Guilt Trips

(Proverbs 25:22 KJV)  For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

I am constantly amazed at how people charged with the responsibility of preaching will betray it in order to be politically correct and acceptable to those who resist the gospel.  What does this have to do with this verse?  I heard a preacher one time take this verse and spend a lot of time twisting and warping in order to try to say that this was an expression that really meant you were being humble and contrite.  He rejected that fact that people could be made to feel guilty because that would violate their safe space and make them feel uncomfortable.

The simple fact is that God uses guilt to convict of sin and often it is your righteous behavior that brings to light their lack of God’s blessing.  I would suggest that we often don’t see it.  I would admit that many times the guilt they are feeling brings out even more violent reactions.  The truth is that God has many ways of trying to reach people.  Think of Noah going to Nineveh and preaching repentance.  It was enough.  Other times repeated warnings and pleading only hardened hearts.

So?  God is working.  Don’t feel that He has to embrace the current trend toward trigger warnings and safe spaces.  He is trying to save people from the ultimate, eternal unsafe space.

Shamed into Sainthood

(Proverbs 11:2 KJV)  When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.

If your values are based in the Bible you have a lot of dissonance in your life.  We see it here with the idea of “shame” (dishonor NASB) (7036).  This is a concept that has fallen off the radar of New Age thinking and more important, New Age feeling.  In my collection of translations the most common word is “shame” but you also see “disgrace”, “reproach”.  This is a word that connects our inner sense of what is right with the mores of society around us. 

We live in a culture that has no shame.  Shame might imply that there is something wrong with us, something that needs to be fixed, something that we are responsible for.  Today that is all rejected by the secular world and much of the religious world.  We need to embrace it, not because we want to put ourselves down but as my auto mechanic says, “If it ain’t broke, you can’t figure out how to fix it.” 

So?  Human beings are broke.  We have much to be ashamed of.  We have much that should generate guilt.  All of that drives us to repentance, faith and the grace of God turning us from dirty, rotten, no-good sinners into saints in process.  Admit your failures and limitations so that God can do something with them. 

Sin Is Like Calories

(Proverbs 7:23 KJV)  Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.

You probably will get away with it.  A little lie may go undiscovered.  Lust can be hidden.  Cheating when it isn’t expected is rarely discovered.  Sin can be very private.  But sin is like that extra stop for a bag of chips on the way home.  Sin, like calories, will not be denied.

What we tend to push from our mind is that God will know.  As Christians that is one of our operating constraints.  We know that God will know.  Sin is never hidden forever. 

That is also one of the marks of a Christian culture.  We internalize morality because we know that God knows the heart.  In pagan cultures the only real sin is to get caught.  Look around you.  More and more our country is moving toward just a fear of getting caught.

So?  We are called to be salt.  We are called to conform to the inner law of God that has been written in our hearts.  We are called to be different.  Will it guarantee revival in our nation?  No.  But revival won’t come without it. 

Dog Lessons

(Proverbs 26:11 KJV)  As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

As I read this today I thought of the dogs I have known.  I must confess, I am not an animal person but my wife and daughter are.  We have had dogs, cats, rabbits, fish and even a chicken.  The only one that I have seen eat its own “vomit” (6892) is the dog.  Dogs can be so disgusting that they will even clean up the vomit of the cat.  Disgusting, but useful.

It doesn’t seem to bother them.  They may show shame when they have relieved themselves inside.  They may slink away when they have chewed up your shoe.  They may hide when you are trying to get a pill down their throat.  But shame at disgusting behavior?  Never.

Some people are like that. 

So?  Our behavior is supposed to be different.  Sometimes we are so poorly trained that the only way we can know we are out of line is to watch the reactions of others.  Stay alert.  The odds are you have no disgusting habits but be sensitive to others and their responses to your actions. 

Folly, Folly Hangs over Your Head

(Proverbs 18:13 KJV)  He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

Has “folly” (200) ever been a part of your life?  Stupid question, right?  It must be a big issue to God because the word is used at least 23 time in Proverbs.  We call Proverbs Wisdom Literature because it addresses things like folly.  The word is only used two other times, both in Psalms. 

What is “folly” (200)?  It goes to a root word meaning “fool” (191).  When I look at the explanation of what a fool is a see things like despising wisdom, mocking when guilty, quarrelsome and licentious.  I notice that these are all choices made out of self-centeredness and a sinful heart.

So?  You will make choices today.  Will they display the sin of folly or the grace of righteousness?  The power is God’s, the choice is yours. 

Ignorance Is a Choice

(Proverbs 11:9 KJV)  An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

The comparison of the KJV and the NASB bring out an interesting association in the meaning of “hypocrite” (2611).  The choices given in the resource books are “hypocritical, godless, profane, hypocrite, irreligious.”  The NASB uses “godless” consistently; the KJV, “hypocritical.”  It would seem to me that there is no connection, but I am a child of modern pagan culture that ignores the deeper truths of the Bible.

The point I think that is important is that the godless really do know better but act like they don’t.  It is not a matter of ignorance or difference of opinion, it is hypocrisy.  For an explanation of the Biblical view read over Romans 1:18-22.  Let me just give you one verse to remind you of the teaching of Paul.

(Romans 1:20 KJV)  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

You see, the person who advocates homosexuality as just a different opinion knows in his heart that he is wrong.  The person who says that abortion is a woman’s choice is working hard to ignore what her heart has really said.

So?  Steep yourself in scripture and build your opinions on the eternal truth not the cultural standard of the day.  It makes a difference, for you and those around you. 

Vicodin Warning

(Proverbs 14:9 KJV)  Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.

Once again the marginal reading gives us an interesting insight into the spiritual life.  “Sin” (817) is explained as being literally “guilt.”  It is even more specific than that.  In the NASB, out of 46 times the Hebrew word is used, 38 times it is translated “guilt offering.”  But for today lets simply leave it as “fools mock (3917b) at guilt.”

I wish I had a soapbox on a freeway overpass that everyone was required to drive under during rush hour with their windows open.  Our culture is brainwashing us to believe pagan myths about the nature of man and our response to evil.  We are being inoculated against the feeling of guilt because in our culture guilt is evil.  Guilt makes us aware that something is wrong.  Think of it as spiritual pain and all modern psychology and education is designed to be Vicodin. 

Fools reject guilt.  They laugh at it.  They claim we are victims of our culture not lost in sin.

So?  Be aware of the philosophy of the world you live in.  Reject it.  Do not embrace the values of fools.  It is hard to repent of guilt you do not acknowledge.