Life Hack #1:
Listen carefully to my wisdom; take to heart what I can teach you. You’ll treasure its sweetness deep within; you’ll give it bold expression in your speech. To make sure your foundation is trust in God, I’m laying it all out right now just for you. I’m giving you thirty sterling principles—tested guidelines to live by. Believe me—these are truths that work, and will keep you accountable to those who sent you. (Proverbs 22:17-21)
Listen carefully to my wisdom; take to heart what I can teach you. You’ll treasure its sweetness deep within; you’ll give it bold expression in your speech. To make sure your foundation is trust in God, I’m laying it all out right now just for you. I’m giving you thirty sterling principles—tested guidelines to live by. Believe me—these are truths that work, and will keep you accountable to those who sent you. (Proverbs 22:17-21)
The intention of learning these "Life Hacks" is that we make sure our foundation is a solid, committed trust in God. As you may have read, these "Life Hacks" actually will provide a foundation by which we will be held accountable for our actions. Uh oh, gone to meddling now! Scripture reminds us, "Don’t walk on the poor just because they’re poor, and don’t use your position to crush the weak, because God will come to their defense; the life you took, he’ll take from you and give back to them." (Proverbs 22:22-23 MSG)
Our first "Life Hack" deals with the "poor" and the "weak" and our attitude toward them. God is asking us to examine our heart attitude - how we see ourselves in comparison to others and how we use that perception to either meet or ignore the needs of those around us. God's command to us is to love him first, then to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. How we view another in "comparison" to how we view ourselves can tell us a lot about our attitude of heart. If we see ourselves as more fortunate, better positioned, or even "above" another, we might just have some work which needs to be done in our hearts. No man or woman created by our heavenly Father has any better or worse "position" in God's eyes. We are all his creation - we all have needs - our needs just differ. To judge another by their "position" or their intensity of "need" is just not what God wanted any of us to do. Rather, he wants us to be sensitive to the needs of others - regardless of their "status" in this life.
We have an opportunity to meet that need, and in so doing, we are serving that individual as Christ would expect us to. When that need is outside of our ability to meet in the material, physical, or emotional sense, then we still have an opportunity and obligation to bring that need before the throne of God. There are varying degrees of being "poor" or "weak". Being "poor" simply means we are lacking in something we have need of - it could be material (such as finances), physical (such as a place to live), emotional (such as a friend to walk alongside us), or even spiritual (such as when we just need someone to help us connect with God on a matter). As scripture reminds us, to ignore the needs of anyone who has a "lack of what is needed" is to "walk on them". When we walk on another, we are treating them as though their need is beneath us - not important to us or to the Christian community at large.
We all have varying degrees of weakness - no one is entirely strong. We have an obligation to understand the areas of weakness another may struggle with in life - for only then may we step up to be an encouragement and a lifeline for their healing and recovery - spiritually, emotionally, or physically. We have "poor" and "weak" all around us and at times, the finger points back at us. Our attitude of heart is manifest in how well we interpret the need and our responsiveness to meet that need with whatever is within our ability. We are at least under an obligation to bring the need before God for his intervention. "Life Hack #1" deals with the sense of "community" we all need to build - not ignoring anyone within our influence. If we maintain a heart ready to reach out to those in need or just simply weak in some respect, we are standing ready to serve as Christ's ambassadors. This indeed is what will thrill the heart of God. Just sayin!
Our first "Life Hack" deals with the "poor" and the "weak" and our attitude toward them. God is asking us to examine our heart attitude - how we see ourselves in comparison to others and how we use that perception to either meet or ignore the needs of those around us. God's command to us is to love him first, then to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. How we view another in "comparison" to how we view ourselves can tell us a lot about our attitude of heart. If we see ourselves as more fortunate, better positioned, or even "above" another, we might just have some work which needs to be done in our hearts. No man or woman created by our heavenly Father has any better or worse "position" in God's eyes. We are all his creation - we all have needs - our needs just differ. To judge another by their "position" or their intensity of "need" is just not what God wanted any of us to do. Rather, he wants us to be sensitive to the needs of others - regardless of their "status" in this life.
We have an opportunity to meet that need, and in so doing, we are serving that individual as Christ would expect us to. When that need is outside of our ability to meet in the material, physical, or emotional sense, then we still have an opportunity and obligation to bring that need before the throne of God. There are varying degrees of being "poor" or "weak". Being "poor" simply means we are lacking in something we have need of - it could be material (such as finances), physical (such as a place to live), emotional (such as a friend to walk alongside us), or even spiritual (such as when we just need someone to help us connect with God on a matter). As scripture reminds us, to ignore the needs of anyone who has a "lack of what is needed" is to "walk on them". When we walk on another, we are treating them as though their need is beneath us - not important to us or to the Christian community at large.
We all have varying degrees of weakness - no one is entirely strong. We have an obligation to understand the areas of weakness another may struggle with in life - for only then may we step up to be an encouragement and a lifeline for their healing and recovery - spiritually, emotionally, or physically. We have "poor" and "weak" all around us and at times, the finger points back at us. Our attitude of heart is manifest in how well we interpret the need and our responsiveness to meet that need with whatever is within our ability. We are at least under an obligation to bring the need before God for his intervention. "Life Hack #1" deals with the sense of "community" we all need to build - not ignoring anyone within our influence. If we maintain a heart ready to reach out to those in need or just simply weak in some respect, we are standing ready to serve as Christ's ambassadors. This indeed is what will thrill the heart of God. Just sayin!
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