In His Service

        The Affirmed and the Despised Proverbs 12:8-16 In a world where everyone seeks affirmation and acceptance for their actions or lifestyle, the polarity again spreads to extremes. In God’s providence the rewards and punishments, affirmations and denials are signs of His pleasure or displeasure. To the former, they are beloved and blessed, to the later, they are detested and abhorred. This may seem extreme, but it’s exactly what we are seeing: the extremity of depravity and the rising acts of righteousness in our very times. Whether in accounts of war, or killing in the schools, to providing clean water for the poor, or standing against the blatant acts of evil by rescuing someone from irreversible harm. God providentially responds to these extremes. The historical accounts in the Bible verify this truth. So let’s read the first portion of the proverb text. “A person is praised according to their prudence, and one with a warped mind is despised. Better to be...

        Lo Afirmado y Lo Despreciado Proverbios 12:8-16 En un mundo donde todos buscan aprobación y aceptación por sus acciones o estilo de vida, la polaridad se extiende nuevamente a extremos. En la providencia divina, las recompensas y los castigos, las afirmaciones y las negaciones, son señales de su complacencia o desagrado. Para quienes buscan la aprobación, son amados y bendecidos; para quienes buscan el rechazo, son detestados y aborrecibles. Esto puede parecer extremo, pero es precisamente lo que observamos: la extrema depravación y el creciente protagonismo de la justicia en nuestros tiempos. Ya sea en relatos de guerra o asesinatos en las escuelas, en proporcionar agua potable a los pobres o en oponerse a actos flagrantes de maldad rescatando a alguien de un daño irreversible, Dios, en su providencia, responde a estos extremos. Los relatos históricos de la Biblia corroboran esta verdad. Leamos, pues, la primera parte del texto del proverbio. «Se alaba a...

                                     A Polarized World Proverbs 12:1-7 As I write this lesson, I see the polarizing of people and their accepted versions of truth and the cataclysmic collision when they are addressed with the eternal truth. This is a dramatic oversimplification, but the idea is plain.  When two weather fronts meet the weaker of the two gives way to the stronger. The cold front will advance and push the warmer less dense front up and create the dark cumulonimulus clouds that appear and lightning and thunder begin to explode. These two fronts converge and the collision of the polarities can be so extreme it becomes dangerous weather: hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. Likewise, when eternal truth collides with man’s truth. These forces demonstrated the chaos of the powerful conflict when two polarized groups crashed and clashed. Solomon’s contrasts in the proverbs shows some of ...