases.  When no one is whispering, few are fighting.
Prov. 26:20  "For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases." 
When the kindling runs out, so does the fire.  The whispering feeds the fights.  The church with few whisperers is also the church that is closer and tighter knit.  We cannot allow ourselves to be the person who continues fighting and dividing the church.
Prov. 26:21  "As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife." 
 
Another similar issue of misusing our mouths that can cause problems for the church is false flattery.
Prov. 29:5  "A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet."
The ancient Israelites spread nets to catch birds.  So, the flatterer is laying traps for the people he flatters.  He is trying to bring them in and secure them before they know who he really is.  Instead of flattery, the wise man prefers correction.
Prov. 28:23   "Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue."
Prov. 25:12  "Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear."
The rebuke and the reproof are to keep us on the straight and narrow.  In the long run, they are far more valuable than the short term warmth of flattery.  We should watch out for the gushers, listen closely to the constructive critics, and determine that we won't allow ourselves to be the kind of person who influences through false flattery.
 
There are two ways we can use our mouths.  Each has a consequence.
Prov. 29:8  "Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath."
Prov. 11:11  "By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown."
How am I going to use my mouth today?
 
Lucas Ward

I live where the animals meditate quite often.  When we first moved here, the bobcats screamed in the woods every night.  Even after all these years of people moving closer and closer in on us, the mourning doves still cry and moan every day, morning and evening.  I hear one out there now even as I type.
            “Meditate?” you ask. 
            Exactly.
            For thus the LORD said to me, As a lion or a young lion roars over his prey… Isa 31:4.
            Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I mourn like a dove…Isa 38:14.
            “Roars” and “mourn” are the same Hebrew word translated “meditate” in the KJV, including this one:  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.  Ps 1:2.
            I grew up in a time when “transcendental meditation” was popular.  Most of those who participated sat in the lotus position and hummed the syllable in the above title.  I have no idea what was in their minds at the time, but it seems a far cry from the passages above.  Yet, from what I have seen, we don’t really understand what meditation is any better than they did.
            A Bible class teacher once told us he had decided to meditate more.  He did this by memorizing a passage every week and then reciting it at various times during the day.  As he continued talking, it seemed he expected that repetition to magically change his attitudes and his heart.  As an educator, I understand that repetition is the key to learning, but simple repetition itself is as useless to your heart as repeating Hail Marys.  The New Testament calls such things “vain repetition.”  Maybe it’s time to see what the Bible says about meditating instead of what the world does.
            I looked up every occurrence of the Hebrew word found in the three passages above.  I found 24.  In the King James Version, the word is translated “meditate” 6 times, which is the most frequent translation.  But here is a really interesting case.  While in Psalm 1:2, the word speaks of the action of a righteous man, in Psalm 2:1, the action is of the wicked and is translated “plot” in the ESV (“imagine” in the KJV).  The word clearly involves some mental activity.  In Psalm 38:12 the wicked are imagining “treachery all day long.”  In fact, in the ESV that is translated “meditating” treachery.
            Seven times the word is translated “speak” or “talk” or “utter” so it does involve sound, but not that mindless hum or rote repetition so many think.  If you check out the passages, the wicked “speak” (meditate) deceit or perverseness or falsehood.  The righteous “speak” (meditate) wisdom and truth, and “talk of” (meditate) God’s praise and righteousness.  Try doing any of those things without some serious thought.
            So where does the “sound” involved in this word come from?  Sheer effort and emotion.  The young lion roaring over his prey in the Isaiah 31 passage has reached a moment of intense effort in his hunt for food.  Although the dove is not really mourning, the passage is a metaphor for God mourning over his lost people, trying to save them.  Imagine reaching out to grab someone who is about to take a serious fall, or step in front of an oncoming vehicle.  Would you do it quietly?
            No, meditating on God’s word is not a time of quiet, mindless repetition.  It is a time of intense mental effort.  “Ponder how to answer” the ESV translates it in Prov 15:28.  Run it over and over in your mind for the various possibilities, for the possible results of actions or the ideas to which those thought processes might lead.  Meditate today on meditation, for clues in the texts themselves or, as we have done, in how the word is used in other places.  Memorizing is wonderful.  Reading the word of God is a necessity for one of his children, but if all you do is speak the words either aloud or in your mind, you have done no better than a pagan on his yoga mat.
 
Be diligent in these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy progress may be manifest unto all.  1Tim 4:15
 
Dene Ward
 

We recently connected our back porch to the carport, not just over the door as it had been before, but the entire sixteen foot length of porch.  That means that both the carport and the porch roofs now drain into a gutter that formerly only drained the carport and only a third of that gutter is not now covered by the roof-over.
            Most of the time the gutter works fine, but after a torrential rain one night recently, we woke to a carport an inch deep in water.  Now how did that happen?
            Keith got out the blower and blew most of the water off to run on downhill in about ten minutes.  A couple mornings later, after another stormy night, he had to do it again, and we were still mystified.  Then one afternoon we solved the mystery.
            The rain began before dark this time.  Thunder rumbled in the northwest and the wind picked up to gusts instead of breezes, especially high in the treetops.  The temperature dropped ten degrees.  Before long, the azaleas began to bounce as scattered drops began to fall.  Within five minutes the bottom fell out and you could hardly see the bird feeder fifteen feet from the door.
            We stepped out onto the porch under a roar of rain on the metal roof so loud we had to yell at one another.  And there we saw the problem.  A small cluster of twigs, moss, and leaves barely peeked over the edge of the gutter, bobbing slightly as the water tried to run through it.  Most, however, overflowed the gutter at that point, tracing a route along the rounded bottom of the gutter to pour directly on the car and the carport floor around it.
            Keith grabbed my little household three-step ladder and headed out the door.  It only took a moment to realize that the only way to fix this was to get wet.  So he stepped out into the rain, set up the ladder and climbed it, making odd squealing noises during the whole process.  Did I mention that this was in the early spring?  That rain was cold.  But as soon as he removed the blockage, the water rushed down the length of the gutter and spewed like a fire hydrant from the bottom of the downspout.  Not another drop hit the carport floor.
            Now don't start tut-tutting.  He had cleaned out those gutters—several times—the last time only a week before.  But in North Florida, most leaves fall in the late winter and early spring, not in the fall.  Second, we had had a stormier, windier spring than usual with far more leaves, pollen and moss falling than usual.  Third, that obstruction he moved was hardly a handful, yet it still had a tremendous effect.
            So here is the question this morning:  What obstruction in your life is blocking the free flow of your witness?  What is blocking your influence?  What is hindering your service to others?  Laziness, selfishness, worldliness, or a host of other things can easily get in the way, and it doesn't take much to make a real mess of your mission as a servant of God.
            Blow out your gutters.  What is damming up the flow of goodness within you may also be damning your soul.
 
…we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.  (1Cor 9:12)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; (Rom 1:18).
 
Dene Ward

On September 12, 1959, Bonanza made its debut on NBC.  This Western saga ran for fourteen years, and sat in the Top 10 for ten of those years.  It was the most watched show on television from 1964-1967.  It even affected the growth of color television!  Very few homes had a color TV before it premiered, but that changed almost overnight.
            The producer, David Dortort, had a set of values in mind when he created the show.  He wanted Ben Cartwright, the patriarch, to be a strong, wise, and competent man, the father who could teach and discipline and set things right within the family.  He wanted Ben to be a kind and generous man as well.  He might be wealthy, but he was neither selfish nor arrogant, and he raised his sons to be the same.
            Contrast this to 2011 when TV Guide Magazine called the new television season "the emasculation of men on TV."  Christian Kachel of the Washington Times has said that the template for the prime time sitcom is "immature, usually overweight, lazy, spineless men navigating life by accident, dumb luck, or with the help of superior female characters."  Hanna Rosin in The Atlantic characterizes the shows like this:  wives working double shifts and getting promotions while husbands sit around confused; husbands lying to their working wives about how much hockey they watch on TV while they are supposed to be tending the baby; sisters doing homework and brothers feeding the dog their orange juice.
            But all of this is just a reflection of society, I am afraid.  It has become such an issue that books and articles have been written by the dozen with almost the same title as this essay.  When celebrities like Bette Midler are quoted (in the National Review) as saying that "men and religion are worthless," what can you expect?  Ben Shapiro states in the same source that there is "indication of a general belief…that masculinity itself is toxic and must be quashed," citing quotes by such people as Hilary Clinton, using exactly that type of language ("toxic").  He continues, "While they champion the notion that women can do anything they set their minds to (true!), they simultaneously castigate men as the barriers to progress and masculinity as a condition to be avoided."  They believe that boys should not be told to "be a man," but rather should be feminized, because, of course, women are not just equal, they are superior, and all the ills of the world come from men.  According to Kachel, "rambunctious" boys are prescribed Ritalin to calm them down two and a half times more often than the same level of "rambunctious" girls.
            There is now an organization called "Single Mothers by Choice."  These women believe that the only role a man should play is "sperm donor."  They plan to have children and raise them without a father from the outset.  It isn't that something bad happened in their lives and now they have to do this monumental task alone—they believe they can do it better alone.  Now think about the subcultures within our own where the men are noticeably absent and tell me those children are less prone to violence, drugs, and crime, and that they are more likely to grow up to be well-educated and successful in life.  Keith ran an unofficial poll in his work as first, a probation officer and then, a classification officer doing intake in prisons.  He believes that probably 90% of the felons who sat across the table from him were raised without a man in the house.  Maybe those "Single Mothers by Choice" are all professionals who have the money to hire nannies, send their kids to private schools, and then make sure they get into an impressive college.  But what about the single mothers who wait on tables, load the shelves at Wal-Mart, and check out groceries?  Most of them wear themselves out young just trying to keep food on the table and a roof over their children's heads.  They are every bit as handicapped as a man who has lost a leg or gone blind.
            And what does God say about it?  He designed a nuclear family with both a mother and a father.  He gave them roles to fulfill so their children would be raised to succeed in life, but more important, so they would become faithful, righteous children of His own.  The Bible has no trouble at all saying, "Act like a man! Be strong!" (1 Cor 16:13).  And it takes a real man who knows the struggle to teach a boy how to harness his energy, his aggression, his sexuality, and how to get through the curveballs that life will throw his way.  It also takes a man to show a girl what to look for in a mate, by setting the example of provider, protector, spiritual leader, and the one who will "dwell with her according to knowledge," "nurturing and cherishing her."  It is sad when it doesn't work out that way, not something to be celebrated.
           Fathers have a specific role as the authority in the family, and through that role teach their children exactly what to expect from their Heavenly Father.  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  (Heb 12:7-10).
          It's too bad that David Dortort is no longer producing television shows.  But if television truly reflects our society, that is even sadder.  Today I celebrate my man of God.  Promise me you will celebrate your man of God, if you have one, and tell him how grateful you are before this day is over.
 
For I have chosen [Abraham], that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice… (Gen 18:19).
 
Dene Ward

Dear TV and Movie Producers and Advertisers of same,
            I grew up watching television.  But now I find myself completely disgusted by what you are giving me as entertainment.  May I please offer a few suggestions?
            I am not a prurient adolescent, so please dispense with the sexual innuendo and bathroom humor.  I am far more mature and sophisticated than that.  Most of the people I know are.  I am relatively well-educated, so please come up with words with more than four letters.  They have already worn out their shock value, and what other use are they?  All they do is turn me off, which means I turn the knob off.
            Please give me role models I can identify with, admire, or aspire to.  Give me a father figure who is not an idiotic doofus, one who can make rational decisions and does not need his wife, and certainly not his children, to pull him out of the messes he makes of their lives week after week.  Give me a mother figure who does not treat her husband like a child or demean him to her friends, but respects him; who is not a preacher for the ultra-liberal left, who understands that selflessness and sacrifice for her family is not a fault to be overcome, and can communicate with her family without a martyr complex.  Give me children who respect their parents and obey them without eye-rolling, sass, and deeply heaved sighs of frustration. 
            Tell my children the truth not the fairy tale of “happily ever after.”  Show my children that one talk about condoms does not make teen pregnancy a breeze.  Show them that drugs are not that easy to overcome once they are hooked.  Tell them that there is no such thing as “safe sex” outside of heterosexual monogamy, that AIDS is not the only, or even the most common, sexually transmitted disease out there, and that they could easily end up living the rest of their lives in relentless pain, unable to marry and have children till the day they die.  Tell them that the same self-control we expect of them in regard to stealing and murder is just as viable when it comes to sexual self-control.
            Teach them something called integrity and character instead of looking out for number one and doing what you can get away with.  Teach them that whatever they do affects someone else.  Do you know how many times my probation officer husband has sat across the table from inmates who were shocked to hear that their shoplifting raised the prices that their dear old grandmothers had to pay?  No one taught them simple economics.  No one told them that what they did was a reflection on the women who raised them.  “I don’t know your mother,” he often says to them, “except what I see in you.”  You would be surprised how many hardened criminals sit there with tears running down their cheeks at those words.  Too bad you didn’t say any of those things a long time before he did. 
            And tell me this—would you ever pepper dialogue with the phrase “Oh my Allah!” or “Oh my Buddha!” or “Oh my Vishnu!”?  Or would you never dare in this age of political correctness to cause offense to someone’s religious beliefs?  So why must I listen to you disrespect my God?  Or is it, as seems to be the case over and over, that discrimination against Christians doesn’t count?
            Speaking of Christians, show me practicing Christians who are neither fire-breathing, insane radicals nor hypocrites.  Show me people who live what they believe—quietly and selflessly serving others and living moral lives.  I can show you hundreds of families in just my limited circle who do.  Why can’t you find any?
            I am not the only one out there who would like these things.  A good many of us are tired of seeing sex used to advertise hamburgers and shavers, and suave urbanity to advertise liquor and beer.  Let me tell you—the most interesting man in my world is not an arrogant, beer-swilling womanizer and no man should expect me to come running just because he gave me the eye across a boxing ring.  My standards are much higher than those.  My friends feel the same way.  We’re tired of having to battle an entire culture in order to teach our children how to be decent people.  Not a few have turned their TVs off.  They have made the decision to boycott businesses who promote themselves in such irresponsible ways, businesses whose only interest is the bottom line. 
            And to those who are saying amen, I am calling on more of you to do something tangible to show your displeasure--not violent, not illegal, but something that will make an impact that businesses care about—their profits.  Write a letter, using calm words, good words, not indecent ones.  Don’t become what you are opposing.  Then follow up.  Turn off that television, stop watching those movies, don’t buy those products or patronize those establishments.  You know who and what they are as well as I do, you’ve just been ignoring this issue because it would put a crimp in your style.  Maybe it’s time you sacrificed something.  You know who it’s for.  Aren’t they worth it?  Isn’t HE worth it?
 
 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead reprove them.  Eph 5: 11.
 
Dene Ward

With the end Jesus had in view he could not depend upon mere learning, mental gifts, and force of argument.  For the essential trouble is not with men's intellects, but their hearts.  It is not that opinions are so wrong; it is that dispositions are so alienated from God.  Man needs not a new opinion, but a new love.  The task of Jesus was a far harder one than the correction of errors; it was the winning of hearts.  Love, is free; men may be convinced against their will, but love consents. 

Man of Galilee by Atticus G. Haygood

For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.  (Matt 13:15-16).

I don’t get it.  Something is very wrong when we make heroes out of monsters.  First it was vampires, and now zombies.  But did you know this?  We have spiritual vampires and zombies out there too, and some of us make heroes out of them.
            Televangelists and faith healers come to mind.  Has there ever been a more despicable sort of bloodsucker?  They use the desperate, the ill, the old, the ones afraid of dying without God, and steal their money and their minds, basking in the adoration of distressed souls who want just one last vestige of health and a moment of relieved peace before their deaths.  Yes, a lot of it is their own fault.  If they knew and loved the Word of God as they should they would not have been deluded so as to “believe a lie” (2 Thes 2:9-11).  Yet Satan’s ministers are good-looking, amiable, charismatic people, and even the good-hearted can be deceived if they aren’t careful (2 Cor 11:13-15).
            But the worst are surely the walking dead. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will, John 5:21.  Notice, Jesus said this well before he ever raised anyone from the dead.  Most commentators believe he was talking here about raising the spiritually dead, and the full context proves them correct. 
            How are we dead?  Most of us can easily quote passages saying we were once “dead in sin,” but Jesus was talking to the Jews of the day, God’s people. 
            Verse 16 tells us these people were seeking to kill Jesus because he healed on the Sabbath.  They understood when it suited them that healing on the Sabbath was not a sin; they did the same for their animals.  But their traditions outweighed the clear dictum of the Law to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”  In another healing, Jesus quite purposefully called the woman who was bowed together a “daughter of Abraham” in order to shame the ruler who did not want her healed (Luke 13:15,16).  Follow the man born blind in John 9 and see the ridiculous lengths they went to in order to condemn a man who could heal as no one ever had before.  Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes, John 9:30.  Even Jesus was amazed at their determination not to see his obvious origins, and therefore his authority to heal whenever he pleased. 
            That determination is shown earlier in John 5.  They clearly understood that Jesus claimed a relationship with God that was above and beyond their own, yet despite the works he did, and thus the witness shown by God through those works, they denied that witness, one that shone clearly to any who dared to actually see. 
            Those people who thought they were the one true people of God, following the one true Law, couldn’t even tell when God was among them.  What did Jesus have to say about that?  Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him, John 5:24.  Don’t count on your pedigree in the faith.  Don’t count on following the rules.  These people had the first (Abraham is our father, John 8:39), and did the second, but Jesus says to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life, John 5:24.  He was calling them dead, yet they were still on this earth walking around, still in charge of God’s people, a people they disdained, John 7:48,49.
            How are we doing as a people of God?  Do we truly listen, or have we become nothing more than a self-righteous, unloving group that prides itself on having been baptized and following a set of rules, including a bunch we devised ourselves and then judge others for not keeping.  As sad as it is, we have the walking dead still among us, and some people think they are heroes. 
 
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.  Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you, Rev 3:1-4. 
 
Dene Ward

We have had probably fifteen generations of cardinals grow up on our property since we put up our bird feeders, maybe more if they nest more than once a year as many birds do here in our warmer climate.  The first time the parents brought their adolescent children to our bird feeder, I was shocked. 

Everyone knows what beauties cardinals are.  The males range from bright fire engine to deep cherry red, a rounded breast of the same color, with a black Zorro mask, orange-red bill, and a full, high crest.  Even the more muted females are a smooth olive green to buff brown with fringes of red on their wings and tails, full crests, plus the same orangy bill and a bit of a black mask.  But the adolescents?  Can a bird be called "gawky?"  The colors range from scruffy gray to a spotty brown, with remnants of dirty-white baby feathers stuck here and there, and an ugly, gray bill.  They are usually skinny and their crests either as short as crewcuts or as stringy as a human head of oily hair, and sparse to boot. 

They remind me of human teenagers actually—that gangly stage where their legs and arms are too long for their bodies and the most recent growth spurt has left them looking like Elastic Man stretched to his limit.  But what happens?  You see them five years later and suddenly you have a beautiful young woman standing in front of you, or a handsome young man.  That's what happens.  And you know what?  All those gawky cardinals eventually become just as beautiful as their parents, too.  It's perfectly normal.

The same can be true of spiritual growth.   Sometimes a new Christian can be an ugly creature.  Especially if he has come straight out of the world, rather than growing up among us, he may still be slipping back into bad habits fairly often.  His language may slip.  His temper may flare in a less than godly way.  His choices may be every bit as unwise as they were before his baptism.  That's perfectly normal too.  Should it stay that way?  Absolutely not.  "Please be patient with me," should be an early request that grows less and less necessary, rather than something he clings to like ivy on a brick wall. 

I have watched the ugliest, gawkiest cardinal grow to be one of the most beautiful birds God made, so perfectly red that as he sits in my dark green jasmine vine he looks like a Christmas card—all that's missing is a little snow. 

I have seen new Christians do the same thing, but not until they have gone through that awkward growing up stage, tripping over their own feet and falling flat on their faces more than once.   Expect it.  Bear with him.  Be tolerant of his errors rather than deciding he will never make it.  You were once that awkward adolescent Christian yourself.

However, if you are indeed that babe in Christ.  Don't use it justify a failure to grow up.  Surely you do want to be that beautiful red cardinal someday, and as soon as possible.  That won't happen if you are still making excuses five, ten, twenty years down the road.  Or even if you make them tomorrow.
 
…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children…(Eph 4:13-14).
 
Dene Ward

We swapped computers in 2015.  The new one was supposed to be so much better for someone like me, someone whose vision is becoming more and more limited.  Why, it has no wires!  You could pick it up and carry it around with you and no, it was not a laptop.  It was one of those new “all-in-ones.”  Part laptop, part tablet, but with a screen the size of a large desktop.  You didn’t even need a mouse and keyboard.  Rrrrright.  In my viewpoint it will take them a few more years to make this no-mouse-no-keyboard thing work smoothly enough that you don’t find yourself wanting to throw the whole thing through the window at least once a day.
            But it would have been a much easier transition if it hadn’t been a Lenovo.  Does that ring a few bells with the techie crowd?  In 2014, Lenovo began building a third party adware program called "Superfish" into its consumer PCs.  If you have read anything about it, you already know where this is going.  There was so much adware embedded in this thing we couldn’t even read a line of text without pop-ups flooding the screen.  If the cursor ran across a magic word, another would instantly appear.  And the thing kept track of every website you visited, producing even more ads.  Sometimes they popped up so quickly that when you were trying to click on something on the legitimate page, you wound up clicking on an ad instead.  We couldn’t even load our desired programs for all the pop-ups.  But this wasn't the worst of the problem.  This adware made it much easier for hackers to break through HTTPS entirely, and such an attack occurred shortly after the program became public.
            As far as I know, we were never hacked, but this stuff was so deeply embedded that it took at least three trips to Geek Squad to get it out.  And after every scrub, we had to spend time loading the programs we wanted yet again.  The first four months we were actually able to use the computer about 4 weeks.  Finally on September 5, 2017, Lenovo settled the lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission agreeing to procure affirmative consent for any future adware programs and to have audited security checks for the next 20 years.  They also agreed to pay $3.5 million as part of a state level settlement.
            Satan embeds his adware into our culture the same way.  When you can’t even watch a hamburger commercial without “soft” porn invading your living room, when the teasers for the shows you avoid include language your mama would have washed your mouth out with soap for using, and when we are constantly told that we aren’t hip, cool, smart, happy, or the most interesting people in the world without beer, hard liquor, cigarettes, or dancing the night away in skimpy clothes on a rooftop somewhere exciting where whatever you do stays, then you need to watch out for your souls more than ever before.
            The world will laugh at you if you mention Satan.  He isn’t real, we are told.  Only the ignorant believe in a mythological character like that.  If you are a Christian, you must believe in Satan.  If you don’t accept that part of the Bible, why would you accept any other part?
           Growing up I thought the only New Testament verses that mentioned Satan were the ones around Jesus’ temptation and the good old roaring lion in Peter.  Imagine my surprise when I looked it up.  I counted 19 outside the gospels, less one for the Peter passage we all know, for a total of 18 others.  Then there were the ones who called him something else like “the god of this age,” and “the Devil.”  And many of them talk about his “adware.”  Check a few of these out.
            2 Cor 2:11 mentions the “devices” of the devil.  Eph 6:11 speaks of his “schemes.”  2 Cor 4:4 tells us he “blinds the minds.”  2 Cor 11:14 tells us he “disguises” himself.  All I have to do is look around and see those devices and schemes every day, not just on television but in the speech and behavior of people who have already been taken in.  Have you ever seen the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers?”  Some days I feel exactly like Kevin McCarthy, looking over my shoulder to see where the pods are, and wondering which of my neighbors have been replaced.
            One of Satan’s devices are his ministers.  The New Testament warns again and again of false teachers, false messiahs, false prophets, and false apostles.   They fashion themselves as “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor 11:15).  Not only do they appear to be doing good, they even look good.  False teachers on the whole are good-looking and charismatic.  A lot of what they say sounds good and is, in fact, good.  But 90% of rat poison is good too.  It only takes the 10% to kill the rats.  When you keep finding the good in a man you know is teaching error, maybe Satan’s adware has taken hold of your heart already.
            Our culture has become embedded with evil masquerading as good.  We had to have our computer “scrubbed to the bones” to get rid of the adware.  Maybe it’s time we all used a spiritual scrub brush on ourselves before we are taken in too.
 
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.  2 Pet 2:1-3.
 
Dene Ward
 

I had the same rosemary plant for about 15 years.  When I began an herb garden, I had no idea what I was doing or how to do it, so the fact that this piney smelling, woody herb was a perennial rather than an annual was a big surprise.  Every spring it came back from frosts and light freezes of the type we have here in Florida, and grew bigger and fuller.  Until one year it began to die limb by limb and, eventually, didn't make it through the cold.
                So I bought another one this year.  I did exactly what I had done the first time:  I went to the garden section of the big box home improvement store and picked out the nicest looking rosemary plant they had.  For two months it sat there and did nothing.  It did not grow one inch.  The first day I needed some, I cut way back on the amount the recipe called for because I was afraid I would kill the thing if I actually snipped off two four inch stems.  And they weren't even four inch stems—it had never gotten that large.
                Finally, I had had enough.  We were at the same store and I picked up another plant.  This one showed new growth on the limbs within a week and I have used it several times without harming the plant at all.  It sits there with its little arms spread out as if it is reaching for the sun, with new, bright green showing up every day.  Pardon my anthropomorphism, but this little guy wants to grow and flourish while the other plant, now four months from its original installation, still just sits there.  It hasn't wilted and died yet, though I have expected it for a good while.  No, it just doesn't give a hoot.  Sooner or later I will yank it up to make room for something useful.
                Funny how I have seen the same thing happen among Christians.  You can't hide it, folks, and as a Bible class teacher I really can see it.  One student comes in excited and takes notes like a whirling dervish, answering and asking questions, eager to not only share what she has discovered but also to find out where she may have erred.  (Imagine that!)  Another comes and spends the entire time looking at her phone, looking up to me occasionally, but only if someone has laughed because she wants to see what she has missed. 
           Sitting on a pew is not what Christianity is about.  Don't get me wrong—I certainly have nothing against assembling together (see yesterday's post).  God seems to think we need it, judging by the number of things we are supposed to do "when you are come together," and I would never second-guess God.  But if sitting on a pew is all there is to your Christianity, you are useless to Him and sooner or later you will die.  We are supposed to grow so we can give of ourselves to Him, each other, and the community we live in, and then grow some more so we can give some more.  Over and over again.
                I expect to have this new plant for the rest of my time here.  As long as it keeps its present "attitude," I will.  What can God expect of you?
 
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  (John 15:5-6).

Dene Ward