- Psalm 31:3 Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
- Luke 16:14 - 16 When the Pharisees, a money-obsessed bunch, heard him say these things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So Jesus spoke to them: "You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what's behind the appearance. What society sees and calls monumental, God sees through and calls monstrous.
I found this verse curious. I am an only child and so I asked: "Why sister?" "Why not brother, mother, or father? Why "Say to" vs. "call?" Why kinsman in one translation; kinswomen in another? Intimate friend in yet another?
Oh, I get the point that we want to have intimacy with Wisdom; having that, we will be able to "count on" understanding. So I went to my interlinear and discovered that "say to" includes the meaning of thinking about, and could include "self-talk" something we focus upon in our thinking. Then "call" is a far different and richer word that includes more than just simple, casual identity. It's a stronger association - a sense of belonging to the same group. The word "sister" is feminine; but the word "kinsman" is masculine and I cannot figure out why some translations render it intimate friend or kinswomen. The context may be a key since the reader is being challenged to contrast God's ways with the way of the adulteress - or the seductive ways of the world (figuratively). Sisters and intimate friends are generally people who love unconditionally; and, unlike a mother who would love the same way, but would also be an authority figure, sisters and intimate friends could "correct" without that parent/child thing getting in the way. I have concluded that "sister" and "intimate friend" were people you could generally count on- each a rock in your life.
God's Wisdom is that. And it's different than worldly wisdom. For example, the parable of the "Unjust Steward" in Luke 16 is worth a glance; and, I'm sure that on first read, it seems that Jesus is condoning the unjust servant. Luke provides us parables that the other gospels do not - and this is one. A parable of contrast: Verse 8, seems very startling, "...[the owner/boss] commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely…" But there is more, “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” Worldly wisdom produces spiritual dullness.
The wisdom of the world is very different than the ways of the Lord and "shrewdness in the gray areas" is admired by the world. The Luke narrative follows with a really interesting discussion about how a follower of Christ values and uses money- but that is for another day - what is vital is that we are stewards, not owners of all that we have. Actually, we own nothing. As stewards, we must be wise - even in the little (Luke 16:10), and one of the big barriers to being Christ-like is how we view and handle money.
It is not our choice whether or not we want to be epistles of Christ. We just are. Who masters you: the love of money or the love for God? As Believers we must remember: "What society sees and calls monumental, God sees through and calls monstrous." What is the message others read in you?
Copyright (c) 2006 by P. Griffith Lindell
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