My Daily Pause

Every sunset could be our last

Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.  – Proverbs 27:1

Depending on tomorrow and not on God is unwise. Delaying spiritual things in favor of earthly things never turns out well when the Bible addresses them:

James 4:13-15 – Life is short.
Luke 12:16-21 – Do not lay up treasure for yourself.
Matthew 6:33-34 – Seek first the Kingdom of God.

If you are waiting around to take care of something, now may be a good time to rethink that.

Pure gold is not destroyed by the hottest fire

A hot furnace tests silver and gold,
but the Lord tests hearts. – Proverbs 17:3 NCV

Gold has been a precious metal through time because its intrinsic value comes from its utility. When subjected to extreme heat, it does not discolor or lose weight, and it remains a near perfect conductor of heat and electricity.

The fake stuff only looks nice – avoid testing it as gold because it will just burn away.

Job understood this as his heart was tested (Job 23:10). He made up his mind to survive his trials with a pure heart and chose to “come out as gold”.

Paul gave Timothy the formula for purifying our hearts (2 Tim 2:21-22). Jesus revealed the reward for the pure in heart (Matt 5:8).

Will you survive God’s test?

Even simple tasks like removing these retaining rings need thought and preparation

First, finish your outside work
and prepare your fields.
After that, you can build your house. – Proverbs 24:27

If you have ever tried to remove a retaining ring from some machine without an extractor, you already have the sense of what is being taught here.

Removing this looks easy.
A pair of pliers should work.

At some point, you might give up even though the correct tool costs $5 at Walmart. Having the correct tools and proper preparation makes the task at hand manageable.

In the same way, staying faithful to the Lord’s work requires daily preparation.

Study.

Prayer.

Worship.

Sacrifice.

These are the things that help us meet the challenges that we will face.
They prepare us for the work.

The Lord’s Prayer – ca, 1890 – James Tissot (1836–1902)

“I ask two things from you, Lord.
Don’t refuse me before I die.

Keep me from lying and being dishonest.
And don’t make me either rich or poor;
just give me enough food for each day.

If I have too much, I might reject you
and say, ‘I don’t know the Lord.’
If I am poor, I might steal
and disgrace the name of my God.  – Proverbs 30:7-9 NCV

The Bible generally shows us examples of prayers that are simple and short. Another thing I notice is that they generally de-emphasize self and focus on God and others. The Proverbs writer’s example is one that helps us see the beauty of godliness and simplicity. Here we see the desire to avoid the temptations of the extreme conditions of life.

In the Lord’s Model Prayer, (Matthew 6:5-13) Jesus shows the listeners a prayer with four simple ingredients:

• Praise (Matthew 6:9-10) – God first. Remember to tell him you love him and want his plans to succeed
• Provision (Matthew 6:11) – We shouldn’t hesitate to ask for what we need (Also see Philippians 4:6)
• Purification (Matthew 6:12) – Help us to be forgiving and forgivers
• Protection (Matthew 6:13) – Keep us out of trouble

A little prayer goes a long ways, just like a little contentment returns great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6) If you need to improve your prayer routine, simple is a great place to start.

…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much – James 5:16

How easy is it to change the story?

The person who tells one side of a story seems right, until someone else comes and asks questions. – Proverbs 18:17 NCV

How often have you heard “perception is truth” in the business place?

How many times a day are persuasive arguments used to back a false premise?

Do you ever make decisions based on what you’ve heard rather than your research?

It happens in business, sports – everywhere.

Worse, I know I don’t have to tell you that this get done with God’s word every day. Even when one reads the truth right out of the Bible, they are convinced it says something else by a skilled speaker.

We fix it by:

• Knowing the word
• Correcting the error
• Teaching the truth