The Bible as a Weapon or a Tool

After being a committed Christian since December of 1974 one would think that I didn’t have to repeat old lessons but alas sometimes I sure do need reminders.

Reading through the Proverbs with my Sunday school class I have found that it’s a whole lot easier to think of other people in my life who do the bad things instead of honestly looking at myself. When will I ever learn that the only person I can change is myself?

Well perhaps I am learning because now when these thoughts enter my mind I think to myself, “but what about you Jill?” I may not be guilty of being a mocker or a sluggard but there are a few things that convict me in Proverbs.

I reject using the Bible as a weapon against others. I am nobody’s Holy Spirit. When I think inside my head, “that person is not living in accordance with Scripture” I have to reject that thought. My plank-filled eye doesn’t please Jesus. I need to work on Jill – I need to use the tool of the Bible to smooth out my rough edges.

Perhaps it’s a good day to read Psalm 119 and note all the times I see I, me and my.

Scripture for today:

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3

Three things I’m thankful for today:

Pecan encrusted chicken

Pictures of summer flowers in the dead of winter

Lazy Sunday afternoons in a cozy warm house

Keep it Succinct!

I have been a follower of Christ since December of 1974. I am in the habit of spending my first minutes of the day with God and my Bible. Sometimes that time becomes just a habit and I don’t really get in touch with God. That usually happens when instead of following what I think God would have me do I work on what I need to teach in Sunday school – that kind of takes the joy out of it. It points to my tendency to make productivity my god. I’ll cover that another day. TODAY I’m going to share what God has been teaching me this week since I gave my Sunday school class the assignment to teach the class themselves for the next 3 weeks. They are to share what God teaches them as they read through the Proverbs. Our assignment this week was Proverbs 10-16.

Being the overachiever that I am I had a ball with this assignment BUT I’m hoping that I won’t need to share what I learned because so many of them will be sharing. We had 28 last Sunday so if only a few of them share I shouldn’t need to talk. But I’m excited about what I learned so I thought I’d share it here.

Proverbs is a cut and dry “do this don’t do that” book. It lists positive things to do and negative things to avoid. When I first became serious about following God it was a favorite because I like knowing what God likes. I had learned the hard way that “my arms are too short to box with God.” Life is much more pleasant for me when I’m pleasing Him.

It didn’t take me long to see an applicable proverb for me. Proverbs 10:19 says

“When words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.” NIV

“The more talk, the less truth; the wise measure their words.” The Message

Enough said!