Tag: Behaviors

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Wisdom breaks the fourth wall.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my instruction. For it is good to keep these sayings in your heart and always ready on your lips. I am teaching you today—yes, you— so you will trust in the Lord.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The wisdom writers work hard to give us knowledge and understanding about how life AND God, as well as life IN God, works.

However, the whole key to this idea of doing life well, is all about application. It’s applying what is learned directly into how one should live. Knowledge isn’t enough. One example is the label on cigarette packaging. It’s right there, telling us what these things will do to us, beckoning, begging us, to NOT smoke them. Why? Because they will kill us! My family were smokers, and I heard it hundreds of times, my mom would say, “I know these things are gonna kill me, but I do it anyways!” The knowledge, the warning, did nothing to stop her from doing what she wanted to do. Contrarily, just knowing I should walk, stretch and just move my body more does not always translate into exercise. In fact, in many cases, knowledge itself can be counterproductive to wisdom because it just turns into some random Snapple Cap, or trivial conversation at some boring dinner party.

Proverbs does encourage memorizing godly principles, just like it is wonderful to memorize God’s Word. But I love the reason, the why behind the idea of handily having quick access to truth. So that… I might not sin against God. Or, in this case the writer’s break the fourth wall and uses a cool literary trick to get our attention with a writing aside. Wisdom directly reaches out to the reader by saying, “I am teaching you – today.” Then, emphatically repeats, “Yes, you!” In this case the why of applying and committing these principles to memory is so YOU will trust in the Lord. The more knowledge is applied, becoming a reality in our behaviors, the more we grow in wisdom. Bonus, it further builds our trust in Yahweh.

Prayer

Dad,
How wonderful is Your Word! And, how amazing it is to see it work in my life and through my life. I love KNOWING your ways, but love LIVING your ways and behaving in godly character even more. I love it because I can feel and see the results in my life. May I continue ALWAYS – to be curious, to be childlike in a lifetime of learning. But may I reflect the beauty and wonder of your light and love in the world around me too!

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Our behavior is our I.D. badge.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭15‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus actually tells us to be careful when we are identifying good people from bad – especially those who claim to be spokespersons for God (prophets). This is tricky because we are instructed to be fruit inspectors but leave the final call, the judgment of how to deal with fakes and falsities up to God.

First of all, badges and titles mean very little in terms of authenticity, authority and allowing someone to lead, guide or even correct us. This is our current crisis of leadership and authority figures today! The Pastor may wear a collar, a tie or a title, but if they are not acting like a good shepherd, BE CAREFUL – BE AWARE. A police officer, judge, doctor, teacher or governor may hold the title, but if their fruit, their behaviors don’t match the position – be on your guard.

How can the average person know how to tell the difference between a good, authoritative person and a bad one? Jesus told us. Check out the way they act, not their clothes, symbolic accoutrements, or titles. How do they treat you, and others? The object lesson helps all of us, even a child, identify who is not only safe, but helpful in our lives. Can you find or eat a yummy grape off a thorny bush or tumbleweed? Nope. A tree or bush only produces what it IS, not what it would wish to BE. If you are a spokesperson for God, or an authority figure, quit pushing your position and title around and start behaving like a person of good character. I’ve heard folks say this when trying to make others comply to their commands, “Do you know who I am?” When they have to use that line to convince someone to cower and obey, we know they’ve got a fruit/behavior identity problem.

By the way, Jesus did sparingly use his title with the guys who said they worked for and represented God. He told them straight out – “I AM,” using the culturally unspoken, unwritten, name of God – Yahweh. This obviously made the religious leader’s blood boil! But with most people, average outliers and sideliners, he didn’t speak his title, he spoke love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy and healing! Those sound like behavioral actions to me.

How about letting our behaviors be our I.D. badge? In conversations with people I interact with, I rarely introduce myself as a Pastor. Am I ashamed to do so? Not at all. I just want to lead with behavior, not my badge. After a few moments of talking to someone, sometimes I get the common, “so what do you do?” question. Sometimes I’ll tell people, “I am a hopebroker.” That always initiates a whole new conversation! However, there are times I just tell them straight out, “I’m a Pastor.” I love the look on their face after that. Sometimes they will pay me the highest compliment ever, “well, you don’t act like one!” they’ll say. Meaning, I didn’t judge them, look down on them or start a typical controversial argument they might expect from a religious person. The only time I use the official title of Pastor (I say Minister) is when doctors or hospital personnel won’t let me visit someone who is in a health crisis 😇.

Prayer

Dad,
I want to wear grace like a nice outfit. I want mercy and patience to be my business card. I want your character attributes, the fruit of the Spirit to be what hangs on the title of my life-door. I need a lot of help to get my fruit to match my tree! Help me BE Jesus before I even start talking about my christian credentials.