A Christian Viewpoint

Proverbs 11.11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

Let us hope that there are more voices calling forth a blessing on our city than those who would speak against it. Extend it to our politicians. Extend to the police and firefighters. Extend it to the city employees. Extend to your neighbours. Extend it to your family. Extend it to the poor on the street.

Not only to call forth a blessing but be the hands by which others are blessed. What a city we would have.

😉

Proverbs 10:22 The blessings of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it.

I don’t know how many times in the past I thought I got a blessing in my life only to find it turn to dust in my hands at some future date. Were they of God at all? Or perhaps my own weakness and sometimes foolishness corrupted the gift?

In 10:25 When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.

I find myself after the whirlwind has passed that I am flat on the ground hanging onto the foundation stone by my finger tips. Is this why the blessing keeps slipping away. Is this the reason for sorrow?

I know this, I wouldn’t even be holding on by my fingertips if Jesus didn’t have a hand on my wrist keeping me from being swept away.

:confused:

Proverbs 4. At this point I read the line, “hear my son, and receive my sayings…” in verse 10. Chapter three and five call out to his son to gain wisdom. All of the opening of Proverbs calls out to his son to gain wisdom and understanding. The proverbs go on for many more chapters. His son, who succeeded Solomon, was named Rehoboam.

Rehoboam becomes king. His people petition him to make the tax burden lighter. The counsellors of Solomon say lighten the burden and the people will be yours. As a child he asks his friends for advice. Their counsel is increase the burden. The people return for an answer. Where is all the wisdom that his father Solomon passed on to his son? Nowhere to be seen. He answers the people roughly. The kingdom is torn apart and wars rise up between Judea and Samaria. Hundreds of thousands killed. All because wisdom was left to gather dust in some remote corner.

The consequences of a foolish answer sounded the clarion call to war and death followed. Fortunately our answers will not have the same breadth of consequence as those of that hapless king. Yet what trouble comes our way because we rush to answer or fail to gain wisdom. A smaller calamity in “the world” but our “world” can be totally devastated.

Guess we better heed the words of Solomon.
🙂

Once again in this chapter it talks about wisdom and referring wisdom to being feminine. Over the years while reading proverbs I always wondered if wisdom is the Holy Spirit. He (She?) is the Spirit of wisdom and truth. In the “Gospel of Thomas”, which isn’t a gospel but a list of sayings, the writer states plainly that the Holy Spirit is feminine. Now I have read most of the gospel of Thomas and find it weak and sometimes contrary to the our four gospels. At times I find myself, even recently, thinking this same thought; the Holy Spirit is the feminine side of God. So out comes the concordance and a search for “Holy Spirit”. Of all the mentions of the Holy Spirit I find only one reference to gender…

John 14:26“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.

I guess with that in mind, the Holy Spirit is considered by John, to be masculine not feminine. Of course I do not read Greek and some geek who does could write and show me how wrong I am, that there are feminine and masculine references to words like they have in French. This poor boy, however will stick with John’s call. Gee, it was about time I cleared up that little confusion… so far.
🙂

This chapter reminds me of that passage from Hebrews; you must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of those that diligently seek him. The call is to seek out wisdom and search out her ways. In Ecclesiastes it is said that the searching for knowledge is the task of man. The promise of getting that knowledge is assured. The answers that we need are there to be had. If only we would take the time to look. Not only the knowledge but the wisdom to use it. We who are the redeemed in this dispensation have even better promises. Whew… for what more could a person ask? Perhaps the heart to search in the first place? That too is a gift.

Well Merry Christmas everyone. It is important to remember the reason for the season. Christmas is the day we take to honour God’s gift to mankind. Someone who was able to live a life that justified mankind’s existence. The perfect person. The perfect sacrifice. The new creation. We go to church and celebrate his birth according to each of our customs. The gathering of the family. The turkey dinner. Let us also remember those less fortunate than ourselves. Reach out and bless someone with a kind word, a small gift and, if the opportunity arises, the gospel that will set them free. It is a time of giving. Give with a joyful heart. May God bless you and keep you in the centre of his will.
🙂

Remember back when I wrote about Alcoholics for Christ. Well, our church started a new program designed and written by one of our church members named Karl Fair. The meetings have been going for about four months. It follows the same line that you would find in any twelve step program. I take my hat off to the support staff that make this program operational every Tuesday night.

My small part is to provide the praise and worship songs at the beginning of the meeting. Though I cannot be at every meeting I do my best. I missed singing while accompanying myself on the guitar over the past several years. It was a real blessing to myself and hopefully to those attending last night’s meeting… six hours ago.

My thanks to Crossfire Assembly in Hamilton for allowing me to participate on the church worship team and for the Recovery and Support Group for allowing me to lead in the worship part of their service.

Recently I picked up a new domain name. Over the past year I have going out with my camera and taking photos of trees in the Hamilton area. The photos were of a tree as; a whole, the leaf, the bark, the flower and the fruit. Now I have about a thousand photos. I have been working at creating a site that will be called TreeHunter. The great majority of names you will find there will have no links… this project is huge and will take many years to complete… if ever. What I have decided to do is to release it in yearly versions. Over the winter I will be putting together version 2006, relating to the last year of photos. It may be that the bandwidth will be too great for me to sustain the site. Find out next year if that will be a problem. The purpose is to educate and be a blessing. Pray that I will have the wisdom to accomplish both the educating and the blessing.
😉