Curating a Life in Christ
Supreme God, your light is brighter than the sun, your purity whiter than mountain snow and you are present wherever I go. All people of wisdom praise you. So I put faith in all your words, knowing that everything you teach is true.
In your mercy reveal to me all that I need to know in order to find peace and joy. Tell me the truths that are necessary for the world in which I live. I am never tired of hearing from you because your words bring life.
Amen.
Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptized, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the true light that lights all men’s paths to salvation.
Give us the power, we pray you,
to prepare for you the ways of peace and justice.
You live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
Amen.
When was the last time you were discouraged by the advice a friend gave you?
According to Eliphaz, why do bad things happen to people? (4:7-11)
Although Eliphaz claimed that his vision was divinely inspired, it is doubtful that it came from God because later God criticized Eliphaz for misrepresenting him (Job 42:7). Whatever the vision’s source, it is summarized in Job 4:17.
On the surface, this statement is completely true — a mere mortal cannot compare to God and should not try to question God’s motives and actions. Eliphaz, however, took this thought and expounded on it later, expressing his own opinions.
His conclusion (Job 5:8) reveals a very shallow understanding of Job and his suffering. It is easy for teachers, counselors, and well-meaning friends to begin with a portion of God’s truth but then go off on a tangent. Don’t limit God to your perspective and finite understanding of life.
All the material recorded and quoted in the Bible is there by God’s choice. Some is a record of what people said and did but is not an example to follow. The sins, the defeats, the evil thoughts, and misconceptions about God are all part of God’s divinely inspired Word, but we should not follow those wrong examples just because they are in the Bible. The Bible gives us teachings and examples of what we should do as well as what we should not do. Eliphaz’s comments are an example of what we should try to avoid — making false assumptions about others based on our own experiences.
“The TV is my shepherd; my spiritual growth shall want. It maketh me to sit down and do nothing for His name’s sake. It keepeth me from doing my duty as a Christian, because it presenteth so many good programs that I must see. It restoreth my knowledge of the things of this world and keepeth me from the study of God’s Word. It leadeth me into the paths of failing to attend church. Yea, though I live to be 100, I shall keep viewing my TV so long as it shall work, for it is my closest companion. Its sounds and its pictures, they comfort me. It presenteth entertainment before me and keepeth me from doing important things with my family. It filleth my head with ideas which differ from the Word of God. Surely no good thing will come of my life because of so many wasted hours, and I shall dwell in my regrets and remorse forever.”
Be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead.
“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”
“No one needs a smile as much as a person who fails to give one.”
Happy the man who discovers wisdom, the man who gains discernment: gaining her is more rewarding than silver, more profitable than gold. She is beyond the price of pearls, nothing you could covet is her equal.
Have you ever counted how many different types of smiles there are? Hmm . . . don’t try. You will probably lose count if it’s true that we’re capable of over 200 different smiles as some people claim. While there’s no conclusive study that tells us for sure how many smiles exist out there, it’s safe to say many experts agree there are more than a dozen different ones.
Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, “One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man’s laugh before you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.”
Solomon made a similar observation, but stated in the negative, in Ecclesiastes 7:6, “A fool’s laughter is quickly gone, like thorns crackling in a fire.” You can tell a fool from his hollow laughter.
The secret for having a good smile or laugh is found in Ecclesiastes 8:1. It is wisdom that changes the inner disposition of a person. Wisdom “softens the hardness.” Have you ever watched somebody whose life was under the impact of the Spirit of God soften, mellow, and grow easier to live with? That is the work of the Spirit of God.