Encouragement to Singles: 1 Samuel 1:3-8

         In light of the recent Valentine's day, I was hoping to pass along a word of encouragement to my brothers and sister in Christ from 1 Samuel 1:3-8:

3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

           Out of all the characters in the Bible, I truly believe that Hannah most closely empathizes with the plights of singles today. The statistics out there are disheartening: the ages of initial sexual and romantic interest have dropped by three or four years and the average age of marriage is now extending from the early twenties to the late twenties and early thirties. To add on to such an agonizing weight, Christians are being daily bombarded with invitations to sexual thought and action in the grocery store, media, and workplace. What once was dismissible and avoidable has become especially pressing due to the modern innovation of schools that keep same age boys and girls cooped up in pens together for most of their waking hours.
            Hannah may have been looking to get children, but I can assure you that she felt the weight that we feel in a very similar way. It said that she dealt with this desire for several years. These times of struggle and doubt were especially strong whenever they would make their yearly trip to the house of the Lord. This may have been due to the mixing of several families as they traveled together to this religious site. For women of their time, being infertile was a social curse. However, we are also told that she has many blessings: she is deeply adored by her husband (being given doubly special and preferential treatment), is part of a mostly loving family and, for all we know, is secure financially. So, we would seem to agree with her husband when he asks her if he means more to her than ten sons. Additionally, these religious pilgrimages were supposed to be the highlight of the year: a time of close fellowship with each other and the Lord. Surely, one could at least pull the religion card on Hannah: "Why don't you let your desire to conceive kids push you into deeper intimacy with the Lord? In fact, I bet that is what is holding him back from blessing you." (The second sentence is, by the way, incorrect and is also very insensitive). Yet, we find Hannah still weeping, refusing to eat, and having a downtrodden heart despite all of these admonitions and what would surely have been an emotionally numbing process of continual disappointment in herself and God.
             God recognizes and affirms your pain. Look at Proverbs 13:12:

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
    but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

             You can see that several of the pieces of advice that we could pass on to a grieving single are legitimate: they should practice thankfulness for what they do have and use their hunger and suffering to deepen their need for God and closeness to Him (as advocated in one of my recent blog posts, "The Power of Need"). Yet, I think when we only give these pieces of advice to singles and don't stop to listen to them, we fall short of giving them what they really need: a sympathizing ear that hears the ache of loneliness and rejection. Chances are, any single Christian you have met has heard all of the spiritual mantras about falling in love with God and waiting for both you and your future spouse to become "fully ready" for marriage before God brings you together. However, these light words start to sound weaker and weaker as the years pass and more spins and perspectives are put out on the singleness issue. What I offer to you today is not more advice, as useful and perspective healing as it can be sometimes, but a word of comfort. Singles, I invite you to set aside a few minutes and join me in a spiritual exercise today that I hope will heal and encourage you.

                                        Read what is next and follow the instructions.

              God knows your pain. Spend some time in silence with Psalm 38:9 and allow your heart to wrestle with the text, not trying to understand it better, but allowing God to speak to you through it. You can take any amount of time you want from a few to several minutes:

9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
    my sighing is not hidden from you.

              Next, holding that pain and anxiety in your heart, spend some silent time considering the plight of other Christians who also share your burden by meditating on 1 Peter 5:9:

 9 Resist [Satan], standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

            Focus on your pain along with the pain of your fellow Christian singles with all your energy. Hold this pain as close to your heart as possible for as long as you can hold it and release your pain to God as the passage continues into verse 10:

 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

          If this exercise has brought you any comfort, please remember the words of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God

          One of our biggest mistakes is thinking that if God doesn't answer a prayer, that he is not present with us in our sufferings. I don't need to quote to you the verses that affirm your desire for a spouse. I don't feel the need to quote verses about idolatry and right priorities. What I want to affirm is that the God of Hannah, who listened to the whispered prayers of her heart year after agonizing year is also listening to you. Stop trying to make your pain go away. Don't rationalize it or compartmentalize it into a clean religious box. Allow yourself to feel the pain and vocalize that pain with God and close friends.
          In closing, meditate on Philippians 4:6-7:

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Peace of Christ to you,
Simeon Snow

Loss: Job 19:26-27

         One of the sweetest verses in the Bible is Job 19:26-27:

26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him
    with my own eyes—I, and not another.
    How my heart yearns within me!

         This verse says something about the loss that we experience in our lives, whether it comes from a breakup, loss of job, death of a loved one, or simply the loss of the familiar. It is in those moments, the moments of loss and grief, that our soul needs to turn to something to sustain it. Not just to fix the loss, but to experience God in the middle of the loss. I've learned a lot from Listening for the Soul by Jean Stairs on this process of death and resurrection. She speaks on how we try to react to our and others' grief with a cold, problem solving approach. Here, in Job 19, I feel like Job hits on something that Jean Stairs is also getting at: the need to simply sit in the presence of God during loss rather than  move past the loss as quickly as possible or figure out why God let this loss happen. Job doesn't mention anything about the recreation of his flesh. We know that he must have new flesh since he has eyes to see God with, but that is not what he holds in view. He looks at the hope he has in God despite the loss that envelopes him. Don't try too hard to solve yourself; sometimes the best remedy for hard times is to sit in God's presence and let him cover you. That's the thickness behind Psalm 46:10:

10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

           These moments of stillness are healing for the soul and they put things in right perspective again: not that your loss doesn't matter, but that God is with you in the depths of it. It's not that your problem doesn't need to be solved, but that there are deeper and more important things than solving your problems. I learned from Jean Stairs that these times of stillness with God are enriched by the presence of other people as well. These people can sit with you in silence as well or can sit there silently as you open your heart to them. We see Job's friends take this correct and wise position when they first come to soothe him in his grief in Job 2:11-13:

 11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

           You will remember Job's friends only started to fail when they tried to fix Job and force him to come to a resolution. While it is important to help people to move on from their despair, the way to do it is not to force them out of it with happiness or coming up with whatever advice first comes to mind. We see the foolhardiness of these approaches in Proverbs 25:20:

20 Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day,
    or like vinegar poured on a wound,
    is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

           and Proverbs 18:2:

 2 Fools find no pleasure in understanding
    but delight in airing their own opinions.

            How do we help the person in trouble (or ourselves, if we are the one suffering) in these times of darkness? Like I said, being present and listening is most of what is necessary. While there are extreme mistakes that can demand correction, for the most part, what is needed is someone with whom to walk the dark journey of loss. Listen to the person as they try to figure out what's going on and ask them questions about what they're feeling. Even though Job said a lot of mean things about God throughout the book, he was found to have spoken better of God than his friends did, even though they worked hard to defend God and fix Job.
Peace of Christ to you,
Simeon Snow

Shepherding: Psalm 78:70-72

          One of the most interesting passages for me in the Old Testament is Psalm 78:70-72. I feel like it tells us a lot about the nature of leadership as well as what God expects us to do with the mundane lives that He gives us upon this earth. Here is the passage:

70 He chose David his servant
    and took him from the sheep pens;
71 from tending the sheep he brought him
    to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
    of Israel his inheritance.
72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
    with skillful hands he led them.

           To start off with, shepherding was not a respected career path in the ancient world. This is reflected in David having this job as the youngest among his brothers, but is also seen among nearby peoples. This is shown in Genesis 46:32-34:

32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”

             This shows us the first point that I would like us to take away from the beginning passage: that God uses the mundane, detestable parts of our lives to train us for how we will serve others and that our usefulness for God's kingdom does not rest on how esteemed our position is in the eyes of men; we do not need a position and title at a church to be of use to God. Look at 1 Corinthians 1:26-29:

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

          God goes out of his way to use people who are worthless in the eyes of the world to accomplish his will. Just look through the book of Judges and you will see a group of heroes who were all social outcasts: left-handed people, women, children of prostitutes, the smallest of families and prestige, etc. Thus, your job as a fast food worker, teacher, or janitor does not discount you from making a big impact for the kingdom. In fact, if you follow the biblical narrative, you will find that God uses the people of lower social class and background most often. He does, of course, use rich and influential people, but they face significant obstacles in living their lives for Christ. We see this in Mark 10:23:

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

          Jesus himself was just a carpenter. One of the most powerful facts about Jesus' life was that he was a carpenter who, you can bet, lived intentionally for the large majority of his life among a small, unnoticeable town and people before a crowd ever followed him. If we take Luke 2:52 seriously, we'll see that this thirty or so year part of his life was instrumental in shaping him into someone who would lead the crowds and disciples into the kingdom of God:

 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

         Beyond being part of a lowly and simple profession, there is a lot to be taken from the shepherding analogy as well: they are invested in every member of the flock and will sacrifice themselves for the sheep. We see this detailed attention of the shepherd in Matthew 18:12-13:

 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.

         I think that God calls us all, in some small sense, to participate in shepherding. This means caring after the people in our circle of influence with the same loving care as Jesus does. If we look at the lowest and weakest people in our immediate context, we will be seeing Christ in our presence needing our personal care and attention. I've especially picked this up from a lesson I recently learned about Mark 9:36-37:

36 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

          I was in the New Interpreter's Bible ( Perkins, Pheme. The Gospel of Mark. The New Interpreter’s Bible Vol. VII. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995) and it discussed how we, in our modern world and culture, romanticize being children, but the ancient world viewed children as worthless and contemptible. Perkins says that the best modern equivalent of a child in this passage would be our homeless person. No one wants to pay attention to them; at best, they are a distraction; at worst, they are a waste of life and space. So, Jesus is telling us that if we welcome the socially awkward and otherwise needy people, we will actually be welcoming Jesus in. This should not be read that if we welcome a homeless person into our church or home, that we have fulfilled some law Jesus is placing on us here. This is not the case; in fact, following that kind of law would be too easy; Jesus invites us to something more difficult. We must allow our lives to be mobile homes: emotionally and socially welcoming people into our lives no matter where we find ourselves. So, instead of commanding us to give money or other resources to the poor and wave at them as we rush away, we are challenged to give them our love, attention, and welcoming ears. This stems from the shepherd's heart, which knows that each sheep, no matter how useless looking, has something to contribute and should be loved with deep care and affection.
           In conclusion, meditate upon 1 Corinthians 12:21-25:

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Peace of Christ to you,
Simeon Snow

The Power of Need: Deuteronomy 8:3

             The verse for today's blog post is from an interesting find: it's what Jesus uses as one of his responses to Satan during the temptations in the wilderness. Here is where we find it in Matthew 4:1-4:

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

          Jesus here responds to his physical need by pointing to his greater need, God, even after having fasted for 40 days in the universe. I find it interesting that the man who gave food to thousands of people miraculously did not give himself the same benefit that he gave to the crowds. Also, Jesus is not opposed to looking out for his own needs, which is displayed by his taking off time to go and be alone in prayer for hours. His words may sound like spiritual snobbery or an ideal beyond our achievement; Jesus looks awful legalistic here. After all, how am I to apply this passage to my life? Do I respond to any need in my life by filling it with something spiritual? That's what Jesus words seem to portray, but I am struck that we don't allow ourselves to process Jesus' words on a deeper level. Jesus was one who understood that our hearts had to be right; this is even more important than any law that we should obey. So what heart condition is driving Jesus' response? Here, we see that Satan is trying to get Jesus to perform a miracle in order to make his trial easier on himself. What would be wrong with this? This is where our confusion with the passage begins. Since we know that Satan is trying to trip up Jesus, we immediately flip back into the Old Testament and desperately search for a law that makes what Satan suggests a sin. However, no matter how hard we try, there is nothing there to find.
           I think the key to finding out what was wrong in the action lies in Jesus' response to the temptation. His response comes from Deuteronomy 8:3:

3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

          Here, we see where Jesus is pulling from in the second half of the verse about living on the word of God instead of just bread alone. We see that physical needs are still honored by God because we do not live on bread alone, which means we still need bread, but we need God more. So, when the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness, the need for food is not diminished; Jesus is not "too spiritual" for food. So, we see that Jesus is hungry and that he can feed himself without sinning. So why does he not eat? Since the point of Jesus' temptations are to make him stronger, we see that Jesus is embracing his hunger as an opportunity to draw close to God. This is the point of any fast. Jesus isn't putting his life in danger by not eating. Jesus disproves this idea with his subsequent temptation. If risking starving to death to prove his reliance on God was the point of this trial, then Jesus would have risked his life by jumping off the top of the temple later in the chapter in Matthew 4:5-7:

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

          So, here, we see that Jesus does not refuse food to put the Lord his God to the test. Instead, we see something in Jesus' heart that is very powerful. To see this, we need to turn back to Deuteronomy 8:3:

3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

          I want you to focus on one word: "causing". God "caused" the Israelites to hunger. If you don't sense what is strange about this word, take a minute to reflect on it. God caused their hunger. Intentionally. It wasn't an accident or mistake. He caused them to feel a need. Let's bring this closer to home: if you have ever felt the need for a spouse, God created that need inside of you. The same thing applies for need for rest, comfort, assurance, etc. However, let us camp on the spouse analogy to get our point across. This need is affirmed throughout scripture. Three great verses for this are Genesis 2:18:

 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

           Proverbs 18:22:

 22 He who finds a wife finds what is good
    and receives favor from the Lord.

           and Proverbs 19:14:

 14 Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,
    but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

            Every human has a God-given desire for a spouse, but you'd be quick to notice that not everyone is married. People who encounter these verses can sometimes get into a circular trap of logic that I like to compare to a jack-in-the-box. You think 1. God loves me. 2. God wants good things for me 3. God tells me that a spouse is a good thing. 4. If I don't have a spouse, it's my fault, not God's 5. I need to earn this through prayer and increasing my faith. This is where the pain hits because the increase in faith and prayer often don't earn you that significant other. This is like leaning over a jack-in-the-box and spinning the wheel until the jack hits you in the face, stuffing the jack back in, and waiting until the pain of the last experience fades away before trying again with the initial question: "God loves me, right?"
            However, what we need to realize is that our hunger and need are opportunities to draw close to God. Fasting, which is just creating a need for yourself rather than letting God do it, is a great way of recognizing our need for God and drawing close to him. However, we need to, like Jesus, go beyond simply fasting. We need to recognize all times of need as opportunities to draw close to God. Jesus' didn't necessarily choose his forty day fast. The Spirit forced him to do it. In the same way, a need that God allows into our lives is a forced fast. Just because you didn't choose to fast does not mean it is not a fast. So, if you have a need for food, money, a spouse, rest, or a vacation and you wish the desire for any of these things would go away, you need a change of perspective. Rejoice in the trial because it will help you to recognize your first and foremost need: God. Oh, and by the way, He does love you. Remember what I have just told you and reflect anew on Psalm 37:4:

4 Delight yourself in the Lord
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Peace of Christ to you,
Simeon

Guard Your Heart: Proverbs 4:20-23

            Proverbs 4:20-23 is a very beautiful peace of scripture. Originally, I had thought of it speaking on the need to guard one's emotions and more intimate self from risk, but I've learned through books and commentaries about how this passage is instead about how one invests in one's relationship with God. Here is the passage below:

20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
    listen closely to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
    keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
    and health to a man’s whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
    for it is the wellspring of life.

             Here, we see that guarding our heart, in this context, is about listening to the words of the wise Father. Additionally, we are told that treasuring these words will bring health to our whole body. I think we should take this to mean that spending time in the Word will have benefits for our physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health. It even goes so far to say that, in doing so, we are guarding our heart, which is our wellspring of life. Thus, in order to live a fulfilled life or to pour life into those around us, we need to guard our hearts, which starts by spending time in God's Word.
            A lot of people look at ministry as if they are pouring God's energy into their own cup and then pouring that cup into the lives of other people until the cup runs dry. Then there is burnout followed by a spiritual retreat that refills the cup before the cycle begins anew. However, this cycle of ministry is debilitating and self-defeating, for not only do you waste a lot of time and energy, but you also lose quality in ministry whenever you are feeding people out of your energy and enthusiasm rather than from God's power.To minister differently, you need to look at ministry like your cup is stacked on top of the cups of the people you are ministering to. Then, you learn that you are constantly letting God pour into you every day and that, when your cup fills up, the overflow goes into the lives of the people you are serving. This way, not only do you not burn out, but you are also pouring fresh water into the lives of others rather than the stagnant water you give whenever you are pouring yourself out to the last drop.
           So, how does this play out practically? Look at John 15:5:

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

         Jesus tells us that we can get nothing done if we are not abiding in him. Here, abiding would be best understood as spending daily time with him. This is done in Bible reading, prayer, meditation, and other spiritual disciplines that give you and God time to spend together. Another verse echoes a similar warning about one's relationship with God. After discussing a model of maturing in the faith, Peter continues in 2 Peter 1:8-9:

 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

          If we don't spend time developing our relationship with God, we will be ineffective and unproductive in affecting the lives of others. We might pour as much effort as we want into ministry,  but it will be for naught if God is not in the equation every day, moving in our heart and, thus, moving through our heart into the lives of those around us. This is the wisdom behind the first passage from Proverbs: we need to guard our heart, for it is the spring from which we draw life for ourselves and for those around us.
          In conclusion, reflect on Joshua 1:8:

8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

          and Psalm 119:9-11:

 9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
    By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
    do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
    that I might not sin against you.

Peace,
Simeon Snow

Godly Sorrow and Confrontation: 2 Corinthians 7:10-11

          Godly sorrow is a concept that appears often in scripture; you'll see it in the Proverbs whenever the author is discussing discipline and how it brings life. In the same way, there are several situations within which we are able to grow mightily by the influence of sorrow in our lives. To start out with, let us go to 2 Corinthians 7:10-11:

10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

          When I hear this verse, I immediately think of classes I've been in where I needed pain or punishment in order to continue forward. I would keep making one small grammatical error on every assignment and I continued to do so until I lost a point for it. Afterwards, I never made the same mistake again. It was because I had experienced some kind of loss and it stuck with me.
          I think we realize this when it comes to disciplining children: we know that the child will never improve in his behavior or attitude unless he experiences some kind of loss to connect with the lesson. As hard as we try to explain why good actions are their own reward, there come appropriate times when we need to use negative reinforcement to show the lesson since they cannot see what we can.
          Everything up to this point has been very simple and without needing much to expound on. However, the application for this verse goes a little farther. Have you ever needed to confront someone? There is a good that you want to achieve in someone's life that they cannot see on their own. The only downside is that the person might be hurt or offended by our piece of advice. Certainly, we are to survey whether someone is open to receiving advice or not. We see this in Proverbs 26:4-5:

4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
    or you will be like him yourself.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
    or he will be wise in his own eyes.

           Also, we are told in 1 Peter 3:15b-16 that we are told to offer words of righteousness with gentleness:

 15b Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

          However, the general response of most people to verses like these and their desires to preserve the self confidence and happiness of the person needing change leads them to say nothing at all. The fear of hurting the person is weighed against how much good the change will make. Obviously, even a raging madman should be advised to stop killing people, but most of the time it is very hard to tell if the change is worth the pain, find ourselves unable to balance the two, err on the side of caution, and say nothing. However, if you look at the previous passages, you will see that you are not actually balancing a pro versus a con. Instead, you have two pros. Both the desired change that you want to bring in the person's life and the little bit of pain that will come with this information are both positive things! That small bit of pain will help the lesson to stick and, according to our first passage, will produce earnestness, eagerness to clear themselves, indignation, alarm, longing, concern, and readiness to see justice done. You are doing the person a favor by bringing godly sorrow into their lives. On the other hand, you do not set out to produce sorrow for sorrow's sake alone. That is to rely on the sorrow of the world, which, the passage tells us, leads to death. Additionally, we should only burden someone with one or two suggestions at a time to prevent burdening someone with too much sorrow. We see this in 2 Corinthians 2:6-8 when Paul is dealing with a sinner in the community:

6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 

          A similar verse appears in Galatians 6:1-2:

 1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

         These contrasting themes are brought together in 2 Timothy 1:7:

 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

         While there is nothing wrong with a shy or introverted personality, God gives us the Spirit to be bold and powerful whenever love demands it. You do not truly love someone if you let them sit in their darkness. If we see darkness in someone's life, then it is our responsibility to warn them of their darkness (or find someone close to them whom they would be more willing to listen to). We see this responsibility in Ezekiel 33:6:

6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.

         and if we recognize our roles as priests in God's kingdom, we will heed the words of Malachi 2:6-7 when he is discussing priests:

 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. 7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.

         So, as you go about this week, remember that the Spirit is in you and tap it's power to confront sin with boldness and power.
Peace,
Simeon Snow

Brave Warriors: 1 Chronicles 5:24b-25

             The topic for today's discussion has to do with some troubling men's movements that have been popping up along with a theme in scripture that is getting more attention in recent times. Although there is no official name for it, you can call it the Courageous Warrior or Masculinity movement. The recent spotlight on this idea centers around one theme: men are not what they should be and it is because we have lost a biblical definition for manhood in our churches. To restore this manhood, we need to emphasize the godly qualities that are also masculine, such as righteous confrontation, strength, and courage. The argument goes that real men stay out of church and the ones inside it have been brainwashed into acting like women. This movement blames the deficiency of "real" men in churches today for the church's inability to take a bolder stance on current hot button issues and for the inability of men to be leaders among the congregation. The proposed solution for these problems is to gather groups of men to cultivate these male qualities and, thus, restore the church. This is also to counter the problem of men only maturing in ways that are feminine. The biblical foundation for this movement comes from Old Testament stories about godly men, like David or Samson, showcasing legendary manhood and emphasizing the need to emulate this masculinity. One Bible study I read, called Chase the Lion, focused on the story of Benaiah in 2 Samuel 23:20:

20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab’s best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.

             The moral of the story is that a guy in the Bible did a manly thing. That's it. We don't hear anything more about this man's character or his relationship with God besides going on to be a military leader and executioner for Solomon (see 1 Kings 2), but we do know that he killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. The Bible study takes this single verse and expands it to mean that God calls us all to take more risks, but it qualifies this by saying that these risks should be calculated. What they fail to mention is how killing a lion in a snowy pit is a calculated risk, but maintains that we must follow this man's approach to life based on this single action. The other verse I see frequently attached to this movement is 1 Corinthians 16:13:

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.

            The specific part of this verse focused on is "be men of courage", which is often translated, accurately, as "act like men" or "be men". While this passage does ask men to have godly characteristics that are Masculine, I think it would be putting words in Paul's mouth to say that true Masculinity is Godliness. While the goals of being brave and leaders of our families are noble, these characteristics are not guarantees of righteousness in any way. To start my counterargument, let's turn over to 1 Chronicles 5:24b, which describes an Israelite family:

24b They were brave warriors, famous men, and heads of their families. 

           These Israelites have the same heart as Benaiah! In fact, they do even more! Not only are they brave, they have importance in the eyes of the public and are strong leaders of their families. I could start my own Masculinity Bible study with much further applications, but to do so would be to lie to and mislead you about their character. Now I am going to add verse 25 on to this passage and see what you think of these new role models:

24b They were brave warriors, famous men, and heads of their families. 25 But they were unfaithful to the God of their fathers and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

            Character adjustment is never a guarantee of righteousness. I want to be a spiritual leader in my family and I would like to be courageous and make bold stands for what is righteous, but I need to develop that character out of a growing relationship with God rather than follow a Law of Masculinity. The men in the previous passage were part of the family of God and they met all the demands of the Masculinity movement and more, but they have nothing; their spiritual treasuries are empty. Not only so, but Masculinity is very subjective and changes based on the culture. For instance, the Karo men of Ethiopia prove their Masculinity by how many cows they can jump over; contrarily, the Bunna women of Ethiopia prove their Femininity by how many whip lashes they can endure (See also Global Prayer Digest). Instead of trying to make ourselves more godly by pursuing a subjective Man Law, God gives us the power for life and godliness. 2 Peter 1:3-4 says:

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

          Here, we see that God's divine promises (such as the power for life and godliness) give us the ability to mature towards the divine nature and escape corruption. The passage goes on to describe how to pursue maturity by spending time with God. While there is nothing wrong with Masculinity, we are not called to pursue it. The reasons that we are strong, brave, or courageous are because of our love for God and women are called to be these things as well. In fact, the female heroes of the Old Testament were famous because they were strong, brave, and courageous. They killed people in the Old Testament, too, lol. While the Bible does give a few different instructions to guys and girls and affirms their major differences, the authority of these commands rests on scripture and the differences are to be embraced and celebrated without being enforced as law.
        To close, let me leave you with a passage that shows the continuity between time with God and the resulting Godliness that so happens to be Masculine. Joshua 1:8-9 says:

8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Peace,
Simeon Snow