Praiseworthy

"The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise." Proverbs 27:21

It strikes me just now, reading this verse for it seems like the hundredth time - I think I may just now be understanding part of it's meaning and for once might have peered momentarily into the depths of understanding this passage.

Crucibles and furnaces test the quality of these precious metals, and even make it possible to refine them into something better. True. That part is probably obvious. Am I so dense as to have missed the second part for so long?? I probably am, and need the humbling enough to admit it in public.

Check out that second part: "...a man is tested by his praise." What?! How do I test the quality of a man? I examine the things that he praises. How do I refine a man into a better man? I change the things he praises.

The man in this story, of course, is me. It's you. None of us can escape the implications here.

How obvious! How simple! Why haven't I seen this all along?

Do I praise the things of this world or the things of God? Do I praise the temporary or the eternal? Praise implies value, and what I value in my life, what I spend time pursuing, what I talk about and read about and sing about and think about - those are the things that I'm praising and those are the things that I'm telling anyone who's watching that I'm praising.

Am I a man after God's own heart or the world's own heart? Easy - do I praise and value God with my whole heart or do I praise and value the things of this world instead? Do I spend more time reading Facebook or God's Word? Do I spend more time gossiping about people or praying for them? Do I spend more time at work or communing with God?

You get my meaning. Somewhere along the way we lost our perspective. We got so caught up trying to build our little kingdoms here on earth that we forgot our original task of preparing for the Kingdom to come ("Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...")

One final verse:
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

What are you and I pursuing and is what we're pursuing truly praiseworthy? What needs to change in our hearts and minds to make this verse true in our lives?

Rocking Chairs

Isabella has this little $2 plastic chair that she LOVES.  I mean, she will get it out, push it around, pull it from room to room, sit in it, get up, move it to another spot, sit in it again, and on and on...It's crazy how much she enjoys that chair!


This morning, in the midst of playing with her chair, she discovered that she could lean and make the chair rock back and forth.  The problem is - it's not a rocking chair.  Not at all.  In fact, this chair is barely solid enough to hold her up while sitting normally (hence, the cheapness).  So, grinning happily, she leans forward and tilts the chair.  Then she leans back and tilts it further.  Over and over, forward and back, progressively leaning more and more away from the chair's center of gravity.  Of course, you know what happened next.  She leaned too far back and - BONK! - on the floor she went...


Five minutes of tears and snot later...


I'm sitting there rocking her in my arms, wishing I had been fast enough to catch her, and rewinding the whole thing in my head.  You know what kept coming to mind while I pondered?


A line.  Specifically, a line established by God as the standard between right and wrong.  I know that seems like a wild connection, but hear me out.


I think sometimes we treat our freedom in Christ like that chair.


Christ came to free us from the law through grace (Romans 6:14), true.  But that doesn't mean we don't have any limitations to our living, that we can just do whatever we want to do (Romans 6:1).  Christ came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17), and so there's this line drawn for us in the sand.  A line that differentiates us from the world.  A line that sets us apart as holy for the purpose of glorifying our Father in heaven.  And yet, I see people stepping closer and closer to the line.  I see this chair being tilted forward and back, precariously close to falling.


I hear people say, "Nothing's wrong with having one or two beers.  It's not like I'm getting drunk."  Or they say, "Just because the music I listen to has cuss words in it doesn't mean I'm cussing."  Oh, and this is my favorite - "I'm not lusting.  I'm just appreciating God's creation."


Are you kidding me?!


All over the world there are believers (and I include myself in this) getting as close to the line as they possibly can, abusing and making a mockery of the grace that they've been shown.  To quote Paul, "By no means!"


Since when did it become okay to do wrong (by Christ's standards, not the world's) and then justify it in some way or other?  If we are doing anything that causes or could cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble, to trip up, to fall into sin - we are wrong. We. Are. Sinning. (Romans 14:13-23)


So, what should we do?  What's the take away?


We should be trying to live a life as far away from the line as possible.  We should be sitting in that chair as still as can be, or not even sitting in the chair at all.  Know why?  Because if we don't stop leaning, if we don't stop playing around right on the edge of danger - we'll fall.  Big time.  With a bruise and bump on our noggin to show for it.  While I didn't let Isabella fall on purpose, that fall certainly taught her a lesson.  Later, she went back to it very carefully, making sure that she didn't lean at all.  I don't think God wants to see His children hurting, but He certainly isn't beyond letting us "fall out of our chair" to teach us a lesson (Proverbs 3:11-12, Hebrews 12:4-11).