Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. 

Here we have another great lesson on our path to becoming the “Unconditional Love Machines” YHWH is desiring to transform us into. Love overlooks offenses. When we have true love for others in our hearts, we can easily dismiss offenses because we are genuinely concerned for the other person more than ourselves. We are filled with so much love for God and others that we do indeed become unoffendable.

Again and again we go back to the way we see things.Like the pictures above. In the first, does “GOOD” or “EVIL” pop out to you? In the second, do you see the saxophone player or the woman’s face? And finally, it’s easy to see “One,” but what about “Two” and “Three”? Well as you back away from the screen, “Two” and “Three” pop out a lot more. Or you can stay close and shake your head back and forth, which is weird that that allows you to see them a little more clearly. Not sure it’s good for you, but kinda cool.

At regeneration of the heart, God gives us a new set of eyes with which we view the world. As Jesus’s apprentice, we see everything thru His filter, and His filter is love. When you are focused on loving God with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength and loving people as much as you love yourself in the manner of the Good Samaritan, you don’t have the capacity for offense. Your capacity is taken up with so much goodness.

God has shown me in the last couple of weeks how I have gotten caught up in seeing results in certain people more than loving them into the Kingdom. He has shown me what is more powerful and what will actually be a catalyst to their plunging into life in God’s Kingdom. It is not frustration with their lack of progress I can tell you that. It is always looking at them like you would a photograph- in their best light. It is simply modeling the love of God as empowered by Papa YHWH. A love that is safe and irresistible if there is any softness or openness in your heart at all.

Matthew 10:8

You received without paying; give without pay. [ESV]

Freely you received, freely give. [TLV]

It was all free when you got it; make sure it’s free when you give it. [KNT]

We who have opened the present of eternal life [knowing God] are no better than those who have not. They also have the gift sitting in front of them. Perhaps they don’t see it. Perhaps they are scared to open it. All we do is our little portion to lead them into opening this wonderful present.

This is yet another help on our road to becoming ULMs. It helps level our view of others, knowing they all have the same potential in Christ. It’s as if everyone has equal access to super vitamins that make the body immune to all disease. It’s not that we’re awesomer than the others not taking them. We just want them to take them too so we can all be healthily disease free.

Proverbs 9:1-6

Wisdom calls out, “Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.”

Jesus calls out to us all to follow Him. We are without excuse. We do not need any more information. We do not need any more time in our day. We need only to respond to His call to follow Him, to pursue His way of life, to become His apprentice and learn from Him.

It’s not rocket surgery. If you want to really live, answer His call to become like Him and love Him with all your heart. Answer His call to see every minute of your life as in His presence, the constant presence of Jesus.

We do what we really want to do. Take a look at your schedule and see where you spend most of your time. That is what you love most. Find out what you are seeking more than following Christ. Why do you pursue it? What do you think it will give you? What matters most?

Matthew 9:2

“Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

How many times a day do I need to hear that to be comforted? To remind myself that this is actually true? No matter my situation, I can genuinly rejoice in the fact that I am seen as perfect by my Father because of His Son’s perfect life applied to mine. No matter my situation, shalom is always available.

Jesus lived the life I am incapable of living–a perfect life, and then somehow that was transferred to me. I don’t fully understand this…that one-size-fits-all robe of righteousness thing. But I don’t exactly comprehend how water sustains me at the molecular level either, yet I know it gives me life, so I keep drinking it.

Proverbs 8:7

For my mouth will utter truth.

This is my prayer, to speak only truth. “God’s Word is truth,” says Jesus. If it does not agree with the Word of God, it is a lie, period [John 17:17].

And remember the Word of God is the Logos–Jesus Himself.

Matthew 8:13

“Let it be done to you according to your faith.”

You need only to believe.

Whenever belief is used in Scripture, it means that you would stake your like on it. It never refers to giving a mere intellectual nod.

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

We are nothing (yet in God everything!). We have nothing to offer God except our love and faith in Him. We add nothing to Him for He is already infinite in perfection. And yet we can actually bless God. We can please Him.

Mind

blown.

As Henri Nouwen puts it:

We are just here for 20, 40, 60, or 80 years to say to God, “I love you too.”

Proverbs 7:2

Guard my command, and live, and my instruction like the apple of your eye.

The son in this verse should guard his father’s instruction like he guards the “apple” (or middle) of his eye.

The expression is actually “the little man of the eye,” which is comparable to our expression “apple of the eye.” The phrase may have developed from the idea that people could see themselves reflected in miniature in the pupils of others. Whatever the case, it is clear that the phrase refers to one’s pupil.

The eye is among the most tender spots on one’s body. So it is with great passion that we tend to guard our eyes from any physical harm.

How much care do you devote to God’s instruction?

“You do need to be given a new operating system. I don’t care what you are doing. You cannot approach that daily work, that daily job, your family with what I call the dualistic mind, the judgmental, comparative, competitive mind, which most of us are entirely trained in-so much so that we think it is the only mind.

 Jesus refers to this as the judgmental mind. That’s why He says: “Do not judge” (Matthew 7:1). Maybe we would simply say, “Do not label” things. It is just a way of trying to take control and often a game of superiority. The judgmental mind tries to know everything by merely comparing it to something else, which is to start with a negative first step. It is far removed from knowing things in themselves, and for

themselves. Such low-level attempts at knowing will never get you anywhere close to mystical experience. That’s the simplest way to say why the great spiritual

teachers always have some form of “Do not judge.” The judgmental mind is all too self-referential and closes down the open horizon right away.”

-Richard Rohr

Proverbs 6:6-11

Proverbs 5:22-23

To sin without being bound is impossible…The cords of sin get stronger the more we sin, yet sin deceives us into thinking we’re free and can quit sinning whenever we please.

-Warren Wiersbe

See also John 8:34 ans Romans 6:16

Matthew 5

Check yourself to see if you are starting to focus on external action. Jesus is about the attitudes and intents of the heart.

So you didn’t give someone the finger, did you call them an “a**hole” in your heart? Is there hate in your heart instead of love for that person, or any person for that matter? That person who God made in His image and who Jesus died for?

Proverbs 4:18-19

You ever stop to think about how much more work it is to live for yourself than to live for God?

There’s so much to keep up with that you put on yourself. That’s why Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He is the light, and His ways are clear. There’s no pressure. You don’t have to prove yourself, because you’re already “in” with God as proven by Jesus’ dying for you (for us) while we had absolutely nothing to offer.  Do you believe this with your thought life? That God saw you worth dying for in order to be close to Him? (Perhaps you need to take that can of “Shame-Away” and spray yourself down today.)

Living for God, keeping Him first in your thought life and daily priorities, can be compared to driving down a country road on a clear, sunny day with little to no traffic. The path is clear, the scenery is beautiful and able to be taken in, and there’s little anxiety thanks to the simplicity of focus on the road that is afforded you.

Living for self, apart from God, is more like driving at nite with no street lights and at least one headlight out, as well as a plethora of crazy drivers out on the road.

Matthew 4:22

Immediately thy left their boat, and their father, and followed Him.

What are you not willing to leave behind to follow Jesus fully?

Proverbs 3:11-12

Asking God not to discipline you is the same as asking Him to love you less.

“Yes, Lord would you stop caring so much for me? Thank you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Matthew 3:11

He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Fire–referring to purification and judgment.

Proverbs 2:20-22

The benefits of pursuing wisdom and integrity, of making the intense effort.

There is a right way to live as given by God. There is a good life worth pursuing. Making intense effort toward this life results in great blessing and divine empowerment. The greatest blessing being a close, intimate relationship with our beautiful and loving Creator.

There’s this paradoxical theme here in chapter two of making every effort/striving toward wisdom–the only true wisdom which begins with the fear of YHWH and results in the knowledge of God–and yet thanking God for it as the gift it is, something we could never attain on our own.

The comparison, though imperfect, I come back to that helps me start to comprehend this truth are my hiking trips out west. Lugging my 200 lb. butt up the side of a mountain for four straight hours while carrying a pack is not easy. It is work. It is great effort. But when I reach the peak, I am filled with nothing but awe and gratitude, as opposed to pride for what I’ve accomplished. The glory, the wonder, the majestic beautifiscence….the payoff. I simply rest in it. For hours. There is absolutely nothing in no way I could ever have done to create even one square inch of grandeur as inspiring as the this landscape and this particularly silencing view of it. I’m in no way conjuring up or making this mountain, I’m merely hiking and exploring what already is.

God already is.

And I should say that it’s not only at the top where it is fantastic. There are many stops along the way offering breath-taking vistas as well. Or unexpected wildlife. Yet you keep going because you know what lies ahead is of unspeakable awesomeness.

You can no doubt see the power of the metaphor here with our spiritual journey.

It is worth every effort to know the one true God, and the One He sent, Jesus Christ [John 17:3].

Matthew 2:13

“Get up.”

It’s interesting that YHWH did not just protect Jesus, Mary, and Joseph where they were, but rather instructed them to get up and move. He often wants us to get up and move and not just sit around asking for blessing and protection. In His omnipotence He could have protected them right where they were in countless ways. Yet He chose to tell them, thru the angel, to get up. I believe this is significant.

Also, we do hear God clearly when we are still and listening. But then we must act on what He says, for it is always for our good.

Proverbs 1:5-6

It takes desire, time, and effort to really learn, increase in wisdom, and get to know God. These Proverbs require hours, even days and years to soak in, understand, and assimilate into our life. This is the nature of Scripture, for it is spiritual and, therefore, must be read from our hearts, not just our intellect. The Holy Spirit inspired these words, so only the Holy Spirit can totally and accurately speak thru them. You must listen with the ears of your heart if you are to gain much from these words.

It is only in the kind of listening in which we are truly open to learning something we didn’t know or realize before, as opposed to the type of listening in which we are merely hoping to bolster what we already (think we) know, where we actually gain, grow, and mature as children of God.

Try really hard to always listen from the position that you don’t know everything already, from the posture that you have much to learn and everything to gain.

Matthew 1:6

It’s wild to me that Bathsheeba is in the lineage of Jesus. It says to me loudly and clearly that no matter how badly you screw up, God can and will redeem and use for good whatever He will. Nothing is beyond His redemptive power…NOTHING. Makes me think of how big of a jack-hole that Paul guy was before Jesus got a hold of him.