365 Reflections

The sad thing about Proverbs is how often they are ignored. Proverbs 23:19–21 (ESV) Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. 20 Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, 21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. One of the warnings of scripture I find our current culture continually ignoring are those concerning drunkenness and overeating. Somehow the broad opinion in the country where I live (America) is that eating poorly or excessively is not all that bad, that we have slow metabolisms, an eating addiction or simply a disease. It's amazing how far we go to justify sins.  Notice the warning about gluttony. They wind up poor and disheveled. This is indeed what we see as people pay for higher health costs, more electricity, and higher overall costs of living to accommodate their destructive appetites. And the warning for the son of the Proverbs writer is - don't be around them. Get awa...

Genesis 9:24–27 (ESV)   When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Blessed be the Lord , the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.” After the flood, Noah sins. He plants a vineyard, has too much wine, gets drunk and naked, then passes out in his tent. IN HIS TENT. Ham, his youngest son comes in the tent and sees his father's nakedness and reports it to his older brothers who back into the tent with a covering for their father. Some have tried to say the words could mean Ham sexually molested his father, but their attempt fail on bad exegesis. The reason people try to make Ham's sin more than what it was is because they cannot understand why Ham's descendant Canaan should be curse for what they perceive to be a small infraction...

How are we going to stand in the midst of a society increasingly at odds with the ways of our God? Ephesians 3:14 (ESV) For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Can you see Paul on his face in a roman prison calling out to God? What a picture of faith and what an example for us all. The scripture records a lot of prayers. But the most heartfelt prayers are those uttered when one is bowed before God. It is utter desperation and hopelessness apart from God's i...