Tag: eternal significance

A Piece of Good Advice

*Old Testament: Jeremiah 41-42

Poetry: Proverbs 24

New Testament: 3 John

I’ve always enjoyed this totally fabricated interchange between two people along the coast:

Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States’ Atlantic fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that YOU change your course 15 degrees north, that’s one five degrees north, or countermeasures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

It’s a humorous example of disregarding the advice of others due to one’s own pride. I believe that is what is going on in today’s reading of Jeremiah 42. The people of Judah plead with Jeremiah to go to the Lord for them and tell them to either remain in Judah or go on to Egypt. Jeremiah comes back after 10 days and tells them the Lord said to stay put. The people then tell Jeremiah he is full of baloney. Jeremiah tells them they will be killed and they say See Ya! Gee… I wonder what will happen? I really feel for Jeremiah here as once again, someone begs for his advice and then was just like, nah, what do you know? Even after PROMISING they will do what he says! No wonder he is referred to as the Weeping Prophet.

Have you ever disregarded the advice of others? Was it unsolicited as in the lighthouse example? Was it solicited, like the people of Judah, and you ignored it anyway? Why did you disregard it? What were the results?

I’ve spoken of eternal significance in my previous writing. It’s a phrase my wise uncle uses to determine if something is worth getting worked up about. Does it have eternal significance? I suppose some advice doesn’t have eternal significance. I didn’t sand the cabinet before I painted it as advised by the paint can. Now it looks pretty cruddy. But some advice has great eternal significance. I have taken the advice of my parents, Sunday School teachers, pastors, and friends and put the Lord first in my life. I could write for some time about the blessings I have received because of acting on that advice.

All this to say, take good advice to heart and do not let pride get in the way. Like the sailors on that ship, it could save your life.

-Maria Knowlton

Reflection Questions

  1. Have you ever disregarded the advice of others? Was it unsolicited as in the lighthouse example? Was it solicited, like the people of Judah, and you ignored it anyway? Why did you disregard it? What were the results?
  2. How do you decide what advice to follow? Does your pride ever play a role in making that decision? How do you decide what is good advice and what is bad advice?
  3. What piece of advice or instruction have you heard or read lately that has eternal significance? Will you follow this advice? Why? How?
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Your Mouth

Deut 6 7

We’ve heard it said that there are two things that demonstrate what a person really cares about: his checkbook and his calendar. This is definitely a very good point that resonates with most of us I would think. How much money did we spend this week on anything of spiritual value or eternal significance or even for anything other than ourselves? (And if we did give to some noble cause. . .did we do it humbly and privately or feel the need to “sound our trumpet” for the applause of men mentioned in Matthew 6:2?) How much time did we spend earning money, planning how to earn money in our future, talking or thinking about money? And okay, we could say the same for our calendars too. Clearly, as we can see from the general lack of church attendance in our society, a mentality that “church is a place you go to once or twice a week” versus a community of people in whom you are sharing life, and the increasing time demands of any secular activity, for the vast majority of us, our calendars are not going to indicate a priority of God or the church compared to work/school/hobbies/not to mention anything to do with electronic devices. In fact, we live in a world where people get repetitive strain conditions from too much screen time, we have conditions of workaholics, hoarders, internet search histories full of wasted time (or even worse), and the list goes on. Clearly, we often misuse or mindlessly use our checkbook and calendars.   And while this is an excellent lesson to prove the point that we need more decisions/thoughts/actions with God involved with our use of time and money. . . it does seem to overlook one area we have certainly found equally convicting. Our MOUTHS!

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Luke 6:45, NIV)

This verse reminds us that our words evidence what our hearts and minds are filled with. And if we are intentionally seeking to increase or develop our relationships which God graciously made possible through the gift of His son, Jesus, then we will find our words more filled with His spirit and grace and wisdom. But, not just speaking “kindly” and “politely” and those kinds of things. . .words indicating a care/knowledge/priority in thoughts of eternal significance. The older we get, the more we’ve noticed that there are some people who just stand out because their conversation topics and things they generally/casually talk about are centered around God in some capacity.  When we are at their house for dinner, we are asked about our faith, we hear different things about their church backgrounds and doctrinal thoughts, they tell us about some Creation Science information they ran across recently, and maybe even share books/DVDs with us of a spiritual value. We leave their house having learned something or having thought about something that matters without having heard a word of gossip or complaint. But, this really isn’t typical, is it?

Many of our conversations with Christians look and sound no different than if we were talking to anyone else. We hear/talk about the weather, sports, politics, school, camping, work, and Facebook threads (and whatever those other Social media things are for younger and cooler people than us). Sadly, we hear gossip, slander, anger, whining, and pride on a regular basis too. . .certainly even in church. And, the Christians who stand out as unique are the ones who make it clear that they actually think about God frequently. How sad. Aren’t we asked to meditate on Him daily (Psalm 1:1-3)? And, aren’t we awfully weak in this? We need to improve in this area individually, as families, and as a church. We need our hearts to be filled with God so our conversations naturally overflow with His spirit. We don’t need to have friends over and get out fifteen Bible study tools and sit and discuss Greek and Hebrew translations. We don’t need to talk about scripture itself all the time, and we certainly don’t need to eliminate friendly, relational talk of a variety of interests. But, we do desperately NEED to fill our hearts with more God and less of the world. When we do this, our church family will benefit, and our mouths will overflow with truth and love so that we are not just a “resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Corinthians 13:1, NIV). After all, this isn’t a new idea:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  (Deuteronomy 6:4-7, NIV)

 

–Brian and Jennifer Hall