“I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!”

Do we have to have the chapter and verse to know who wrote this and what he means?

Some behaviors are not plainly understood until they are seen in others. We will often allow bad habits and practices to go unchecked until we can see the foolishness demonstrated by others.

“While you preach against stealing, do you steal?”

The principle applies across the board, not just to theft. Gossip about a gossip and we are gossips. The example is consistent within all unwarranted practices which we hold without at least a reasonable understanding of why we do those things.

How many of our prayers are front loaded with “God I wish…”? Does that sound foolish? If it doesn’t it should. God is not our personal magic genie. Prayers should be serious business about serious situations because our hearts have been broken for others. A lost soul, a grieving widow, an orphan, the sick, and the lonely are just some of the things that need our prayers more than granting wishes.

Did anyone bear with this foolishness? Or do we wish that the chapter and verses were given rather than having to tax our brains to remember where we have seen them before?

There might be only one reader that wished that very thought. Maybe there were more but that only demonstrates how easy it is to get distracted from things that might matter. Maybe the lesson here is how easily we are distracted and that is why Jesus said to get to our closets to pray.

God shouted from the mountain tops and scared the people so much that they begged Moses that He should stop and only talk to him. That was then and this is nearly 2000 years after the Cross that put an end to that behavior. We no longer need a Moses to hear God.

FYI 2 Corinthians 11:1 and Romans 2:21

Psalm 1:1-3 English Standard Version

¹ Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Here we are, seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We do not take counsel from the wicked, nor do we walk with sinners. Our delight is in the Lord.

Now we must look at the prosperous side of this relationship. Being rooted and grounded in Christ is the very reason we can be fruitful. When we become prosperous in all we do it can become about what we have done. The blessings we enjoy makes all that possible.

It is not that we have become ungrateful. It is because we are human and the natural instinct of comfort is to relax and enjoy what we have gained. It is not a sin to enjoy these things. It is only a sin if we allow those things to push God out of first place in our lives.

Mark 6:2 English Standard Version (ESV) And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?”

This is the Lord, humble and dedicated to do the Father’s will. Now we serve the Lord but we are not the Lord and the praise of man that falls on human ears we may find pleasure in being seen. It is not sin to feel this way. God made us this way but it is a sin to allow those feelings to push God out of first place in our lives.