A Treasure of Common Sense

Friday, May 20, 2022

For the Lord grants wisdom!  From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.  He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.   Proverbs 2:6-7a

Solomon would have known a thing-or-two about wisdom; Scripture informs us there was not a wiser man on planet Earth.  Following the reasoning of Proverbs here, the wisdom of God, granted an honest person, is a treasure of common sense.  Common sense is defined as:  sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.[1] 

A decision which is “sound and prudent” is my kind of joy.  Most of us have made more than enough of the other kind of decisions, the less-than-sound, and woefully-imprudent.  That kind of decision usually gets one in trouble. 

Now, having stated the (painfully) obvious, let’s unpack the source of common sense…how to move towards being a wise person.  It arguably begins with truth.  Solomon[2] tells us it is to the honest person that God grants a treasure of common sense.  So, that would be a starting point for developing into a person said to possess a treasure of common sense.  Sadly, in the 21^st century world that would be a sparsely-populated starting gate.  James Russell Lowell’s famous line, truth forever on the scaffold; wrong forever on the throne, has never more accurately described a culture that populates this world as now.

Whoever first said honesty is the best policy may have been a Solomon reader.  And she or he was right.  If not just because of some lofty aspiration to be noble or admired, but to rightly understand one can be neither without pure and discerning judgment.  And to be such a person requires an ongoing, absolutely intimate relationship with knowing truth, and speaking truth, all in the context of love.  Paul urged the believers at Ephesus to do just that:

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.  Ephesians 4:15

For You Today

You could go to graduate school at the most prestigious universities in the world for the next 20 years to study ethics and the workings of honesty.  You might come out with a PhD of this world’s approval, and high-sounding theoretical philosophy.  And the world would probably buy your books.

Or you could sit at the feet of the One who said:  I am the way the truth and the life[3], and begin to experience the common sense treasury’s flooding your soul with what really matters. 

Your call.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

---

[1] Merriam-Webster Dictionary

[2] Author of much of the Book of Proverbs, probably chapters 1-29

[3] John 14:6

Lenten Walk - Part 3

[1]

Monday, February 19, 2018

When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled!  The sea quaked to its very depths.  The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky.  Your arrows of lightning flashed.  Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world!  The earth trembled and shook.  Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!  You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.  Psalm 77:16-20^(NLT)

We’ve been looking at the Lent pathway via some thoughts my friend shared with me about his family’s recent hiking excursion at Hanging Rock.  You’ve got to trust the path to take you to the high places, and you need a steadying stick to help navigate the soft, shifty places. 

Today Lent is five days-in; five of forty.  Mathematically that’s only 12½^% of the journey, but let’s go to the top of the rock this morning.  My friend, Richard, shared an insight he gleaned from being at the top that is particularly helpful in pastoral ministry. 

When you climb all the way to the top at Hanging Rock, you must have courage to get the best views!  Hmmm…I thought it was courageous just to get to the top; whatever did my friend have in mind?  Well, he said:  You have to get right out to the edge of the rock if you want to look down…straight-down at the best, most breath-taking views! 

I was afraid he was going there.  I love mountains and the grand, panoramic displays of God’s handiwork…from a safe distance.  Although vertigo is not my idea of a good high, Richard’s explanation made sense; not fun, but sense

Incidentally, speaking of sense, of the common variety, a disclaimer here:  I do NOT recommend you go near the edge of Hanging Rock without someone to hold you back after you’ve visited the psychiatrist following your decision to look a mile or two straight down!  Some people’s courage is other people’s craziness!

That being said, Richard was right…the view from hanging over Hanging Rock is the most breathtaking possibility.  Instead of looking straight-out and seeing nothing but tree tops, you get to look down and see the contours of the land, and all the interesting little details a horizontal view misses.  You get scope and clarity when you’re hanging that close to the edge.  Of course, my friend is a pilot/preacher and he’s used to that kind of thing

I got that perspective on a trip to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe ten years ago.  Way against my better judgment I leaned out, over the edge to get this picture.  My perspective took my breath away; I was certain I was next to heaven, if not on my way TO heaven if my foot slipped.

So what does all this have to do with Lent?  I’m glad you asked.  In pastoral ministry it is important to see the pathway most people would miss.  If you are to be of help to your brother or sister in Christ you must spend time looking and listening from the point that takes courage.  You have to be close and vulnerable, like hanging over a cliff, if you’re going to see the path someone else is travelling.  It’s like dancing, you can’t look at your own feet; if you do, it’s only a mechanical movement, it’s not dancing.  You’ve got to look in your partner’s eyes and feel the music.  You’ve got to trust.

And isn’t that the whole idea of this Lenten season?  You have got to prepare your heart to lean fully out over the edge – to trust the One holding your backpack.  And as you learn to fully place all your weight on He who died for you, you become an incredible value of Christ’s presence to everyone you meet.

For You Today

What will it be…breath-taking leaps in following the Savior…or a safe distance?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com