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“Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.” (Proverbs 3:9-10, The Message)

Do we honor God with everything we own: Our time, our talents, our treasure; the power at our disposal by virtue of our position in life and its prerogatives?

If not, we are operating at a level far below both our potential for blessing the lives of others; and we have restricted the “return” from God to our own lives.

You are what your are; and you have what you have. Begin to give God the first fresh hour of your day, rather than the left-over minutes at its end. Give God a tithe of thanksgiving from the top dollars at the beginning, rather than the pennies that remain after everyone else has taken their due.

These small, but significant, steps lead to a life of usefulness, abundance, and joyful surprise. – Luther

Tagged stewardship, the book of Proverbs

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“Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.” (Proverbs 24:17-18, NIV)

The world maintains a “dance on the ashes of your enemy” approach to human relationships because it is too short-sighted to appreciate the long-term benefit of reconciliation.

As disciples of Jesus, we are His “ambassadors”; and as His ambassadors, we represent only His interests, not our own.

His interest, according to scripture, is not the condemnation of the world, but its salvation. (John 3:17) His purpose is not the perpetuation of the world’s estrangement from God, but its reconciliation to God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

In all that you do, endeavor to illuminate the path to reconciliation. – Luther

Tagged enemies, reconciliation, the book of Proverbs

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“Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” (Proverbs 25:28, NIV)

Today’s proverb is reflected in the words of the modern philosopher, police detective Harry Callahan, as he stated in the 1973 movie, “Dirty Harry”: “A man’s got to know his limitations.”

We err on two fronts when we uncritically adopt the conventional wisdom that “the sky is the limit” when it comes to human endeavor. For example, much of our fatigue and lack of focus is due to our failure to preserve (and to observe) wholesome limits on our personal ambitions; or in protecting ourselves from the unvetted demands of others. Here, we err by excess.

We err by deficiency when we stop well-short of our personal boundaries (aka “limits”) for doing good. Have we reached the limit of our compassion for others? Have we reached the limit of our mercy for the wounded? Have we reached the limit of our love for the unloved and for the unlovely?

To lack “self-control” is to deprive oneself of opportunities for blessing and good works, as much as it is to protect oneself from trouble. – Luther

Tagged boundaries, Dirty Harry, self-control, the book of Proverbs