Good Morning!
It would be hard for me not to talk about the snow that we just had round these parts. I had a great time running around in it yesterday with the kids, and while my little ones aren’t as little as they once were they become like as they were when they were younger while out in it. Something about snow makes us all a bit young at heart. There is a refreshing feeling we can get while watching it fall out of the sky as it provides a coating over the browns and tans we usually see in the winter. Though I do need to admit something. While there was a time in life where I could not wait for the weather guy on WBOY in Clarksburg to tell me that we were getting some of the white stuff, I think I’ve gotten to the point where I enjoy seeing it on the TV, less so in person. As an elder at Ellisville Pres told me one time, “Ben, the nice thing about heat is you ain’t got to shovel it.” To be fair there is no question it is beautiful. It’s even something the Bible makes use of as an image to help us think about the nature of the work of Christ in salvation. Isaiah 1:18 goes, “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”
There is a reason why the Kinkadian scenes can be hopeful ones.
It may surprise you to hear that it snows in Israel. We often associate the Biblical world with the desert and have a habit of thinking it to be like the Sahara or the American Southwest. However, the Promised Land is actually roughly on the same latitude as we are in South Carolina! Mount Hermon, the one we sing about in Bible Song #280, even to this day gets a snowcap which provides most of the water for the River Jordan. So in honor of the carpet of cool whiteness that still graces our land we are going to go to a verse from the Book of Proverbs for our prayer and worship help this morning.
Proverbs 26:1 says, “As snow in summer and rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.”
This is one of those statements we find in the book of Proverbs that can make us do a little head tilt like a puppy hearing the command to sit for the first time. What exactly is Solomon getting into here? Well, this section of his advice to his son he is interested in helping the Lord’s people to think through the incongruities that we experience in life. The verse which preceded this one notes, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.” In other words a man who has no control over himself is guaranteed to find trouble in his future. The part we are looking at today can be said to compare the person who acts without wisdom, and then seemingly is rewarded for it is like snow in the summer and rain in harvest. They don’t mix, there is a oxymoron there. Let me ask you a question: How long did that snow last today when the sun came out? Not for long. Likewise the bounty the thief believes himself to have will evaporate just as quick, whether in this life or the next the truth will come forward eventually.
When we see people we know traveling in a fake visage it can cause us discomfort, even a tad bit of anger can well up, but we need to remember the Lord sees and the Lord knows. Instead of making a scene the right thing for us to do is pray for those who are attempting to live a double life, holy in the church and wild in the world. The quickening work of the Holy Spirit is a blessing to those we care for, and especially those we may not be so fast to ask the Lord to help. To say something quick about the last word in the verse it’s not wrong to use words that fit the moment. A person who tries to be a good person in public while acting the devil in private is being a fool. One of the things about living in a world of social media is that the kind of folks who think they can live like that will slip up and show something on Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat (or whatever new thing is out there). The truth will come out, so do not spend too much time concerning yourself about it, unless it is someone in authority, or leadership in Christ’s Church. In that case news needs made known. The sheep need to be protected from wolves.
But let’s close out this morning’s thought lesson by considering another aspect of Solomon’s wisdom. We’ve talked much the last several months (even going back to the early summer and the 5th and 6th chapters of Ephesians) of the importance of being good models for young Christians, whether in age or maturity. We cannot hope to inculcate the Christian Religion to our children, or to anyone else for that matter, if we ourselves are not exhibiting Christian behavior in real life. This especially goes, as noted above, to those with leadership roles as well as teaching responsibilities in the Church. If you are going to be a missionary, whether that be to Appalachia or to Clover or to Blacksburg, it behooves us to give off the warp and woof of what a believer should be, because you can talk about your relationship with Jesus all you want, but if it is of no power nor purpose to set you apart from the world what good is it? It is but salt without flavor is worthy to be tossed out and trampled underfoot. Charles Bridges was a 19th Century Anglican minister who wrote probably the most well-known commentary on the book of Proverbs. In it he has this to say about the subject under review this morning, especially as it applies to our outward life:
The mere talk to a child about religion, without bringing it to bear upon his loose habits, and self-willed tempers, is utterly ineffective. Here also lies the momentous weight of Christian consistency. If the child hears of godliness, and sees but wickedness, this is bringing him bread with one hand and poison with the other.
Take this faith which you proclaim seriously. For when the day of judgment comes a life built upon the straw of fake living and fleshly works will be burned to nothingness, yet that hope which is grounded upon the true conviction of a living Christ working faith in our hearts and lives will stand up even against the gates of Hell.
Here is a little bit more this morning:
https://www.reformation21.org/blog/youre-all-hypocrites
Y’all stay safe and stay warm!
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church