I was completely burned out from working at a busy call center. I was trying to help my four children get through college but I wished I could find something I enjoyed a little more. I simply did not have the patience for the irate and often unreasonable customer service calls I handled, sometimes one hundred per day.

So when a position opened up in the marketing department next door, I put in for it. I was thrilled when I received a call for an interview with Human Resources and doubly thrilled to get called for a second interview with the actual department heads. I thought we all hit it off.

But that’s where it ended.

After two weeks of anticipation I stopped in to see HR and asked if I was still in consideration. I was politely told no. It had come down to me and someone with a Master’s degree and guess who got it? Impossible. I had been so sure it was mine. Why was someone with a Master’s degree interviewing for jobs that did not require it? Why were they not applying for jobs that required a Master’s degree?

As I returned to my cubicle, deflated, I couldn’t hide my tears. My supervisor, thank God, was a loving, kind Christian and he knew I was up for the job. He could tell by looking at me what the answer was.

[Read more…]

Most of us have had many names throughout our lives. The name we were given at birth, nicknames, pet names from loved ones, and for women, married names, but none of us have as many names as Christ does. Each one of His names is symbolic and has significant meaning to us when we study them.

My favorite name for Jesus is Living Water.

Living Water: What does it mean?

If you are like me, the first thought that comes to my mind is the image of a man dying in the desert. Slowly crawling and hoarsely whispering, “water, water…” This is really not overly dramatic when you consider what our life would be like without the Savior.

After having a very close relationship with the Savior, I went through a time when I felt separated from Him. The separation was caused by the pain, shame and anger of healing from childhood abuse. That time without Christ as my center makes the image of the man in the desert look like a Sunday School picnic.

Water helps our bodies in many ways. Signs of dehydration include irritability headaches and with severe dehydration the skin shrivels and shrinks. In worst case scenarios there can be blindness and death. Interestingly, spiritual dehydration (life without the Savior) can also lead to irritability, pain, our spirits shriveling and shrinking, spiritual blindness and death.

Why Living Water?

But why “Living” Water? Why not simply “The Water” like “The Rock” or Creator, Redeemer, or Cornerstone? There are also other related questions: If water can be living, can it also be dead? Does the Dead Sea count as dead water? The Dead Sea gets its name from being made of salt water of an unusually high salt content. Humans can’t drink large amounts of salt water because ironically in order to keep the delicate balance of salt and water in our bodies, the body will try to excrete the excess salt–through urine, and the result is dehydration.

[Read more…]

We equate King Solomon with wisdom, and rightly so.  He authored several “Wisdom Books” of the Old Testament and was the premier sage of his day (1 Kings 4:29-34).  But we often assume we can’t replicate his wisdom today.  In this post I’ll debunk three myths about Solomon’s wisdom and give some practical implications.

Myth #1: Solomon got lucky when God gave the offer of a lifetime.

Early in Solomon’s reign, God appeared to him and said, “Ask what I shall give you” (1 Kings 3:5, ESV).  Solomon asked for wisdom instead of longevity or wealth or military supremacy, so it pleased God to give him the whole pile.

But notice what was on Solomon’s mind that night: “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father… And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father…” (I Kings 3:6-7).  Solomon had been thinking about his dad.

And what was the primary lesson David had drilled into Solomon from infancy?  In Solomon’s own words, “When I was a son with my father… he taught me: …‘Get wisdom; get insight… The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight’” (Prov 4:4-7).

David taught Solomon one thing: Always get wisdom.  So he did.

Implication: There’s nothing magical about gaining wisdom.  God gives it (Prov 2:6), and he wants you to ask for it (James 1:5).  So by all means, ask!  But don’t wait for a mystical transfusion of brain cells.  Seek it, and teach others to do the same.

Myth #2: God supernaturally zapped wisdom into Solomon’s brain.

This myth surfaces particularly when we read or teach the story about the two prostitutes with one baby (1 Kings 3:16-28).  We, like all Israel, stand in awe of the king, perceiving that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice (28).  But this wisdom is more mundane than it is miraculous.

Solomon could not read minds.  He had no crystal ball.  He couldn’t discern a person’s guilt or innocence by any sort of divination or wizardry.  What he could do, however, was act on what he knew.

Solomon already knew a few basic principles of human existence from God’s Word.

1. Everybody desires something (that’s how the serpent tempted Eve in Gen 3:5-6).
2. All actions flow out of what we desire (that’s why the Greatest Commandment in Deut 6:5 is to desire the Lord more than anything else).
3. When forced to choose, everybody will give up what they desire less to gain what they desire most (that’s why Abram gave up a good land for peace with Lot in Gen 13:8-9, Joseph gave up vengeance for world rescue in Gen 45:4-8, and Lot’s wife gave up her life for Sodom’s community in Gen 19:26).

Solomon just has to expose these issues.  Notice how he does it.

1. He starts with what’s visible.  In 1 Kings 3:23, he simply repeats what they’ve already said.
2. He surfaces what’s invisible.  He knows what they’re saying; he just needs to learn why they’re saying it.  What does each woman want the most?
3. He concocts a plan to expose their deepest desires (24-26).  Chopping the baby in half wasn’t guaranteed to reveal who the true mother was.  But it was guaranteed to reveal which, if either, cared more about the child than herself.
4. He acts accordingly.  Rather than allowing fear, indecision, or even righteous anger to paralyze him, he does something.  He gives the baby to the woman who showed a mother’s concern (27).

The wise reflect what they see, try to understand people’s motivations, and act.

Implications: Do you want to be wise?  Just put into practice what you already know from God’s Word.

Don’t look for a wise “zinger” to impress someone in conversation.  Just ask more questions and repeat in different words what you hear them say.  You’ll learn a lot about people, and they may even accuse you of being wise.  Such “mundane” wisdom enables us to engage opponents and our culture winsomely.

Myth #3: Solomon’s decline was fast and unpredictable.

You may be familiar with Solomon’s love for the ladies and his subsequent departure from the true faith (1 Kings 11:1-8).  You might not realize, however, that Solomon already knew of his (and our) tendency: “Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge” (Prov 19:27).  Solomon stopped learning, and it killed him.

Implication: You can replicate Solomon’s wisdom, and you can replicate his folly.  Stop seeking wisdom from God through Christ, and you’ll drift away just as easily (Heb 2:1-4).  But anchor to Jesus, and you’ll surpass Solomon’s rise to wisdom (1 Cor 1:30).

---

Most newsmen know that politicians and corporations love to release bad news on a big news day, when other news will overshadow their bad news. It’s kind of like if our child brings home a report card with a “D” in both math and science, we’ll barely notice it if our house burned down that morning.

Likewise, endless discussions of the evils of gay marriage are a convenient mechanism for diverting attention away from the greatest threats to our families.

Does a child need to be protected from the knowledge that the two women who live across the street are married to each other, or does that child really need two parents in his or her home? Are two gay males who are married to each other a more ominous threat to families than are two straight men who live alone, apart from the women they impregnated who are left alone to raise their children?

Yet we dare not say such things in polite company for fear that we offend those whose sons are the fathers who have left both their children and the mothers of their children.

Just as we avoid talking about single parents, we also avoid discussing other issues that threaten our families.

True Threats to the Family

We do not like to talk about families that can’t find work, or that earn too little to keep a roof over their heads. As we crawl into our warm, dry beds we do not want to even think about them huddling under a bush in an ice storm, soaked to the skin, shaking and shivering uncontrollably, praying they’ll still be alive in the morning.

We do not like to talk about people whose only access to health care is an emergency room. We do not like to talk about people who cannot eat an apple because most of their teeth are rotten. They cannot afford to go to a dentist. We do not want to talk about extending health care, dental care and child care to many of the poor.

We’d rather raise money to build a new gymnasium at the church to “minister to the young people.” We’d rather give our money to “fight” gay marriage. Those causes are surely more worthwhile than poor, sick, cold people, than poorly educated single mothers (with children whose fathers and their families pretend they don’t exist) who don’t know how to make enough money to pay for the basics of life for themselves and their children.

[Read more…]