EXALT. Psalm 12:8.

What you like, you THINK about.

What you love, you TALK about.

What you worship, you SING about.

What do Americans sing about? Last week’s top five songs concern: 1) breaking up, 2) drugs, 3) sex, 4) the excitement of a new romance, and 5) a song by the old girl complaining about her ex’s new girl. So what do we worship? What do we EXALT?

We exalt 1) the drama of romance, 2) the animal “thrills” of sex and drugs, and 3) the bitterness of rejection. Incidentally, all five songs included foul language, four of them the “F” word. We now exalt that which is most raw, like prison inmates throwing feces at each other. We take the worst we have and smear it on each other.

“The wicked wander everywhere, and what is worthless is exalted by the human race” Psalm 12:8.

WHAT IS WORTHLESS IS EXALTED.

We worship the worthless. To be fair, most music is not as foul Ryan Seacrest’s at40.com. But even country music—sometimes “tame” by comparison—is FILLED with songs that exalt drinking and breaking up. We sing about the worthless. Don’t get me wrong—many songs are fun and harmless. There’s nothing wrong with songs like “Grandma’s Featherbed”—John Denver did not worship the bed. It’s just a fun, silly song.

But music was created for worship; the more serious a song is, the more worship it inspires. Serious songs about sinful subjects can influence fans to put those subjects on a pedestal—after all, if it was not important, no one would sing about it—and you begin to value and worship those things.

Remember, “what is worthless is exalted by the human race” Psalm 12:8. Don’t let music confuse you about what matters. Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection—that is what we should exalt.

God, make us discerning about music, movies, and media. Help us fill our minds with things that exalt you. Make us better worshipers. Protect us from the bad influences around us. “I will put the one who longs for it in a safe place” Psalm 12:5. Lord, put our hearts in a safe place.

ΑΩ

SECRETS YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW, MYSTERIES YOU DON’T NEED TO SOLVE. Genesis 3:6.

I once sat in a booth at Chili’s talking to a friend about Genesis 3. He was convinced it was a scam: “How can God punish Adam and Eve for eating from the Tree of Knowledge? Doesn’t everyone want knowledge?” He said God was unfair. I was at a loss, and we went round and round for hours. But look at the indictment against Eve:

“Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable to make one wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” Genesis 3:6.

Eve’s failures are our failures. She wanted the fruit because it satisfied the lust of the flesh (“was good for food”), the lust of the eyes (“was delightful to look at”), and her pride (“was desirable to make one wise”). Each of our sins fits into one of these categories.

God is God. If He placed some knowledge off-limits, that is His right.

And He did: there are things we do not need to know, others we are not ALLOWED to know. There are books you should NOT read, movies you should NOT watch, pictures you should NOT look at, places you should NOT go. Why? Because those things will HARM you. To protect you, God placed them off-limits.

The next sin is Cain killing Abel. Result? Cain, a farmer, is told “if you work the ground, it will never again give you its yield” 4:12. Cain’s sin robbed him of his life’s work. That is serious. Adam and Eve stole God’s knowledge and lost their home in paradise. Cain gained knowledge of murder and lost his life’s work.

God, teach us to submit to you. Help us understand that you have placed things off-limits not to deprive us, but to protect us! Help us obey your rules. Help us WORK to gain good knowledge but help us NOT to seek forbidden knowledge. Help us trust you and respect boundaries.

ΑΩ

WORK IS GOD’S PLAN, NOT GOD’S PUNISHMENT. Psalm 104:14,23.

I was obsessed. I woke up running and did not stop till dark. After school, I put on play clothes and was back outside. Life was adventures, tree climbing, pirates, hide & seek, baseball, bicycles, and more. I BELIEVED in play the way others believed in the Dallas Cowboys. PLAY was my team. I LOVED play and HATED work. Work was the enemy team.

It would be many years before I surrendered.

After Adam sinned, God told Adam he would eat by the sweat of his brow, Genesis 3:18-19. But don’t make the mistake of thinking work is a punishment. It is not. Adam had a job BEFORE he sinned, remember? And every child of Adam has work. Work gives life purpose, joy, fulfillment—your work is your calling, and God made you for it. He made you to work.

WORK IS NOT A PUNISHMENT.

The survivalists competing on the show ALONE prove a truth about work. The work often frustrates them, worries them, drives them crazy. But when they finally have everything set up in a way that will allow them to survive indefinitely—when the hardest work is behind them—they often become homesick and depressed and tap out. The same is true in civilization: studies proved long ago that once men stop working, many have nothing to live for and quickly grow ill and die.

Remember, work is not a punishment.

WORK IS A JOY.

“God causes grass to grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate…. Man goes out to his work and his labor until evening” Psalm 104:14,23.

God makes the grass grow for the animals, but WE must cultivate the crops. And just as nocturnal animals hunt by night, and sleep by day (verses 20-22), God’s plan is that “man goes out to his work and to his labor until evening.”

Dear God, bless our WORK. Help us value it and do our best every single day. Make us thankful for jobs, incomes, challenges, setbacks, coworkers—make us HARD WORKERS with a CHEERFUL DISPOSITION. May we bring light and joy to every workplace we enter.

ΑΩ

YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. Matthew 5-7.

Official portrait of King Charles by Jonathan Yeo, revealed March 13, 2024.

Royals have many titles. Before he was crowned King, England’s Prince Charles bore many titles: “The Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Isles, Baron of Renfrew, and the Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.”

Kings and princes bear numerous titles, and no king has more titles than the KING OF KINGS (one writer online says God has over 100 names, another says 950.). But Jesus rarely uses any of those names when he preaches. He simply calls God our “Father.”

In fact, in the three short chapters that make up the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls God our father 17 times.

He is your FATHER.

Your Father.

Your Father.

Your Father.

“Your Father who is in heaven (5:16) … children of your Father who is in heaven (5:45) … your Father who is in heaven is perfect (5:48) …. Rewards from your Father (6:1) … your Father sees in secret (6:4)… pray to your Father in secret (6:6) … your Father knows your needs (6:8) … Our Father who art in heaven (6:9) … your heavenly Father will forgive you (6:14) … your heavenly Father feeds them (6:26) … your heavenly Father knows what you need (6:32) … your Father in heaven gives good gifts (7:11).”

The King of the Universe who is also the Creator, the Judge, the Sovereign Head of all things, and our Wonderful Counselor has many, many titles—but Jesus uses one of them over and over:

He is your FATHER.

Your Father.

Your Father.

Your Father.

That makes God family. And He loves you, He will rescue you, provide for you, watch over you. He will teach you, discipline you, forgive you, restore you, redeem you. He will fix things you break—even if you break them on purpose. What could be a more special role for God than Father?

Dear God, Thank you for being our Abba Father, or “Daddy Father.” Help us to know you and love you the way we should know and love our own father. Thank you that we can come to you with EVERY problem, and you will always be compassionate and merciful. We love you!

ΑΩ

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand. Mark 3:25.

Manicheanism was a false religion best known for dividing life into an evil sphere and a good sphere. Today the term is used most often to describe those who hold that sort of view. If you believe life is like an old western film where everyone is either a good guy wearing a white hat, or a bad guy wearing a black hat, then you may have a Manichean view of human nature. The STAR WARS films are well-known for a Manichean view of life: everyone is either all-good or all-bad. A more sophisticated view of human nature would allow you to recognize that Christians do bad things, and non-Christians do good things, and most our hats are probably some shade of gray.

Consider the topic of unity in the church. Does a Manichean view of people unify believers or divide believers?

Jesus said “a house divided against itself cannot stand” Mark 3:25. The church must have unity or it will collapse. If you were the enemy of God, you would not attack him–because you can’t do anything to harm God. Instead, you would attack those he loves most. You would attack his bride, the church. How would you successfully attack the church? Create ways to divide believers. Make them argue. Make it passionate. Make them hate each other and kill each other so they will be too distracted and powerless to share the gospel.

In this modern world, the best way to split people into warring factions is to gin-up arguments about current events, scandals, secret government plots, conspiracy theories (some real, some imagined), and scientific discoveries so advanced the average person lacks the education or experience to evaluate them.

What do all these things have in common? They are disputes that bolster the conviction that the rich and powerful are lying to everyone. And when you believe celebrities, billionaires, global corporations, and the U.S. government are lying to everyone, you quickly adopt a starkly Manichean view of humanity.

This is an “angels vs. demons” way of looking at people.

There is no nuance, no in-between, no gray areas. Reflecting on a difference of opinion, the Manichean will never say, “his heart is in the right place, but he’s wrong on this issue.” Instead, the Manichean says: the one who disagrees with me is a wolf–part of the evil cabal that is promoting lies–or else he is a sheep, too afraid to ask questions and therefore, he will never understand the deeper things.

The Manichean view allows you to justify making an enemy of anyone who disagrees: your best friend, your sister, your Sunday school teacher, your pastor. Anyone. I have seen more than one family driven to divorce over these issues.

What is the answer?

“Reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing they breed quarrels” 2 Timothy 2:23.

Are the disputes interesting? YES! Do you have an opinion? YES! Do you believe your opinion is the right one? OF COURSE! (Who doesn’t?)

But the Bible says “REJECT FOOLISH AND IGNORANT DISPUTES.”

Are some disputes foolish and ignorant and others too important to reject? Does Paul expect Timothy to reject some disputes, but not others? I don’t know.

All I know is that Jesus encouraged unity in the church. He did not encourage investigating the latest rumor or researching current events. Those things must be done by someone–but it does not have to be YOU.

Doesn’t our nation have enough people out there doing the research? Not only professionals, journalists, law enforcement officers, and other investigators with decades of professional experience, but also plenty of self-proclaimed “internet sleuths” that will never stop researching.

The so-called “internet sleuths” do not need your help. They do not need my help! Instead, we are warned to reject disputes that lead to these horrible quarrels. We need unity. We need unity in our churches, in our homes, in our marriages.

So what do you do while waiting for answers? Study the word. If that seems unsatisfying, I am simply giving you the answers I believe God has given me. As I’ve written elsewhere, as a lawyer and professor, investigations and research are my bread and butter. But God continually, daily, constantly leads me to stop researching the alleged secrets behind the events of the day, and to focus on his word. Every single day that seems to be God’s direction to me: ignore the claims, the disputes, the latest and greatest scandal, and focus on God’s word and the unity of the Body of Christ.

And resist the desire to see people in Manichean terms: the good are not perfectly holy and the bad are not pure evil. Things are always more subtle than that. Most are in the gray area at the middle. And we must love them there.

God, teach us to value love and unity more than “being right.” May they know we are Christians by our love, John 13:35. Be glorified in your church. Be glorified by the peace and love among your people–even when we disagree.

ΑΩ

JFK, the Moon Landing, the Flat Earth. 2 Timothy 2:23.

“Conspiracy Theory” is an apt phrase because it captures an idea for which no other phrase fits. But let’s use instead a phrase not invented by the CIA. Let’s use the broader language of “current events.”

We all want to understand current events. Everyone wants answers: who started this war or that war? What role did oil production play in the war? What really happened with the space program? What about genetically modified organisms? What about vaccines? What about contrails or chemtrails? Where did COVID-19 come from? What about pizzagate?

There are dozens of these issues. And we all want answers. Where do most of us get our answers? From the most unreliable source imaginable, the internet. Some websites are correct of course, some are wrong, and some are lying on purpose to generate likes, shares and follows.

What can we do? Pray. Pray hard. And learn the word. Study the word. If we want to know what is behind the events of the day, we need to stop researching the events of the day. Wait, what? That’s right. Stop listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos and doing so-called “deep-dives” (which are never all that deep, but merely time-consuming).

Nothing on the internet is ever deep. Don’t believe me? Read a 300-page work of non-fiction and then ask yourself how deep the worldwide web really is. It is a speedboat skimming the surface of all the world’s topics.

Anyway, my point is:

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS BEHIND THE EVENTS OF THE DAY, STOP RESEARCHING THE EVENTS OF THE DAY AND SPEND MORE TIME STUDYING GOD’S WORD.

Why? Will the Bible answer your questions about the moon landing or the death of President Kennedy? No, certainly not in any direct manner. But the Bible will fill your heart with wisdom and a deeper knowledge of God’s heart and God’s voice.

My experience with these issues has been as follows: sometimes God gives me answers. Most of the time God tells me to wait. Just wait. Wait for more facts. More evidence. Wait on the Lord and keep studying his word. God has never led me to do a “deep-dive” researching current events. Have I done a deep-dive? Of course. But I won’t say God led it.

One problem with conspiracy theories is that the obsession seems to breed animosity.

Once you decide that a conspiracy is factual–that the government really has deceived the public about something–then you are tempted to see the world in terms of good and evil. Those who agree with you are your brothers-in-arms. Those who disagree are either WOLVES and your sworn enemy, or they are SHEEP and not worth your time.

What about your family and friends? They are either on your side or they are wolves to attack or they are sheep–and you vacillate between feeling sorry for them and feeling fed-up with them. What about your Christian brothers and sisters? Again, if they do not share your view, then they are either wolves or sheep, in either case, a problem.

This becomes deeply divisive, creating almost a demonic level of hatred and bitterness. Have you experienced that? I have. The reason is that we are no longer looking at people through God’s eyes. We are not seeing them through the Blood of Christ. We only see them through the lens of the issue that divides us.

Remember the prayer of Jesus in John 17? Jesus’s longest prayer in the Bible is a prayer that His followers would have unity. UNITY. Jesus asks that his disciples “may be one as we are one” John 17:11.

“My prayer is … that all of them may be one … I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one … so that they may be brought to complete unity” John 17:21-23.

The Bible speaks often of the importance of unity in the church, unity in families, unity between brothers, unity among friends. It says nothing about investigating and solving every mystery that may be lurking in some government file. As a lawyer and a college professor, investigations and research are my bread and butter. Yet, when I find myself obsessed with the latest current events, looking for patterns that may or may not exist–God always cautions me to back off. He seems to lead me to let the matter go and wait on the Lord. The truth will out. What am I supposed to do in the meantime, while I wrestle with having no clear answer? “Wait on the Lord.” Trust the Lord.

“Reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing they breed quarrels” 2 Timothy 2:23.

Dear God, teach us to spend more time in the word and less time “researching” current events. Give us the patience to trust you and the wisdom to protect the UNITY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST. Remind us how important the unity of the Body is to You.

Thou Shalt Not Eat: Avoid the Fruit Desired to Make One Wise. Genesis 3:6.

The internet is the new Wild West, a lawless frontier where anyone can set up shop and begin sharing opinions.

Because there are no rules—and given the sinful nature of man—there are probably more lies than truths on the web. One I spoke to who has “zero faith in government,” argues that the government is in the hands of the evil one, a reference to 1 John 5:19. I do not disagree–though I believe the U.S. federal and state governments are still populated with godly men and women who work hard every day to protect the people. The world-wide web, however, has no such protection. If you are getting all your information from the web, you are probably in greater danger from the web than the government.

The superhighway of information has become the superhighway of mis-information.

Lies always masquerade as truth. How can you tell one from the other?

In the MATRIX, the character Neo wakes up from his dreamlike existence to discover it is all imaginary. Then he is offered a choice between the blue pill and the red pill. The blue pill will let him return to his former illusions, happy and ignorant. But the red pill will give him greater insight into the unpleasant truths of reality. The MATRIX is a great movie. But you know what? The MATRIX is fictional.

Nevertheless, there are those who want to be Neo, to live in his world, to wake up from an illusion and find themselves one of the chosen few with secret knowledge of the shadowy world of OZ, the world of the puppet master behind the curtain. And our culture seems to have decided conspiracy theories (turned conspiracy-facts) are the red pills.

The more conspiracy theories you decide are not theories but fact, the more you have supposedly freed yourself from illusions. Now you know the truth. Those who disagree are either wolves—your enemies—or they are sheep and no longer worth your time.

Of course, some will believe the stories because they are afraid of being called sheep—this, in spite of the fact that deciding a conspiracy theory is actually fact because you are afraid of being called a sheep is the ultimate proof you are a sheep.

The problem is, most conspiracy theories are illusions of fiction, just as the MATRIX film is an illusion of fiction. There’s no truth there. The Wizard of Oz is just an old man behind a curtain. There’s no THERE there. There’s just nothing.

But why are these stories so compelling? Why do we insist on believing them?

Conspiracy theories provide a break FROM your hum-drum life. Suddenly YOU are the one who understands everything. You are the great high priest, placing the Eucharistic wafer of knowledge on the tongues of the uninitiated. That’s right, little old YOU, with your hair in curlers and your slippers and all those cats in your kitchen eating tuna fish out of the can. Forget about the journalists on TV, and the politicians, and those college professors who gave you Cs and your parents who did not support your dreams. Now you are the genius sharing special knowledge. Your life is no longer small and ordinary. Now you’re deep-diving on the web, ripping off the blinders and discovering that we have been lied to: the world really is FLAT! Who would have thought? And the moon landing was faked! And the Men in Black really have discovered aliens. And if only you had infra-red lights you could communicate with them. And Alien technology is going to revolutionize power and energy on this planet, if the government will ever stop hiding the data. And maybe they will, if only the sheep will rise up…

For insight into this ultra-modern problem of internet deception, let’s return to where it all began: the Garden of Eden.

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field” and when he began asking questions of Eve, she was taken in. She explained the rules about knowledge, the Tree of Knowledge, and the serpent scoffed. “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat [from the tree], then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” Genesis 3:1-5.

If I may paraphrase, the serpent says to Eve, “Look, God is giving you the blue pill. Nice happy garden of bliss. No illness, no disease, no tears, but also—no knowledge. What I am offering you is the red pill. The red pill is wisdom, knowledge. It will give you insight and knowledge on par with God’s. Eat from the tree that I offer and you will be enlightened.”

And the King James Bible concludes the story: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” Genesis 3:6-7.

Eve bit the forbidden fruit. The serpent sold her on a quest for special knowledge and she took the bait. It cost her everything: paradise, purity, peace, intimacy with God, life itself. She and Adam lost everything when they let their desire for secret knowledge cause them to break God’s rules.

God has not given us a rule that clearly says “don’t read that article on chemtrails” or “don’t do a deep-dive into whether the government can steer hurricanes.” But we are warned to “avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law, for they are useless and worthless” Titus 3:9.

Further, check your heart. Can you relate to Eve in her desire to eat a snack that will make her wise? Wisdom is a hard-won quantity, one of the most expensive things you will obtain. It takes years of life experience, years of Bible study, years living a life of integrity. You cannot get wisdom through a single meal. Eve was looking for a shortcut to wisdom and knowledge.

Think of someone you know with significant knowledge–actual knowledge, such as mastery in their chosen field. Ask yourself: how many classes did the knowledgeable person take? How hard did he or she study? How many books has he or she read? Do they still read books?

There is no shortcut to wisdom and knowledge. You will not get it from eating a forbidden fruit, or swallowing a red pill, or by surfing the internet. Be honest—we have all spent countless hours on the web. It is an inefficient way to gain knowledge. It is great for definitions and simple answers to quiz questions. But it will not provide you a well-rounded education, an education that provides not simply facts but the wisdom and insight to interpret those facts. Surfing the web is not an efficient way to gain wisdom or knowledge. Nor is it the best place to gain insight into recent history or current affairs.

There is nothing wrong with the pursuit of truth or wisdom. But Eve turned her back on the one simple rule to guide life in the Garden:

If the knowledge you are researching is drawing you away from God’s truth, you are probably following Eve into sin. It is a subtle thing. But search your heart and ask God for wisdom.

Lies masquerade as truth. But God’s word can guide you toward truth and away from deception. Are you so obsessed with your “research” into the latest claim that you have no time for the Bible? Does a part of you resist the Bible? Does the Bible feel like a blue pill to you—like reading the Bible may be holding you back from deeper discoveries?

If anything in your life is causing you to spend less time in the word, that thing may be wrong.

ΑΩ

Jesus said the end times would be characterized not only by “wars and rumors of wars,” by earthquakes and famines and the beginning of the birth pangs, but by DECEPTION. “Take heed that no one misleads you” Matthew 24:4. I have never seen such a chorus of misleading voices. Between anti-intellectualism, social media, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Fakes, incompetent Influencers, the predatory wellness movement, biased reporting masquerading as journalism, the ignorance of expertise, plagiarism and other factors decimating scholarship and the peer-review process, the rise of false religions, cults, and new age spirituality, I am more inclined to call ours the end times than ever before.

About Whom Do These Verses Speak? Isaiah 49-61.

Pictured: a crown of thorns made from Greenberg vine. Most obvious lesson learned? In spite of hundreds of paintings to the contrary, said crown must be green. Dried, brown vines cannot be twisted into a crown without breaking.

Do you recognize the subject of these verses from Isaiah?

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (61:1-2).

“The Lord named me while I was in my mother’s womb (49:1) … He formed me from the womb to be His servant (49:5) … I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard. I did not hide my face from scorn and spitting (49:6) … I am the One who comforts you” (51:12).

“His appearance was disfigured more than any man. He did not look human (52:14) … He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering, acquainted with grief. He was like one from whom men turn away. He was despised and rejected, and we considered him stricken, an outcast. But he was carrying our sickness, bearing our griefs. He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment to justify us was given to him, and by his wounds we are healed. He was afflicted, but like a lamb to the slaughter, he did not open his mouth. They made his grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man in his death, though he had done no wrong. Yet it pleased the Lord to crush him because the righteous servant will justify many” (53:3-11).

I bet you know—these verses speak of Jesus. But they are from the book of Isaiah.

These prophecies were penned 700 years BEFORE Jesus was born!

And yet, they describe him so specifically. His wounds: his back, his cheeks, the spitting, the disfigurement, the suffering so horrible, no one can look at it, pierced by nails and a sword, his silence, his death among thieves, his burial in a rich man’s tomb, and more.

God has a plan—and God will accomplish His plan. As He did in the life of Christ, so He will do in your life. He knows your future, and you can trust Him with EVERY SINGLE DAY.

ΑΩ

MAMA TALKS ABOUT DEATH. Ecclesiastes 7:1-4.

My mother has always spoken quite casually of her own death. When I was about 12 she said, “I don’t care what you do with my body. When I die, you can just put me in the trash can and drag me out to the curb.” Honestly, I have always found her attitude bold, courageous, and realistic. She is unafraid of death, and more skillful at counseling the grieving than most people.

Solomon says it is wise to face death: there is wisdom to be gained.

“It is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting, since death is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart. Grief is better than laughter, for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad. The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure” Ecclesiastes 7:1-4.

Pleasure and laughter are wonderful; we love them. The Bible says “laughter doeth good like a medicine” Proverbs 17:22. But death can also do you good, because it forces you to realize what things in your life are petty and unimportant, and to have wise goals and wise behavior.

Every time you attend a funeral, you gain wisdom.

We are all headed toward death, and ought to be brave and face it. Don’t be afraid to think about it or discuss it—don’t be superstitious. The Bible actually says that when your heart or mind is “in the house of mourning,” you will gain wisdom. You SHOULD “take it to heart,” because death is the finish line. If you are wise, you will not hide from death or try to escape it, or to escape news about the deaths of others.

Finally, ALWAYS GO TO FUNERALS. It is the number-one sign of a true friend, and a powerful way to comfort the grieving. It is an exercise in both courage (facing death) and sacrifice (you changed your plans). Have courage and integrity and GO!

ΑΩ

Feel Good About Your Work, Achievements, Skills, and Talents. Genesis 1:4.

When I taught high school, I remember being chastised by my students. I was talking about being aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses:

“For example, I know that I write well. But I don’t always listen well—”

“Wow, Mr. Wales. That’s pretty arrogant, don’t you think?”

“What? Saying that I write well?”

“Yes. That’s so cocky. You’re bragging.”

“But there’s nothing wrong with knowing your strengths. If I go to a job interview and they ask my strengths and weaknesses, I want to be able to answer both questions honestly.”

“No. You sound conceited.”

I had these conversations more than once. I often found it difficult to convince 16-year-olds that there is a difference between boastful arrogance and honestly knowing your own gifts and talents.

It is not wrong to know what you are good at—and it is not wrong to enjoy doing things that you do well.

“There is nothing better for man that to eat, drink, and enjoy his work” Ecclesiastes 2:24.

It is not wrong to feel good about a job well done. When you finish a project—whether work, sports, hobbies—and you know you “crushed it,” you are allowed to feel good about that. You are allowed to feel GREAT about it. When you work hard and do well, you earned that good feeling. There is no need to minimize that, to steal your own joy. Enjoy! Rejoice in your success! Yes, you should feel good about it!

When God created the universe, he recognized the quality of his work:

“And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good” Genesis 1:4. 

He made the oceans and dry land, “and God saw that it was good” Genesis 1:10.

He made grasses and fruit trees, “and God saw that it was good” Genesis 1:12.

He made the sun and moon, “and God saw that it was good” Genesis 1:18.

He made the fish and birds, “and God saw that it was good” Genesis 1:21.

He made animals to cover the earth, “and God saw that it was good” Genesis 1:25.

And God made man and woman and placed the whole earth under their dominion (Genesis 1:28), and he saw everything that he had made, “and behold it was very good” Genesis 1:31.

A note in my study Bible is worth repeating:

“People sometimes feel guilty for feeling good about an accomplishment. This need not be so. Just as God felt good about his work, we can be pleased with our work when it is well-done. However, we should not feel good about our work if God would not be pleased with it. What are you doing that pleases both you and God?”[1]

God, thank you that we can enjoy the satisfaction of good work. Free us from the false “guilt” and condemnation that would rob us of this important source of joy.

ΑΩ

[1] Chronological Life Application Study Bible, King James Version. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois. 2013, note on Gen. 1:25.