Tag: Sanctification

On Discretion

Discretion is of late an unheralded virtue.  To give the virtue its due, I herald it here.

The definition of “discreet” is “[m]arked by, exercising, or showing prudence and wise self-restraint in speech and behavior; circumspect.” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Ed.).

Here are some aphorisms on discretion from the Bible, some from me and one from a portly Brit:

(c)iStockphoto.com/fambros

“As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.” (Proverbs 11:22).

“A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.”  (Proverbs 19:11).

“When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you…” (Proverbs 2:10-11).

“Imprudence speaks then thinks; discretion thinks and remains silent.”

“Discretion is a friend to the wise, but a stranger to the foolish.”

“He who exerecises discretion exercises wisdom.”

“Tact is the unsaid part of what you think.”  Winston Churchill

Seeing The Big Picture

The wife and I were at a local sports bar tonight with Tennessee alumni watching the Volunteers play Memphis. The Vols played well but the service at the bar was terrible.

When our waitress would come out from the bar she would go to just one table each time then return to the bar. She never lifted up her eyes to see if anyone else at a different table needed anything. This went on all night. No less than five times I was waiving my arms trying to get her attention, but she didn’t look up, not once. Instead, she was focused only on the table she came out to check on.

We were finally able to get our check, pay and leave. On the way home we went through the drive thru at the local McDonald’s for an ice cream cone. The attendant handed me the cone with so much ice cream it was about to fall off the top of the cone. Along with the one ice cream cone he handed me eight napkins. Yes, eight.

Now the waitress and the McDonald’s employee, although young, both seemed reasonably intelligent. Yet both of them were terrible at doing jobs that weren’t difficult because they didn’t see the big picture.

The waitress didn’t get that her job was to serve her customers; she apparently thought she was just supposed to take and deliver orders.

The McDondald’s employee didn’t understand his employer was interested in making a profit. If he had understand this, he wouldn’t have wasted his employer’s money by putting way too much ice cream in the cone and giving me eight napkins when I only needed one. Neither he nor the waitress saw the big picture.

After Jesus ministered to the woman at the well, His disciples returned from getting food and encouraged Him to eat. When Jesus told them He had food they didn’t know about, they began to discuss amongst themselves how Jesus had gotten food without them knowing.

Jesus explained he wasn’t talking about food, but doing the Father’s will. He then encouraged them to see the big picture: “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” (John 4:30-38).

The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about because they weren’t focused on the big picture. Their focus determined their understanding.

Are you seeing the big picture of the kingdom of God or are you focused on only what is immediately before you? GS

What Man Wants And What Man Should Want

I think I’ve figured out what every person really wants. If we were really honest, we would have to admit that deep down we want things to be the way we want them to be. We want what we want when we want it and we want the power to get it. We don’t want anyone to be able to say no to us.

To have this we would have to be all powerful, which is another word for omnipotent. In other words, what we really want is to be God.

The problem with all that power is it corrupts a soul that is not pure, holy and humble. I see this all the time in the courthouse. Attorneys become judges and suddenly everybody is their friend, and laughs at their stupid jokes and goes all obsequious around them. Before long an arrogance sets in, followed by a harshness and unkindness.  Lord Acton was right, “Power corrupts.” If we don’t know this, we should. The examples are all around us.

So herein lies the irony: We want God’s power but not His character; but without His character His power would make us tyrants.

Perhaps that is why the Lord places such an emphasis on sanctification. Perhaps that is why Jesus said we are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33). If He was to share Kingdom authority with us when we don’t have a sufficient level of Christlikeness, that authority runs the risk of corrupting us.

Maybe what we should want is to be more like Jesus. GS

Do You Have These Kind Of Friends?

“And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him.  And also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater.”  (Acts 19:30-31).

The Apostle Paul had the right kind of friends, the kind who stopped him from doing what he wanted to do when it wasn’t the best thing for him to do.

If you don’t have friends who will tell you not to do something that’s not right, you don’t have the right kind of friends.

Tiger Woods apparently didn’t have these kind of friends, or if he did he ignored them.  Instead Woods became the pied piper of a lackey parade that would make Macy’s envious. This seems to be par for the course for many professional athletes and celebrities.  It doesn’t have to be true of you.

Do you have the kind of friends who can tell you not to do something immoral or stupid?  Are you the kind of friend that will be the voice of warning to a friend getting ready to make a bad decision?  If not, you should question whether you are a friend or have any real friends.  (p.s. Thanks to Steven Furtick for his insight on Acts 19:30-31 that inspired this blog post).  GS

A Forgotten Virtue

Aristotle said, “It is better to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.” Socrates said “Everything in moderation, nothing in excess.”  The Bible states, “It is not good to eat too much honey.” (Proverbs 25:27).

Moderation recognizes more of the good is not always better and too much of anything is almost always worse.  Though moderation has been recognized as a virtue throughout history, in modern times it has all but been forgotten.

I suspect the young have always suffered from a lack of moderation.  We have to tell children not to spoil their appetite by eating too much candy and college students not to drink too much.  But experience, an able teacher, and partnered with age, a professor, in times past has instructed men of the benefits of moderation.

Today, people are poorer students.  The reason?  I suspect it is that modernity’s ability to deliver seemingly instant and unlimited gratification allows people to switch from one excess to another before recognizing the culprit is excess, not the object of it.  But whatever the reason for moderation’s decline, it is not because of a diminution of its merit.

Try this.  Next time you you enjoy a good meal or a bowl of ice cream or a good glass of wine, don’t go back for seconds.  Stop while you’re wanting more, and I think you will find yourself having enjoyed the entire experience to a much greater degree, your quality of life will soar…and your waistline may even shrink. GS