Monday 30 September 2013

Proverbs 27:6

My dear hubby and I went to the movies on Saturday and were pleasantly surprised with a wonderful film  directed by Ron Howard. We are not auto racing fans, however the movie "Rush" really caught our fascination. It is a story based on the real life rivals Niki Lauda and James Hunt and what took place in the Grand Prix Championship of 1976.There were several good things that could be said about this film, but this isn't going to be a movie review. There was one scene in particular in which methodical and practical "Niki Lauda" tells the playboy "James Hunt" that James needs to stop his partying and get on his game. He advises "his enemy" that it is wiser to listen and learn from your enemies than it is to only look for kisses from false friends. It was a paraphrase of Proverbs 27:6 which says:

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Your real friends would tell you the truth, and if necessary, make it sting with it's bluntness so that the truth will hit home. Those seeds can then do their work to cause a person to realize their situation honestly, because we can be very good at lying to ourselves about it. I often read blogs which garner many "friends" who love to "love" the blogger with all kinds of "kisses" (compliments), but as Christians are we called to be flatterers? Or must we weigh all things by the word of God? When someone who calls him or herself a Christian just goes on and on about him or herself with rarely (if ever) a nod to Jesus, is that something we should encourage and fawn over? It may seem like a minor or trivial issue, but it actually goes to the heart of what is at stake. Paul goes on and on about the deceitfulness of our flesh, and of all the dangers that the enemy wants to entice us with. Did he waste his time in doing so? Was there no reason to consider such dangers? Is the foolishness of such idolatry of self worthy of  our attention at all?

Today's "gospel" centers on self, and it is no gospel. It is all about what Jesus can do for me, and about how I want to interpret the Bible myself, and about how the Holy Spirit in ME might be telling me something different than He tells everyone else...really? I've even seen those who claim to be Christians, claim to not be for the self-centered "Christianity" and still only talk about themselves and their own experiences, as if that is the most important thing in the world. What should we then say to such a person? Would it be faithful to encourage such behavior? Or should we encourage them to talk more about Jesus and what He TRULY is all about instead? What would Jesus do?

Some things that I have been pondering much about lately, and praying that the Lord Jesus shows me the way to honor Him in all things by being true to His word, and not just a flatterer.

3 comments:

  1. Susan, you left a comment on my blog regarding "Wrestling with the Devil", by Lex Luger. Are you interested in receiving the coupon for the free book I offered in that post? If not, do you know someone who may be interested in receiving it? Christmas gift ideas??? I didn't know how else to reach you, so I visited your site. Please reply in the comments on the same posting: http://christiancognition.blogspot.com/2013/08/wrestling-with-devil-by-lex-luger.html

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  3. Susan, if you'd like, send me your address via email: supatrupa2000@gmail.com It is really no problem that you're moving, either. I have a coupon from Tyndale that I will mail directly to you...not a physical book that takes longer to arrive. You then simply take the coupon to a book store and redeem it whenever is good for you. If you're interested, I'd like you to have it. God bless you!

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