Proverbs
22:4 says, “The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor
and life.” Odd. By its very nature, humility would not only seek no
reward, but one acting humbly would actively avoid being recognized or
rewarded. How can there be a reward for a posture and way of being that at its essence
eschews recognition?
And
what a reward! Riches, honor, and life. Just a few verses prior,
Proverbs 22:1, we’re told, “a good name is to be chosen rather than riches, and
favor is better than silver or gold.” How does one go about achieving a good name?
Can one achieve a good name and still be humble? I suppose it doesn’t matter
because the good name is more desirable than the payout for humility – riches and
honor and life.
How
are we to make sense of the word of the Lord, and specifically the different
nuggets of wisdom in the book of proverbs? Understanding is the subject of the
sermon preached at Hillside Church on October 6 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feOLTKHxTsM).
Maybe that message will help the reader synthesize what all is to be gleaned in
the word of God.
Humility
is an important them in Proverbs, and theologically, humility is at the core of
the messaging at Hillside Church for the next month. On October 13, we will
have Don Harvey from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina
leading us in a discussion on different possible pathways forward for our
congregation.
October
20, we’ll have our final message in the Proverbs series. Read Proverbs chapter
7. Verses 4-5 tell us to call wisdom our sister and insight our “intimate friend.”
We need these close relationships because they will help us fend off the
temptress. What tempts you to walk paths other than the one God lays before
you? How do you resist temptation? Only in humility can acknowledge that we
need help in being who God calls us to be. Proverbs 7, though couched in misogynist
mythologies, offers a warning we must heed: the world with tempt us. Yielding
to temptation, we walk the path of destruction.
October
27, Daynette Snead Perez will be our preacher. Please pray for Sheemoo Tatataw,
our youth group, and me as head to the beach for a weekend of spiritual growth.
And pray that God would speak to our church through the powerful, beautiful
witness of Rev. Snead Perez.
Finally,
in the first two Sundays of Novembers, we will look to the Gospel of Mark (10:35-45)
and to the Psalms (146) to be reminded that real leadership is service and the
only true king is our God. Those messages will reject a bipolar politics of division
and winning-losing, and instead turn to the politics of the Gospel of Jesus.
Yes, those messages are intentionally situated before and after the first
Tuesday of November. Yes, the only to participate in either politics or faith,
as a follower of Jesus, is to do so humbly.
