on wisdom.

Every Thursday night for the last few years I have been helping out with a jr high group study that my church puts on called Switch. As a result, when it's my time to teach I will be spending the majority of my writing efforts focusing on those lessons rather than my usual blog posts. The following teaching ourlines are based on a study of The Story Teen Edition. Here is the first of those outlines that I will be posting. Enjoy!

The Story Teen Edition Chapter 13

What is wisdom? What’s the difference between being wise and being smart?

Where does wisdom come from?

Why do we want to be wise?

How do we become wise?

Wisdom in the context of the life of Solomon:

                After David’s death, Solomon took the throne as King. (The Story Teen Edition pages 176-177) One night, in a dream, God appeared to Solomon and told him to ask for whatever he wanted. Solomon approached God humbly, referring  repeatedly to himself as “your servant”. He admitted to being young and inexperienced. He asked God to give him a “discerning heart” to be able to rightly judge and lead God’s people well.

What is wisdom? Wisdom is a humble, discerning, and understanding heart that is able to distinguish between right and wrong.

                God granted Solomon’s request and, being happy with him for not asking for honor or riches, also granted him those very things, giving him wealth, wisdom, honor, and longevity.

Where does wisdom come from? Wisdom comes from God, the source of our morality and the only discerning force between right and wrong.

                Peace came over God’s people and they prospered under Solomon’s guidance. Because of the peace Israel was now experiencing Solomon was able to focus things other than the protection of their borders. He accomplished much by way of diplomacy and construction. Most notably, the Temple construction was started and completed during  Solomon’s reign. Because of the incredible wisdom God had given to Solomon his people thrived and his ruling over and guiding of them was just and pleasing to God.

Why do we want to be wise? Wisdom is what guides us in the way of the Lord. Solomon’s prosperous reign was due to his righteous living as a result of the wisdom God gave him. Wisdom is what brings us closer to God and shows us how to live our lives in a way that brings us closer to Him, and is pleasing to Him.

                (The Story page 191) People came from all over to seek out God’s wisdom, and the answers Solomon could give them. They brought with them massive treasures and huge amounts of precious materials to offer the King. It would seem that the wisdom God had given Solomon was invaluable to those who would seek it, and upon finding it, it led many to follow the way of the Lord. Over the course of his life Solomon would go on to write many famous saying that are today collected into the book of Proverbs.

How do we become wise? Wisdom comes from God and is made accessible to us,  particularly through two outlets:

Through God’s guidance directly and through others who may be wiser than us.

How does God guide us?

1)      God provided wisdom to Solomon directly. Do you believe he does the same for us? How?

a.       God’s word is an incredible source of wisdom that we have readily available and that we know to be living, active, and transformational in our lives (Hebrews 4:12-13). How do we access wisdom through God’s word? Read, study, memorize, collaborate with others on the same walk as you.

How does God use others in our lives?

2)      Speaking of collaboration, God also provides wisdom in our lives through other Christians.  How is this evident in the story of Solomon?

a.      Upon recognizing Solomon’s incredible wisdom, people came from far and wide to seek out his understanding. How can we follow this example?

What are some ways you have seen wisdom (your own or others) impact your life?

Take some time and pray for each other and your spiritual growth as it pertains to God and the wisdom he provides.

on scripture memorization.

       This is a topic I have recently become incredibly passionate about, and one that most churched Christians seem to be incredibly un-passionate about, myself included up until recently. The problem is that we see it as boring, laborious, time consuming, obligatory, and all in all just unnecessary.  The fact of the matter is, we just don't tend to see enough worth in it to put in the time and effort. Which is a shame.        This summer I set a goal for myself and the amount of scripture I would memorize. My original goal was to memorize all four chapters of Philippians by the time Sr. High camp rolled around. I failed. Sr. High camp showed up and I had barely completed the first chapter. I started thinking maybe I had overestimated myself, but I set a new goal anyway, this time giving myself a little more room to breathe. My new goal was this: have all four chapters of Philippians memorized in the NIV by the time I left for Spain at the end of the summer. And guess what? I failed. Again.
       That's right, even after I tripled the time I had originally given myself I still hadn't managed to accomplish my goal. Talk about frustration. And with nobody to blame but myself. Now I will admit that working at camp leaves very little free time for me to work on my own things, but I still found myself using the majority of my time on other things. My effort, however, was not wasted in the slightest. Yes, I failed to meet my goals, but I did memorize large portions of Philippians and in the process learned incredible things about Gods word.
       I didn't find myself getting bored memorizing, but rather hanging off of Paul's words as if he were speaking directly about my life. Memorizing is hard, I will admit, but the more I did it the more I didn't see it as work. It consumed my time but it replaced menial, unimportant, and sometimes even spiritually destructive tasks. The more the summer went on and the stress, both physically and spiritually, began to take its toll, the more I found that I not only wanted to be able to recall passages but needed to.
       As far as being obligatory, well I cant argue with that one. Anybody who has spent any significant amount of time reading the Bible can attest to the emphasis put on the need for studying and meditating on scripture. Examples of this are in Psalm 1:1-3, Psalm 119:11, Joshua 1:8, Deuteronomy 11:18, Colossians 3:16, Philippians 4:8 etc. Honestly I could go on for days like this. The point is, as Christians we are commanded to dedicate ourselves to learning and living out Gods word. But we all already know that were supposed to memorize verses, and I'm not here to beat that horse. Its been dead for a while. Instead I want to talk about the results of making the commitment to live out Psalm 119:11. The practical application. The real motivation for setting goals like this.
       The results, as it happens, are astounding. The more I memorized the more I seemed to find purpose in the tasks I completed and the relationships I built. I encountered a unique joy, a powerful comfort, and an unmatched wisdom. Paul's words in Philippians seemed to speak into every aspect of my life to the point where I'm almost certain those who worked with me grew tired of hearing "oh yeah that reminds me of this verse...". Being so constantly plugged into scripture changed the way I thought about myself, about others and about God. I felt the effects of Hebrews 4:12 quite literally as my thoughts and attitudes were picked to pieces and transformed bit by bit. Memorizing scripture literally rewires your brain, and as a result everything about you. Gods word changes everything. It permeates the dark corners of our lives, forcing us to come face to face with Him. It builds a conscious connection between Him and us. As is always the case with God, He is not pushing us to follow rules or check boxes. He is not a legalistic God. He is loving, and He is practical, so we can trust that there are some good reasons to step up to a task like this one. In this case, I believe He desires an intense dedication to scripture because it is our direct line to Him. Through it, and the Holy Spirit, we connect ourselves directly to the heart of God. He is the ultimate source of wisdom in our uncertainty, of joy in hardships, of endurance in our exhaustion, of comfort in our distress, and of guidance in our, well, everything. So why would we ever neglect that connection?

 Food for thought.

on christians and swear words.

Let's just take a minute and laugh at ourselves:




        Us christians have a lot of laughable habits. But one of the most rediculous tends to be our use of "Christian swear words". Our subtle attempts to fill in the lexical gaps created by our need to avoid swearing. Which raises the question, what's wrong with swearing in the first place? Is it sinful to utilize particular four letter words? If you grew up in the church and spent any significant amount of time in sunday school your instinctive response is probably something along the lines of "well Aaron, it's not the words that are bad, it's the intention of the person using the word".

That's fair. Kind of. But it's also a cop out. What is their intention? Odds are it's not rooted in sin. Maybe. Let me explain.

       I think most of us can agree that words are not inherently evil. There is nothing about an arrangement of letters in any particular order that is, in and of itself, sinful. I mean come on. It's a word. What's so bad about a stinking word? Nothing. It's just a word. Right?
       Well kind of. See the funny thing about language is that it is dictated, shaped, formed, and entirely determined by the people who use it, and culture has come together to (mostly) agree that some words are offensive. I'll post a video at the end of this blog with more on that. Some swear words are bad because they butcher otherwise wholesome ideas in ungodly ways, others due to their use to degrade people and ideas, and others for the same reason "irregardless" is a word and "I could care less" is a perfectly appropriate way to express an inability to possibly care any less: because we as english speaking people simply decided they are.
       So as Christians, how do we react to this knowledge? I know numerous Christians who swear like sailors, and I know numerous Christians who would readily rant for days on the sinful nature of certain vocabulary. Personally I can't agree with either extreme. I'm not particularly fond of swearing, but I also think condemning it based on simple assumptions made about a persons heart is a cheap way of enforcing legalistic behavior. Like on most issues, I find that most people (myself occasionally included) are missing the point. And the point is the gospel.

To those who would defend their right to swear all they want I have this to say:
       I believe stronger vocabulary can have a proper place in certin context. But how are you using your words to advance the gospel? Is your vocabulary drawing peolpe toward Christ and communicating the crucial truth of the gospel, or is it misrepresenting Him to those who watch you live out your faith on the daily? Be honest, and don't let your pride get the best of you.
                                   
To those who would condemn a more colorful vocabulary I have this to say:
       I believe there is a time and a place to call out fellow Christians on their misuse of the english language. But how are you using your words to advance the gospel? Is your condemnation coming from a place a judgment and legalism, or are you genuinly concerned with the way Christ is being represented by your brothers and sisters? Be honest, and don't let your pride get the best of you.                                                    
 
        The answers aren't as clear cut as you might think. I've personally been on all sides of these situations. I have, unfortunately, given negative impressions of what it means to be a Christian by using certain words and phrases, and I've called our friends of mine with unwholesome motives and a heart full of pride.
       But I've also had productive and healthy conversation with friends about legitimate concerns over how their faith is communicated through everyday conversation. And yes, believe it or not, I have used "swear words" in situations where I firmly believe it was not only beneficial but neccessary.
        It's a fine line, and there often isn't a clear cut answer. So here is how I believe we can find our solution:
       As with everything else, we should strive to live in a way that is both for sake of the gospel, and for the glory of our Lord. Let's take our focus off of being right or being offended and put it back on Christ.

And as promised, here is an interesting video for word nerds:

on Old Spice.

        A while back I read an article that discussed some of the ways scientists explain different aspects of the human brain. Deja vu, sleep cycles, addictions, thoughts, memories, etc. Events that we still struggle to understand. But one of the most interesting pieces of information I learned had to do with how our brain stores and recalls memories.
The article explained that when the brain processes information, different synapses are triggered and connections are temporarily made between them. When the same patterns are triggered, the more those connections are strengthened. As a result, the brain learns to recall certain memories and trigger certain synapses in response to things that have become familiar. It went on to say that of the many things that can bring back memories in this fashion, our sense of smell seems to be the strongest trigger. I was reminded of this the other day when I was in the shower.
See I have a body wash that I purchased this summer, just before heading off to camp. For three months I got accustomed to the smell of it as I worked at Maranatha. Every day bofore I went to the coffee shop, before I went to chapel with my cabin, before I stared at the water all day, or even before I did dishes, I would use it. At the end of that three months I took off to Spain leaving my big bottle of Old Spice behind. But then I came back.
Now I know it sounds weird, but bear with me here. That body wash holds a lot of memories. So much so that first time I showered upon returning to my home, I was dumbstruck by the flood of memories. I cracked open the bottle, lathered up, and just stood there like an idiot. Seriously. That smell (which granted, is pretty strong) brought such a flood of old memories rushing back that I didn't know what to do. All the sudden I was back at camp. I was tired, I was in a hurry, I needed caffeine, I wondered where my friends where, I wondered what my campers were doing, and I swear I even smelled the faint stench of mucky old lake water running down from my hair.
It was intense, and fascinating. The idea that our brains can produce such an incredible recollection from something as simple as the way my soap smells is amazing to me. But even more amazing was the sudden sense of urgency I felt. I had been transported to a time and a place where I knew I was doing what I had been called to do. I was accomplishing great things, I was impacting lives, and yes, even saved a kid from drowning one time. It was productive. It was meaningful. And I wanted to bolt straight out of the shower right back there to where I knew God's work was being done. I wanted to get out and go do something, go invest in lives, and go make a difference.

But don't worry, I know what you're thinking.

I put clothes on first.