by Dan A Thomas Jr | Oct 13, 2015 | Proverbs
Proverbs 4:1-13
Wisdom is the most important thing of all. It’s what provides security in times of uncertainty and light in dark places.
1 My children, listen when your father corrects you. Pay attention and learn good judgment, 2 for I am giving you good guidance.
I didn’t grow up with my father, but I know the value of godly correction from a man. It saves you from pitfalls and quicksand that detain you for years from your God-ordained destiny. It pays to listen to those who have traveled down roads you have yet to traverse. Look at their scars and pay attention to their advice. A smart man learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from other men’s mistakes.
3 For I, too, was once my father’s son, tenderly loved as my mother’s only child. 4 My father taught me, “Take my words to heart. Follow my commands, and you will live. 5 Get wisdom; develop good judgment. Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.
I can’t help to think how this sounds like a talk your parents have with you right before you go to college. This is “the talk.” The “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do” talk. It seems fairly corny at the time until you have to make a critical decision in crunch time that tests your values and beliefs and you have to make a decision on your own.
6 Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her, and she will guard you. 7 Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment. 8 If you prize wisdom, she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will honor you. 9 She will place a lovely wreath on your head; she will present you with a beautiful crown.”
Wise people know what to do in any given situation. We all have that one person that we go to or we are that one person that people go to for advice when they are stuck in life and can’t make proper decisions. Making the right decision can mean the difference between years of sorrow or years of happiness, poverty or prosperity, pain or healing. No matter how long or rough the journey wisdom always ends up in the right place at the right time.
10 My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life. 11 I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths.
Three times he admonishes us to listen. Three times. Are you listening? Most of are only listening to reply. We live as if we already know the way, taking limited information into an unknown territory of life that without a guide destruction and disaster is imminent. Although it may hurt our pride to hear that we don’t know, we can’t afford ignore the wooing of wisdom as she guides us through the rough terrain of the human existence hoping we will avoid the missteps of our predecessors.
12 When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble. 13 Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life.
The reward for wisdom is freedom from unnecessary hurt and harm. Listen, look, and learn from others. The writer mentions that his instructions are the key to life itself. Keys open doors. Keys unlock things. Keys gain entrance and access to places once prohibited. One does not have to struggle with the same challenges of the previous generation. A better life is possible and attainable when wisdom leads the way.
Photography: @klby
by Dan A Thomas Jr | Sep 30, 2015 | James
James 5:19-20
If you ever get a chance, take a few moments and research how and why ships lose their way at sea. I don’t want to be a big spoiler, but I’ll give you a teaser – NO ONE KNOWS. Obviously, that was more than a teaser, but no one knows why ships wander, why they get lost, or what happens to their navigational tools. It’s a mystery of sorts. The only thing we are sure of is that it happens.
Like ships lost at sea we sometimes begin to wander and get lost. Have you ever been having a conversation with someone and your mind suddenly begins to wander and you yank yourself back into focus? Why did it happen? NO ONE KNOWS. The only thing we are sure of is that it happens.
As believers not only do our minds wander, but there are times when we stray from the path God has set before us. All of us. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s path to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.” (Emphasis mine)
When that happens we need people that are more interested in our restoration than the fact that we made a mess. Making a mess is inevitable, restoration is intentional. It’s the kind of attitude expressed in Galatians 6:1, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”
The word trespass literally means a lapse or deviation. The same as wandering. How those around us respond to our deviation helps determine how we recover after we wander. We save a soul when we choose to restore rather than condemn.
Photography: @jacobnnorris
by Dan A Thomas Jr | Sep 18, 2015 | James
James 3: 13-16
That’s the estimated distance between your head and your heart. 18 inches. Opportunities of a lifetime, moments worthy of historical lore, and providential relationships all the have the potential of being missed, never happening, or not ever taking place because of a disconnect between the head and the heart. It’s possible to understand something in your head, but be disengaged at the heart level. Over-informed and under-activated.
There is an inherent danger to gathering knowledge and not providing opportunities for what has been learned. Knowledge trapped inside the mind unexpressed in real world application breeds pride, selfishness, and arrogance. We would like to think that “the more we know, the more we grow”, but normally the more we know, the more we think we know, but we need more than knowledge. We need wisdom.
Wisdom is not an elderly man with a long white beard and horn-rimmed glasses or a booming James Earl Jones-type voice. Wisdom is what you do with what you know. How one applies what they have learned will determine whether it is wisdom. When knowledge travels the 18-inches from the head to the heart and manifests itself in meekness wisdom is birthed.
Meekness rhymes with weakness, but meekness is not weak. It’s strong, but gentle. Solid, but tender. It is literally strength under control. That’s real wisdom. Knows what to do, how to do, and when to do. That’s heavenly wisdom. The wisdom of this world produces chaos because it is preoccupied with self in the spotlight and will do whatever is necessary to remain on center stage. The wisdom of heaven shares what it knows in actions that benefit all.
Photography: @titus_anthony
by Dan A Thomas Jr | Sep 7, 2015 | James
James 2: 1-4
Prejudice. Discrimination. Favoritism. These are words that most of us wish didn’t exist in our culture. There are many who presuppose that these are realities of a bygone era buried beneath years of victorious struggle and sweeping legislation only to discover that branches were severed and roots left firmly intact.
Prejudice is something we all have to deal with. We all have ideas and opinions in our minds that have been formed independent of exposure to what we hold opinions about, yet there they are – the seedbed from which motivation springs forth.
True equality can only be realized in Christ as we give up our identity and discover our true uniqueness in Him. As we begin to see people as He sees them it forms our opinions and treatment of others and removes false barriers such as race and class and allows us to deal with people individually and not with the tainted spectacles of labels and stereotypes.
Jesus’ entire ministry was centered on removing false barriers that inhibited unity. In John chapter 4 he purposely sends his disciples away to buy meat because of an ensuing controversial encounter with a Samaritan woman. He expertly removed her boundaries on equality for women, ethnic superiority, and true worship.
James challenges us in similar fashion and places our biases under the vision-correcting scrutiny of true faith in Jesus. If you believe what Jesus taught and did, your faith does not include prejudice and does not provide room for favoritism due to a preferred demographic. Don’t think you can show favor to who you think God has favored and expect favor from God. Material blessings don’t necessarily represent the favor of God. It could be the exact opposite – independence from God.
Rich or poor? Equal.
Black or white? Equal.
Equal. Identical. Same.
Photography: @mattglenn
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