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All in Personal Faith
What's your great pursuit in life? What do you put most of your energy and interest into? Success... fame... love... pleasure... honor... respect... fulfillment... peace... contentment...?
Short-sighted pursuits are easily short-changed, even leaving a person empty. Taking the longer view may lead to discouragement and impatience along the way.
How would you describe respect? Three different types of respect come to mind for me.
Probably the most common one could be termed surface respect—it's shallow as the term implies. It's shown when the boss comes around or when trying to impress someone of importance.
Some respect is born out of sheer fear, dread, or fearfulness. It's an anxious fear that tends to cause people to flee or freeze up.
As a young believer, I had to learn how to trust God. It wasn't natural for me. It isn't natural for any of us. Just as toddlers exert their free will before they can say it clearly, we like to "do it by our self!" American culture only reinforces this innate self-willed resistance to trusting God.
We had a wing-backed, turquoise chair I called my "worry chair." It was vintage modern furniture from the sixties. My dearest grandmother gave it to us when my wife and I set up our new home and life together.
People have pursued wisdom since the beginning of time. Philosophers have filled the air and books with millions of words and thoughts with a variety of viewpoints. But philosophy is typically abstract, hypothetical, and theoretical, not practical wisdom.
The wisdom in Proverbs is far more practical than philosophy. It's grounded in truth from God and intended for daily life. This wisdom is to be taken into the deepest part of a person—their spirit and soul—to help them navigate relationships and live a life of integrity.
We take some things to heart in ways that aren't helpful. Criticism—especially when mean-spirited—can crush our heart and break our spirit. Whether accurate or not, criticisms tend to play like a never-ending tape in our mind.
Flattery taken to heart is a trap. It's self-deluding and sets us up to fall when we crash into reality. Like someone who can't carry a tune trying out on the American Idol stage because family or friends tell them they sing well.
Fame is fleeting. It does not last. Even notoriety fades quickly, especially in our day of instant media notifications—regardless if it's true or false.
As generations come and go, what was once great or sensational is forgotten. One of many reasons history repeats itself.
Have you ever said things you wished never escaped your lips? Of course, we all have! You can edit or delete a tweet or an email, but you can't recapture words spoken in haste, nor pull them out of the air as if they were never said.
The key to being careful with what comes out of our mouths is to surrender our heart and life to the One who knows us best. This is what we see King David do in this psalm.
