We are living in unprecedented times. Never in history have we seen people – sick and healthy alike – being quarantined in their homes, prohibited from going to work and forced to keep their distance from one another on such a global scale, all for the fear of an invisible virus. If we had been told even a few months ago that this would be happening soon, most probably none of us would even have believed it!
Wisdom for Christian Living
When I was praying the other day, this phrase dropped into my heart, "prayer keeps you from pride". As I was pondering on these words, I suddenly realised that the opposite is also true, "pride keeps you from prayer". [Sigh...] I know too well what that means - from experience!
This post could also have been called "the way we want others to see us" or "how we love to be seen in a good light" or something along these lines; but I thought "Show and Tell" was shorter and sweeter... It is about what we SHOW others and what we TELL others about ourselves through what we do. I was reading Matthew 6 recently and it became clear to me that it was all about that beautiful image of ourselves we like to project to other people.
(Please read "The 2 Sides of God" before reading this if you haven't as this is part 2)
So the Old Testament reveals God mainly as a holy God and the New Testament reveals Him mainly as a God of love in Jesus Christ. Because He is holy, He is a righteous Judge who has to punish our sins. But because He is also love, He comes down to earth as a man and receives the just punishment Himself on our behalf, so we can be forgiven and cleansed by His blood.
Thanks to the price paid on the cross, we are now back in fellowship with a holy God and we have access to His presence. We are proclaimed "not guilty". Our debt to God has been paid! If it stopped there,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
(Romans 1:16)
These days, there are so many things that are preached in churches; but we hear less and less preaching of the Gospel. People do not want to listen to the Gospel any more. They think it is "deja-vu", boring, irrelevant...
OK, the Bible tells me that I need wisdom... and I understand I do. But where do I go and what should I do to obtain this wisdom? Where do I start from? What am I supposed to do first?
The Bible tells us clearly in Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."