Thursday, March 19, 2015
Proverbs Matters
Over at Mark Roberts Blog, Alissa Wilkinson links to a piece on friendship by quoting a Proverb:
This fact is, I think, reflective of the state of what passes for the gospel these days. It is wonderful to hear, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy and safe, but it does not challenge us. That is in turn reflective of our greater culture. No longer do we challenge. Challenges are for special people that we watch on TV.
And yet, what is the Christian Life if not a challenge? We seek to imitate Christ whose life was nothing but a challenge. He had to tolerate idiot disciples and being put to death by evil. That is the life we are called to.
I can think of no better challenge to start with than to read the Proverbs and attempt to make them real. They require no advanced degree to understand; they are too plain spoken for that.
Read them, live them.
Christian Life Proverbs challenges
Proverbs 27:6 says, “Wounds from a friend are better than kisses from an enemy.”It caused me to reflect on the fact of how little I hear the Proverbs thrown around in church and how often I ought to. These little nuggets of wisdom, if not ignored altogether, are treated little different than Poor Richards Almanac - quaint, perhaps even "truthy," but hardly life changing.
This fact is, I think, reflective of the state of what passes for the gospel these days. It is wonderful to hear, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy and safe, but it does not challenge us. That is in turn reflective of our greater culture. No longer do we challenge. Challenges are for special people that we watch on TV.
And yet, what is the Christian Life if not a challenge? We seek to imitate Christ whose life was nothing but a challenge. He had to tolerate idiot disciples and being put to death by evil. That is the life we are called to.
I can think of no better challenge to start with than to read the Proverbs and attempt to make them real. They require no advanced degree to understand; they are too plain spoken for that.
Read them, live them.
Christian Life Proverbs challenges
