Coffee With The Lord

Proverbs 3:1-12, Is a wonderful passage in the Bible! It expresses several key life-principles that have guided my life over the years. I read them again this morning with relish. I would have to say these are core concepts that I have personally embraced – they have made all the difference in the quality of my daily life. Each comes with a wonderful promise or assurance. I highly recommend them! Here is a fresh personal statement of those principles…

1. Don’t forget the reliable life-lessons you been taught by the key influencers in your life! What they have invested in you will adorn and distinguish your life.

2. Embrace and live out your covenant relationships! God will honor you for it… and so will others.

3. Trust in the Lord completely – don’t try to run your own life. The Lord will smooth out your path and help work out all of the troubling details.

4. Reverence the Lord and live out that reverence humbly every day. It is the healthy way to live and you’ll discover fresh vitality in your life.

5. Honor the Lord with your money and possessions. He promises to prosper you!

6. Accept your Heavenly Father’s discipline. It is a sign that He cares about you – that he deeply loves you and you’re his child.

Take it from me… this passage is worth reflecting on deeply (and committing to memory)!

There are some entities so important and essential to the public trust that any compromise of their values or operational protocols risks the public welfare.  The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is such an entity.  Grave concern exists presently within the government and the general population about the degree to which the Supreme Court has been “politicized!” It traditionally has been viewed as an agency that stands above the whims and trends of politics and is strictly charged with simply “interpreting the law.”

This morning I read of an even more important entity within the broader culture!  It has to do with the role of the Church of Jesus Christ!  Here’s Apostle Paul’s word of caution to Timothy regarding it…

Paul stated, “I am writing these things [these instructions and cautions] to you so that, if I delay [in coming to you] you may know how one ought to behave in the Household of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and buttress of the truth!” (1 Timothy 3:14-15)

Tragically, within our culture today that role for the Church has been severely compromised!  The godly behavior of Christians within “the Body of Christ” – the “Household of God” – has been relegated to “situational ethics!”  All is lost when “the Church” ceases to be, both in behavior and belief, the “pillar and buttress of truth!”

Church leadership – authentic, godly Church leadership – must recognize the importance of their role within the broader pagan culture!  This is a sobering responsibility!  If the Church does not sustain and fulfill this role, who will?

If you are a part of a congregation that insists on the inspiration of Scripture, the deity of Christ, His sacrifice for our sins on the cross, His bodily resurrection, the essential need for “new birth” (Spiritual rebirth), the need for evangelism, and the importance of a transformed lifestyle for Christians characterized by righteousness and loving Christian service; you are indeed blessed!

God help us!  May we truly be “the Household of God – the pillar and buttress of truth” within the broader culture!!!  

So many voices in our world today!  One of them out there is “Wisdom!”  Be discerning!!!

^“Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: ‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?  If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my Spirit to you; I will make my words known to you!’”  (From Proverbs 1:20–23 ESV)