Diligently

Let’s go back to Deuteronomy 6:6 – 7 for a moment and look at our assignment again.  We have already noted that as dads we are commanded to teach the Word to our children.  Note though the adverb that modifies teach – “diligently.”  The Hebrew word here is shanan (pronounced shaw – nan) the word appears about 10 times in the OT, primarily in the Psalms.  It means, sharp, to whet a knife, to sharpen, and in one form to pierce.  The form of the word here in is to sharpen or teach.

In English the word diligently is defined as constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything: a diligent student.  Or done or pursued with persevering attention; painstaking: a diligent search of the files.

In neither the Hebrew nor English utilized to translate, is there a notion of this being a casual engagement.  For instance think about sharpening a knife.  I remember watching my dad sharpen knives as a young child.  He had an old whetstone with two sides, one was coarser than the other.  He would oil the course side of the stone and whet the knife to get the rougher edges smooth, then he would turn the stone over and use the oiled smooth side to put a fine edge on the blade.  It took time.  He had to concentrate.  He had to hold the knife at a consistent angle.  It was not a casual undertaking.  Once I remember he got distracted and sliced his thumb open while he was working on the smooth side.  That underscored to me that one had to pay attention to the deed.

You do not sharpen a knife once and be done with it.  If you are going to have good edges it requires continual trips back to the whetstone.

That is the picture we are painted here.  We are to approach teaching our kids this way.

Doing the Right Things for the Wrong Reasons

Motivation is a strange thing, nearly impossible to manage least of all control.  I do not know about you but from time to time I find myself questioning my motivation even to the point that I have not done some good things because I was not sure that my motivation was correct.  I think that I am discovering that approach is not profitable.

Philippians 3 is at one level a spiritual autobiography or resume for Paul.  He talks about his qualifications as a Jew prior to his conversion and the way his motivation changed after he met Christ on that road to Damascus.  You know the passage in verse 8 he counts all things he has done before, at it is euphemistically translated, “rubbish” in most of our translations.  The Greek is a lot more colorful, it is a more profane term for excrement.  10 – 13 outlines his new motivation, succinctly put to press on through any and all barriers to lay hold of Jesus Christ completely and totally.

Paul was a Pharisee; as such he had the first five books of the Bible memorized.  He studied the scripture, he applied it to his life, he shared his faith at sometimes rather forcefully, he was involved in meeting with other Jews to discuss and apply the scripture, he prayed regularly.  All that he counted as “rubbish.”  What did he do after his conversion, when his motivation changed?  I would submit that, based on what he told others to do, he was still doing the same things, but with the motivation of pursuing hard after Christ.  The disciplines in which Paul engaged and counsels us through his epistles to engage in are what they are.  They are the means of pursuing Christ.  Problem is that we can do these things for other reasons than grabbing hold of Christ.  Reasons like trying to gain His favor learn more than others in our group, become an expert on the scripture, you may be able to articulate a better list.

There is the rub.  When we question our motives we may be inclined to stop doing the right things because we are doing them for the wrong reasons.  Paul speaks to this directly in 15 – 16.  He tells us to keep on doing it even if we are doing it for the wrong reason.  Why?  Because in the midst of engagement with the Word of God, God will break through, reveal, and adjust our attitudes.  If we quit, we cut ourselves off from the cure.

Now or Forever?

Last Sunday I mentioned the friend who had the heart attack, turns out it was a cardiac event. Not sure how that is better but it is less severe. Anyway, that sparked some thinking about what is really important in light of the time we have here which God characterizes as a vapor. This morning I was in Psalm 10 and Psalm 16 and the words of the Psalmists pushed me a bit farther on how to evaluate what is really important.

In 10:3 – 5 we see that the wicked are characterized as boasting of their heart’s desire, spurning the Lord, and his ways prospering. It is a picture of one who is fiscally successful, if you will, one who is worshiping, successfully, at the altar of commerce. But it could be any other altar, any desire, sex, status, possessions, anything for which one is willing to give their life. You know of people like this, they live lives that overtly deny any god but themselves, craving attention and immediate gratification of their every desire.

Then fast forward to Psalm 16, specifically the first part of verse 4, “…the sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied.” Whoa, on the surface that does not seem to square with what we see, until we put it in context of God’s time.

In relation to eternity, all of recorded history is not even a blip. Our lives are a vapor in the midst of that blip. If the Bible is true, we will live the rest of eternity based on the choices we make during that vapor. So the question becomes are we going to work at maximizing our pleasure during the vapor or invest in preparation for the long haul, eternity. What makes it hard is that we can see now. The challenges and the pleasures are in our face daily. It is hard to conceptualize the forever that follows. Plus, we have an enemy that has already had sentence passed and is looking to gather as much company for his eternal misery as he can (1 Peter 5:8).

It boils down to are we willing to bet on the Bible being wrong and pursue desire as described in Psalm 10 now, or go for broke in following hard after God forever?