Skeleton key: Three big IFs

Imagine this scene with me:

After spending the better part of a week in Tel Aviv, you’ve had your fill of unsuccessful discussions and dead-end conversations.  So far, you have found only scant details on the whereabouts of the Book of Life.

”When all else fails, go to the library”, you mumble to yourself as you walk into Beit Ariela library.  However, you know that somewhere in their collection of books, journals, and newspapers could be some information to guide your next steps. 

Your initial search turns up several books worth searching through, so you gather your first stack and settle into a quiet corner to do some focused reading.  About half the books in your stack have a thick coating of dust, betraying how long it has been since anyone looked at them.

Several hours later, towards the back of your third book on ancient manuscripts, you find three small folded sheets of paper.  Each one appears to be a handwritten letter from a father to his son.  The age of the paper, along with their crumpled sides, suggests they could have been used as bookmarks the last time this dusty book had been opened.  The first letter’s text reads:

My son,
If you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
             listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding;
furthermore,
if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,
if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure,

Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He stores up success for the upright;
He is a shield for those who live with integrity
              so that He may guard the paths of justice
              and protect the way of His faithful followers.

Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity – every good path.

The letter is signed by “A. Danling”.  The name sounds familiar, but you’re not sure where you’ve heard it before.  However, the letter’s formatting stands out to you, and you notice how it helps drive the point that the father is making to his son.

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Observation of the Biblical text is a skill us modern believers need as well.  The text above is from Proverbs 2:1-9, and right off the bat, you’ll see that Solomon leads with three big IF statements:

IF you accept…
IF you call out…
IF you seek…

What we can gather from this is that the pursuit of wisdom must be an intentional choice.  It’s not enough to agree that wisdom is important…we also have to decide to take the necessary actions to find it.  Solomon tells his son that wisdom isn’t going to just dawn on him; instead, it must be prioritized and pursued.  You must seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure – how much focus and effort do treasure hunters put into their search?  That’s what is needed for us to find and apply God’s wisdom.

Fortunately, Solomon also included a couple of “then” statements, to help his son see how his efforts to find wisdom will benefit him in life.

After prioritizing and searching for wisdom, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God – which means you’ll have the skeleton key from Proverbs 1:7 in hand:

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Next we see that the Lord’s gift of wisdom will act as a shield, bringing success and protection as we navigate life and live by God’s principles.  The good path we desire is available to us, as we skillfully apply wisdom’s lessons.

So the questions we must ask ourselves are pretty straight-forward.  We would all agree that wisdom is an important pursuit, but what are we doing to seek it out? 

What steps are we taking to find it?
How often do we ask God for it?
Are we daily looking to the Bible to find it?

If wisdom is our treasure, then let’s prioritize being a treasure hunter.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Rooted and growing

I love word pictures.

Similes and metaphors have the incredible ability to communicate broad concepts in simple images.  We come across one of the most famous Biblical examples when we read about the psalmist’s desire for God:

Psalm 42:1
As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God.

The imagery is so strong that I honestly think he could have stopped the psalm right there.  We clearly understand the level of desire he is trying to communicate.  Later on, the psalmist also uses a metaphor to demonstrate how much he relies on God:

Psalm 42:9
I will say to God, my rock…

This comparison grabs our attention as well.  By referring to God as “my rock”, all the associated ideas of strength, stability, and reliability are understood.

This is why we need to pay attention to any word pictures that we come across when reading Scripture.  When we pause to consider what the imagery represents, we will get a fuller understanding of what the author is trying to communicate – and better understanding always leads to better application.

As Paul was encouraging the believers in Colossae to develop and mature in their relationship with God, he used two powerful metaphors.  The first one equated our relationship with Jesus to our walk, which carries the idea of us traveling together with Christ.  Take a look at these verses and find the second word picture.  It gives us the characteristics of how our walk should go.

Colossians 2:6-7
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Just in case the Colossian believers were wondering what their walk in Him should look like, Paul jumps to an agricultural metaphor to explain.  Clear images come to mind when he says that the path of our lives should be rooted and built up in Him.  This word picture makes it easy for us to take the concept of a tree driving roots deep into the ground for both stability and nutrients and associate it with the need for us to drive our own spiritual roots deep into Christ.

From the moment life bursts forth from an acorn, we have an oak tree.  It is weak and susceptible to damage from a variety of sources – weather, disease, other creatures, etc.  Its only hope of protecting itself is to establish roots.  Strong roots make a strong tree.  Weak roots make a weak tree.  As the oak tree’s roots find good soil and water, the tree can be built up and develop.

This metaphor is easily applicable to our lives.  From the moment we receive Jesus, we are a Christian.  But we are also weak and susceptible to damage from a variety of sources – life’s circumstances, poor teachings, other people, etc.  Our only hope of protecting ourselves is to establish roots.  As we are rooted and built up in Him, we can grow, develop, and be established in what we believe.

Pausing to consider this metaphor also gives us a chance to ask the question:

Am I making sure I’m rooted in Jesus?  What steps am I actively taking so I can walk in Him, and walk with Him?

Think about this today.  This word picture, and its implications, are worth meditating over.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Recognizing counterfeits

We’d all love to live life to the fullest, as God intends for us – complete, mature, and ready for good use under Christ’s leadership.  But often times it is a tough road to become mature and develop Christ-like character.  If only spiritual maturity were as simple as going a straight line from Point A to Point B, right? 

After describing his desire to have all believers reach maturity, Paul speaks about Jesus, and says

Colossians 2:3
In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

And then Paul gives the Colossians a direct application of this foundational truth:

Colossians 2:4-5
I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments.  For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the strength of your faith in Christ.

Paul is just one man, and therefore his ministry is limited to one place at a time.  At the time of this writing, he cannot be with the Colossians to personally protect them from the variety of nice-sounding, but very dangerous, false ideas about God that would come their way.  So Paul gives them encouragement for the ways they are currently guarding their faith.  However, he also gives them direction for how to continue to mature, despite the reckless ideas about God they will also encounter.

Colossians 2:6-7
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

The path to maturity and the path for protection against false teachings is actually the continuation in the direction they started with, to be in Christ.  Their relationship with God started with their faith in Christ, when they received Him as their Savior from sin’s penalty.  Remember, Jesus said to His disciples:

John 14:6
I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Jesus is the way to the Father.
Jesus is the truth of the Father.
Jesus is the life we are given from the Father.

That is why Paul tells the believers in Colossae to walk in Him.  Walk in His ways.  Walk in His truths.  Walk in His life.  This is the way we protect ourselves from false teaching about God.  We know the real God so well that we aren’t swayed away when the counterfeit philosophies come our way.

We don’t have to know all the variations and deceptions out there – we only need to know the truth, and continue to walk in Him.

Keep Pressing,
Ken 

Praying for protection

On many occasions, I have prayed that God would protect my family.  This request is usually made when they are leaving the house to go anywhere, whether it’s a quick trip to the grocery store or somewhere further out, like the next town over.  The distance doesn’t really matter; it’s the fact that I’m not physically with them (and therefore I can’t protect them) that bothers me enough that I ask God to watch over them.

But that’s about as far as any of our prayers for protection typically go, isn’t it?  When we ask God to protect someone, we’re typically looking for “traveling mercies”, or perhaps we’re asking God to keep a child from doing something irrevocably stupid.  Honestly though, the motive of these requests has a lot more to do with avoiding hardships…like car accidents and negative life-altering choices.  When we get right down to it, in our requests for protection we’re looking out more for our own comfort than for God’s glory and reputation.

During His ‘High Priestly Prayer’, the disciples continued to listen to Jesus pray to the Father about them.  As you read this section of Jesus’ prayer, look for how He requested that the Father protect them.

John 17:11-15 I am no longer in the world,
but they are in the world, and I am coming to You.
Holy Father, protect them by Your name that You have given Me,
so that they may be one as We are one.
While I was with them, I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me.
I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction,
so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.

Now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world
so that they may have My joy completed in them. I have given them Your word.
The world hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.
I am not praying that You take them out of the world
but that You protect them from the evil one.

So what kind of protection is Jesus asking the Father for here? 

Since we know the rest of the disciples’ stories from here on out, we know that they did not have a comfortable life.  They faced even more trials and persecutions after the cross than they did before the cross.  So Jesus isn’t praying for their comfort…then what kind of “protection” is Jesus seeking from the Father?

Jesus was asking for the Father’s protection so that they may be one as We are one and also to be protected from the evil one.

It was Jesus’ relationship with the Father that kept Him on mission.  His “oneness” with the Father was why He was able to complete the work the Father gave Him, even when other people or Satan himself tried to derail His purpose. 

For the previous three years, the disciples had Jesus as the example of remaining connected to the Father.  But now that example, that protection by proximity, was going to be removed.  Jesus knew that for the disciples to be effective in spreading the gospel message, they would need to be unified – in purpose and relationship, both with the Father and with each other.  Their “oneness” with the Father was a greater need than their own comfort, and their unity with each other would need the Father’s protection. 

The same rings true for us modern-day believers.  For us to complete the mission that God has given us, our “oneness” with the Father needs to be a greater priority than our comforts or preferences.  So let’s begin to pray like Jesus did and ask the Father to protect those closest to us – so that they may be one with the Father, just like Jesus was.

Keep Pressing,
Ken