An Honest Look

Love you all, praying for you.
 
I just love God’s Word.  Praying that it will always be the centerpiece of your day.  You don’t have relationship without conversation.  His Word is Him speaking to you – it’s the love letter you need, and the instruction that will help you succeed.  Praying that PRISM will keep you coming back to it – to His wisdom and direction, and deliverance for you.  So your faith grows, and your peace remains, and your hope is encouraged, and your love increases.  I noticed something recently that I’ve read often but never really stopped to take an honest look.  Proverbs 6:16 – There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.  If you really love God, you’ll love what He loves and hate what He hates.  I never really felt these applied to me.  But could they?  Sometimes it wise to take an honest look.  #1 Haughty eyes, a proud look, it just means that you see things, and see others through a lens of self-superiority, seeing yourself above, and others beneath you.  Whether you wouldn’t do that, or do it that way.  Do you think of yourself more highly than you ought? It’s easy to fall into – if you haven’t developed the habit of considering others as more important than yourself, what they say as more important than what you have to say, you'll revert to that old lens.  Doesn’t mean what they say is always right, the Holy Spirit will give you discernment, but becoming one who values others above yourself, is required to prevent you from slipping into something that God hates.  #2 A lying tongue.  We don’t really set out to lie, but if we knew how much God hates it, we might be more careful not to omit part of the truth, take some credit that’s not really due, allow misperceptions to remain that favor us, or flatter others for personal gain.  Do you speak the truth? Or shade the truth, or hide part of it?  Even what we say to ourselves, if it’s not what God says – it’s a lying tongue.  It will lead to evil – pride, grumbling, complaining, or unbelief.  If we knew how much God hates it, we might fully occupy our mouth with His truth, rather than let idle words condemn us.  #3 Those who shed innocent blood.  Well that’s not me, I don’t kill people.  Do you hate anybody?  Love God, hate sin, but not sinners.  Love and pray for your enemies, while asking God to right wrongs, bring justice and vindication in His way and His time, but still love the sinner.  Jesus said if you hate someone it’s just like murder.  His standard is higher.  What about innocent blood being shed?  You don’t do it, but do you stand firmly against it, or just accept it as the cultural norm.  If we knew how much God hates it, would you let it continue unchecked?  Or confront the lies that perpetuate it?  #4 A heart that devises wicked schemes.  Well that’s not me, I don’t make plans to harm people.  A heart that contemplates evil.  Where do your thoughts go when they are free to roam?  Do you think about things that honor God? Or are they things that dishonor him, that don’t really bring honor to Him because they are worldly pursuits and obsessions? What do you see or hear or consider?  Does this honor God?  If we knew how much he hates thoughts that tend toward evil, we might be more careful of what our eyes see, our hears hear, and where our thoughts roam.  #5 – Feet that are quick to rush into evil.  That’s not me – I don’t run to rob banks.  That’s not the only evil.  Feet that go where evil is.  Where do you go?  Who do you go with?  Is God honored there?  How often do you go where you might fall, or compromise what pleases God, whether conversations or actions.  Where people are – who are not seeking to honor Him, but please themselves.  If you’re a recovering alcoholic, Happy Hour on the way home from work, is not what God has called you to.  That’s feet drawn to evil.  Business Networking is a weak excuse.  If you go where complainers congregate, where slanderers gather – you have a feet problem, that God hates.  Sometimes those situations come to you. Suddenly it’s time to move your feet.  Will you leave a movie theatre, or a conversation that dishonors God, or a place that you can tell temptation is rising or just on the horizon?  That person is not who you’re called to, this environment is not God’s leading you… If you don’t move your feet from evil, God hates it.  You might should not have been there in the first place, but you better move now.  What’s here doesn’t honor God, move your feet.  #6 A false witness who pours out lies. You may not lie about someone before a judge in court, but a witness is someone who repeats what they saw or heard.  How often do you say things that God never said, that you don’t know to be true, but yourself or others.  Doubt and complaining is a false witness – repeating things that aren’t true, just feelings.  #7 A man who brings dissension.  Do you overlook and cover over wrongs? Or do you let them remain, by talking about them, or allowing others to discuss them in your presence.  What you don’t redirect, you participate in.  Sometimes it’s time to take an honest look.  And as for the things that God hates.  A healthy Fear of the LORD – is a protection, not an inconvenience or needless exercise.  Praying that you won’t just avoid what God hates, but pursue the opposite. That you would have humble eyes filled with the love of Jesus for others.  That you would see them like He sees them, how they could be, not just how they are right now.  That you would actively resist the shedding of innocent blood and the lies that perpetuate it.  That you would pursue thoughts that honor God, and never contemplate anything that that dishonors or displeases him, that you would move your feet from any situation that could lead to compromise, That you would always speak the truth in love, because you over-seed His Word in your heart.  That you would lead every conversation you have into blessing, not slander, believing the best, and covering over misunderstanding.  The you would be the peacemaker that God blesses, who promotes kindness and unity.  Praying that you will reverse what God hates in every conversation you have.  And that when God leads you to consider anything you don’t normally consider, that you will take a honest look.  And let Him bring the change that honors Him, and establishes you. 
 
Love you all,
dad