Proverbs- Part 7

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21

Have you ever been on the brink of breaking down, then suddenly someone said something that gave you just the hope you needed to persevere? When I was in high school, I distinctly remember receiving a timely word that brought life to my uncertain spirit. As I was going through a phase of trying to figure out what my purpose was or what my future held, a friend reminded me of the value I possessed, the purpose I already had, and the belief that God was going to use me to do great things. While this was just a part of a regular conversation and the person who said it may never remember it, it left a lasting impression that strengthened my spirit.

 On Sunday, we learned that words can rescue people. Whether it be something as simple as a coach telling a player, “Hey, you did a great job,” after a rough game, or a friend sending a letter with just the right words of encouragement after a difficult loss, it is clear that words have power.

Unfortunately, on the opposite end of the spectrum, words can bring great pain. I think we have all encountered someone who has made a distasteful or sarcastic comment about our character that has left a bruise. The reality is, “just kidding” never seems to negate the pain caused by a quick remark. Words have power. Just as quickly as they can build a spirit up, they can tear a spirit down.

So how, then, may we become encouragers? How may we bring life to the hopeless? How can we avoid quick slips of the tongue that have the potential to cause great harm?

Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

While words have great power, they are rooted in something much deeper. The way one speaks is merely a reflection of the contents of their heart. Likewise, we may become more encouraging when we allow God to transform our hearts into his likeness. When we choose to love people unconditionally as God has, we will be able to speak in a way that is uplifting. In the same sense, we will be able to avoid stumbling over distasteful dialogue. No longer will our hearts possess ammunition for relational ruin. Rather, when we let go of our feelings and allow God’s unconditional love to invade our hearts, we may become people who give life.

I challenge you, this week, to analyze your heart. Are you filled with unconditional love, grace, and kindness, or are you being held back? Are you hanging on to grudges, personal scars, or envy that is causing you to say hurtful things? As Pastor Aaron highlighted on Sunday, “The first step to transforming our speech is allowing God to transform our hearts.” I encourage you to surrender your troubles to God, and allow Him to invade your heart. Let our words not be the stones that break bones, but powerful voices that bring life. 

Written by: Tamara Sturdivant

Proverbs- Part 6

On “Killing Them With Kindness”: Thou Shalt Not Murder

I don’t understand grace. I really, really don’t. I could read every book Max Lucado has ever written and I still don’t think I’d ever fully comprehend it. This is in part because I am a naturally vindictive person, if you hurt me or the ones I love, or even a stranger badly enough, my natural desire is to see you get what (I feel) you deserve. Because I am on this journey, however, to try and be a supernaturally renewed servant of Christ, grace is something I am constantly trying to practice. Even though I don’t understand it all the time. Though I am of course oh so humble in Christ Jesus…I honestly believed that I must be a great person, being understanding and not shouting in situations where I’ve seen the rest of the world lose their minds. And sure, showing grace is a good thing. But what I lacked, and still lack some days, is a gracious heart.

When grace has been difficult to give in my life, I instead give guilt dressed up as kindness. When I practice being kind and humble to those who wrong me, I try and drown them in it, all the while thinking, “I hope you feel awful. I hope it makes you sick to have done so much wrong to someone who is still so good to you.”  So this past Sunday, when Pastor Aaron mentioned "heaping hot coals onto their heads," I couldn’t help but feel justified. But as Pastor Aaron continued to speak to the congregation, and God continued to speak to me, I was reminded of every time I have ever needed grace and received it—without hesitation or spite—from God and others. How every wrong I have committed that was met with mercy and kindness moved me to my core, and almost always inspired a very real transformation within my own spirit. Because I was not made a victim of someone else’s vindictiveness, God was able to be the one to deal with me, reshape my attitude and actions, and set me free. Why then, should I seek in my own heart to make someone else captive to my own bitterness under the guise of "grace," instead of allowing them to experience that same freedom that could impact them much more than my guilt trips or passiveness ever could?

Before God ever asked for our actions, or our "help", He asked for our hearts. We cannot truly practice forgiveness, love, patience, grace, or any of these fruitful things if the tree they come from is rotten (Luke 6:43-45). Therefore, we must be careful of our intentions and our hearts as much as we are our actions.

This week, I challenge you (and myself) to be observant of our own attitudes as we try and extend grace to those who we don’t feel deserve it, and allow God to use it for their growth, instead of trying to “kill” them with our kindness.

Written by: Brianna Vanderveen

Edited by: Brigit Edwards

Proverbs-Part 5

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! Proverbs 6:6

Our challenge from the book of Proverbs for Sunday, November 9 was to be diligent in our discipline as demonstrated in the example of the ant.

I did a search on “ant facts” and discovered some fascinating tidbits. Of course we all know that ants are capable of carrying objects 50 times their own body weight. But did you know that ants sometimes herd or tend to other insect species – like shepherds with sheep? (I visualized that and it was very cute – a little cartoon ant with a shepherd’s crook, rounding up little groups of big-eyed cartoon aphids…anyway…)

Also, ants follow scent trails laid by scout ants to gather food.  I remember learning this firsthand as a very young child sitting on the front stoop of my home with my dad. We watched a trail of ants carrying pieces of food into a nearby anthill.

“Watch this,” my dad said. He crouched down toward the trail and vigorously rubbed his finger on the ground in front of one of the ants marching single file.  The ant stopped and began to wander back and forth frantically for about 30 seconds. The other ants stopped dead in their tracks as well. Finally, the first ant picked up the scent again and forged a new path for his followers. And they all went marching down…to the ground…to get out of the rain…BOOM…BOOM….BOOM! (Sorry. I couldn’t resist).

As we heard the message Sunday on how diligence is a remarkable trait obtained by doing unremarkable things, I remembered this scene from my childhood. The long trail of ants was unremarkable.  But what struck me as remarkable was how diligently that ant searched to get back onto the right path again. Even more remarkable than that was the way his momentary wanderings affected those who were traveling the path with him.

Marching along in the difficulty and sometimes mundaneness of our Christian walk can be hard. Sometimes it’s not super fun. And sometimes, we wander off the path. It feels unremarkable and lonely. We forget that there are people who love, support and look to us along the journey as well. 

My diligence has an effect on those around me. I hope I never forget that.  So does yours. If you’ve struggled with that, or wandered off the path, just know today that there’s a trail of believers in front of and behind you cheering you on to your destination.

So, remember that ant! Consider its ways and be wise!

Written by: Jaime Hlavin

Edited by: Jenelle Kelly

Proverbs- Part 4

For the longest time, I wished I’d had a personal testimony filled with more drama and action. After all, those stories are ones you tend to remember most in church: the lost soul who was instantly delivered from addiction, or healed from a long illness, or found God after a near-death experience. Those are uplifting stories, and we all need to hear them, but I’m one of those countless Christians whose walk with God is more like a series of incremental gains.

There’s nothing wrong with this, but I’ve had to remind myself that God uses people with my story just as often and effectively as he uses people with striking testimonies. The personal growth that takes a long time also testifies to God’s enduring faithfulness, and the writer of Proverbs seems to want us all to know the Lord in this way.

The “slow and steady” message this Sunday resonates with me for that reason, and a lot of verses tread over this ground.  For example, in Proverbs 21:20 it states that “A wise man builds up treasures, while a fool devours his gains at once.” Furthermore, Proverbs 13:11 asserts that “dishonest money dissipates but he who stores up wealth little by little sees it grow.” Whether it’s building up treasures on Earth or in Heaven, growing your character, or removing sin and falsehood from your life, there is nothing prosaic or faithless about winning small, gradual victories.

Early in my marriage I used to get in trouble often with my wife for not noticing when I could help or when she needed me. I’d carry bags from the car to our apartment, and not notice she had more than she could carry and needed a hand. Or, I’d track dirt on a floor she had just cleaned, or forget an errand she needed me to run.  Most newlyweds have adjustments like that to make, but it occurred to me that I’ve always operated under a flawed paradigm: I’ll take care of me, I don’t expect anyone to help me, and I don’t understand why anyone else has the gall to expect my help or be angry when they don’t get it. Self-reliance is a virtue, but imperceptiveness only deprives you of the chance to show Christ’s character. 

I don’t think Paula ever found it easy to believe I would change until one day we were having an argument in the grocery store, and I noticed a short and stooped woman behind her, trying desperately to reach a medication on the top aisle shelf with her walking cane.  It looked like her efforts were going to get messy, and one of my very few useful traits is being tall, so I asked Paula to hold that thought while I went and helped her. The lady smiled and thanked me, but Paula was nearly overcome at the sight. Here at least was evidence that I was growing, just by looking around.

I haven’t beaten this old way of thinking completely, but in the years since I know I’ve stopped to help motorists with trouble, given people rides, fetched food or water for a colleague suffering over-exertion at work, and more.  These aren’t monumental feats of goodness, no one is going to remember them much beyond the next day, and they certainly won’t fill stadiums on evangelism crusades. But little by little I become a better person than I used to be, because God is faithful to honor the years-ago prayers that Paula made for me, or I made for myself, to ask His help to change.

Maybe bigger feats are in store, I’d like to think so, but at any rate God’s faithfulness has suffered with me and built me over a long time. And it seems to me He likes to do that with all of us ordinary Christians – or he wouldn't have turned a whole book of the Bible into the little guy's training manual.

Written by: Chad Halcom

Edited by: Tamara Sturdivant