Talk the Talk

•September 11, 2012 • Leave a Comment

I guess I’m someone who often has a lot to say on a subject, even if those words are more often thought or typed than said out loud these days.  That doesn’t mean that everything I have to say is useful – or even helpful.

If we are going to be wise, as we looked at in Proverbs, we so need to think about our tongues and how we use our speech…

James 3:1-12

The Tongue

3 My friends, we should not all try to become teachers. In fact, teachers will be judged more strictly than others. 2 All of us do many wrong things. But if you can control your tongue, you are mature and able to control your whole body.

3 By putting a bit into the mouth of a horse, we can turn the horse in different directions. 4 It takes strong winds to move a large sailing ship, but the captain uses only a small rudder to make it go in any direction. 5 Our tongues are small too, and yet they brag about big things.

It takes only a spark to start a forest fire! 6 The tongue is like a spark. It is an evil power that dirties the rest of the body and sets a person’s entire life on fire with flames that come from hell itself. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures can be tamed and have been tamed. 8 But our tongues get out of control. They are restless and evil, and always spreading deadly poison.

9-10 My dear friends, with our tongues we speak both praises and curses. We praise our Lord and Father, and we curse people who were created to be like God, and this isn’t right. 11 Can clean water and dirty water both flow from the same spring? 12 Can a fig tree produce olives or a grapevine produce figs? Does fresh water come from a well full of salt water?

Our tongues are such a small part of our body, but when we use them to talk, we can do big things with them – we can either do great good, or cause great harm by what we say.

Do we want to be known as someone who spreads deadly poison, who is constantly calling people, who never has a good word to say about anyone or anything?  Do we want to be someone whose words are destructive?  Or do we want to be someone who always has a pleasant word, who goes out of their way to praise others and encourage them?  Do we want to be the source of dirty water or clean?  Someone who praises or curses?

You can bet if we are known for always having something unhelpful to say that no one would hear anything we have to say about God – or if they do, it will be tainted by also hearing our bad attitude.  Hmmm…

 Let my words and my thoughts
be pleasing to you, Lord,
because you are my mighty rock
and my protector.

(Psalm 19:14 Contemporary English Version)

Posted in bible, God, Lectionary, Religion
Tags: , , ,

Being Wise

•September 10, 2012 • 2 Comments

What do we consider to be wisdom?  Saving for a rainy day?  Learning the lessons of a previous generation?  Looking both ways before we cross the road?

There are many ways to be wise – and many ways to ignore wisdom and think we know better.

Proverbs 1:20-33

Wisdom Speaks

20 Wisdom shouts in the streets

    wherever crowds gather.
21 She shouts in the marketplaces
and near the city gates
as she says to the people,
22 “How much longer
will you enjoy
being stupid fools?
Won’t you ever stop sneering
and laughing at knowledge?
23     Listen as I correct you
and tell you what I think.
24 You completely ignored me
and refused to listen;
25 you rejected my advice
and paid no attention
when I warned you.

26 “So when you are struck
by some terrible disaster,
27 or when trouble and distress
surround you like a whirlwind,
I will laugh and make fun.
28 You will ask for my help,
but I won’t listen;
you will search,
but you won’t find me.
29 No, you would not learn,
and you refused
to respect the Lord.
30 You rejected my advice
and paid no attention
when I warned you.

31 “Now you will eat the fruit
of what you have done,
until you are stuffed full
with your own schemes.
32 Sin and self-satisfaction
bring destruction and death
to stupid fools.
33 But if you listen to me,
you will be safe and secure
without fear of disaster.”

So, do we listen, or sneer and ignore when good advice comes our way?

Wisdom seeks to offer correction – advice for the right way, and so often it goes ignored.  BUT we pay no attention at our peril.

We are reminded that

In the book of Proverbs the word “wisdom” is sometimes used as though wisdom were a supernatural being who was with God at the time of creation.

and I think it is in that context that this passage is best read.

 

How often are we “stuffed-full of our own schemes” instead of listening to God’s?  How often do we plough on, without listening to that still small voice of God?  How often do we rush on ahead, paying no heed to what God is saying and doing to us?

 

How different might life be if we did?

Lord,

you know the best ways,

the right ways

– help me not to run away with my thoughts and ideas,

but to hear yours

– and act on them

Posted in bible, follow, God, Religion
Tags: , ,

Begging for Help

•September 5, 2012 • Leave a Comment

A cry for help.  What do you do?  You’re tired and hungry, needing some time to yourself.  But there are people – real human people with life issues, so much need.  So you reach our and help.

Mark 7:24-37

A Woman’s Faith

24 Jesus left and went to the region near the city of Tyre, where he stayed in someone’s home. He did not want people to know he was there, but they found out anyway. 25 A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard where Jesus was. And right away she came and knelt down at his feet. 26 The woman was Greek and had been born in the part of Syria known as Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said, “The children must first be fed! It isn’t right to take away their food and feed it to dogs.”

28 The woman replied, “Lord, even dogs eat the crumbs that children drop from the table.”

29 Jesus answered, “That’s true! You may go now. The demon has left your daughter.” 30 When the woman got back home, she found her child lying on the bed. The demon had gone.

Jesus Heals a Man Who Was Deaf and Could Hardly Talk

31 Jesus left the region around Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward Lake Galilee. He went through the land near the ten cities known as Decapolis. 32 Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. They begged Jesus just to touch him.

33 After Jesus had taken him aside from the crowd, he stuck his fingers in the man’s ears. Then he spit and put it on the man’s tongue. 34 Jesus looked up toward heaven, and with a groan he said, “Effatha!” which means “Open up!” 35 At once the man could hear, and he had no more trouble talking clearly.

36 Jesus told the people not to say anything about what he had done. But the more he told them, the more they talked about it. 37 They were completely amazed and said, “Everything he does is good! He even heals people who cannot hear or talk.”

Jesus didn’t want people to know he was there.  I guess he needed a rest, time to think through all that had happened, where it was going, what it meant.  He needed to pray, to keep in touch with his Father.  He had been giving and giving, he must have needed time to re-charge. Perhaps he wants to be known for more than a miracle worker, a provider, a slot machine.

And yet still they came to him – for they knew he could help.

And when they come he does reach out.

We’ve mused over this encounter of Jesus with the woman whose daughter is in so much need before.  Jesus seems reluctant to help, but only because he feels it is detracting from his main purpose.  As soon as he realises her need and her faith, he reaches out to her.

And the deaf man – Jesus reaches out to him, as his friends beg Jesus to help.

But Jesus instructs them not to say anything about what he has done.  Why would he do that?  Wouldn’t he want people to know about the might and power of God who could do these amazing things?

Well, yes.  But is there another side?  Does he not want God to be known only for miracles?  Does he not want people to follow him just because they think he can make their life “better”?  Is Jesus looking to offer them more, and them constantly looking for miracles is missing that?  Jesus has already said he doesn’t want people to follow him just because they think he will supply all their need.  He wants them to come, not for an easy life, but to discover faith in God and how much more he has to offer – then perhaps they may realise that God offers way beyond the repairing of bodies and the production of an easy meal.

Jesus is bringing a new way of living, that they might miss if they are so focussed on having their current way of life made better.

Lord,

may I not miss all you have to offer me,

by looking for what I think are the solutions.

May I allow you to work,

as and when you seek to.

May I not restrict you by my horizons,

but seek to look to yours.

Posted in bible, Jesus, Lectionary, Religion
Tags: , , ,

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »