A couple weeks ago, we wrote about the concept of Careless Ease.  I want to follow up on this here by looking at another proverb.

Proverbs 7 is a strong and insightful warning for all of us, especially in the day and age we live in.  The writer appears to be an older man who is looking out his window and focusing his attention on a younger man, “who lacks judgment” or understanding, as he makes his way down the road.  He bumps into a prostitute and she uses seduction and smooth words to capture him.  The main problem for this young man is that the prostitute is not actually a woman, but represents the Adversary or the Devil.  The next verses say:

All at once he followed her
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer  stepping into a noose
till an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
little knowing it will cost him his life.

This is how an ox was led to slaughter in the old days:  he was gently led out of his stall by a rope to the slaughterhouse. Of course, he had no idea what was happening.  He’s just going along.  When he reached the slaughterhouse, you might think the smell or just the air of death might send off alarm bells.  But the crafty butcher put a bag of oats – an ox’s favourite – right in front of him, distracting him from any perceptible danger as he coaxes him forward.  ”Come here boy…  That’s it.”  The bag of oats leads the way to the slaughtering stall, a narrow, one-way area.

All of a sudden, the ox is locked in place with a clamp over its neck and it can’t move.  The feedbag is just out of reach – maybe one more step.  But his throat is slit and the life begins to slowly ebb from him…  That’s when things might begin to dawn on him.  The bag of oats – the promise of pleasure – does the job again.

I remember watching the movie Jaws as a kid.  A person is frolicking and splashing around in the water, laughing all the way.  All of a sudden, you hear that dreaded music: Dun-na, Dun-na.  It increases its pace as your heartbeat races in unison.  But the person in the water is none the wiser.

“Can’t they hear the music!  Get out of the water!” you want to shout.  Everyone is tense, partially covering their eyes.  You almost want to walk up to the TV and bang the side of it to get the person’s attention.  But no…  the splish-splashing continues.  We all know how it ends.

Most people are like the ox.  They are living life, going about their day.  They’re not doing anything that could be termed ‘evil’.  There’s just regular people.  Like the man or woman in the water, they’re just trying to enjoy life a little.  Nothing wrong with that.

But they are largely oblivious to the fact that there is an actual war going on all around them.   The person who tries to get their attention to this fact is considered a fool, a little crazy or old-fashioned.  On the surface things look OK, but in the dark depths below, their soul is being hunted by the Adversary of all men – the Devil.  He remains undetected below the surface allowing you to frolick away, or in the case of the young man in Proverbs 7 he might be masked behind a beautiful face,  a mouth of flattery and promises of pleasure.  But the end is sure.

Many are the victims she has brought down;
her slain are a mighty throng.
Her house is a highway to the grave,
leading down to the chambers of death.

In the King James Version, it says, “Many strong men have been slain by her.”

This means that many men (and women) overestimated themselves and ended up destroyed.

May we walk as wise men and women, not as fools.  May we cling to Jesus Christ, the captain of our souls, so that we are not led astray.  May we understand and grasp that there is a war going on and turn wholeheartedly to God.  Without the Lord, we stand about as much chance of winning the war as the swimmer in the movie or as the ox being led to his demise.  But in Christ, we are more than conquerors, because he conquered.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Did you know that you can purchase a university degree online for less than $100? That’s right.   No hard work, no late nights.  You don’t even need to buy books.  In fact, you can even get a Masters or PhD in that range.

I found SpeedyDegrees.com to be a little comical, perhaps because of their offer of ‘PhD degrees fast’ (see the bottom of the image on right).  I mean, if you really need a PhD quickly, look no further than Speedy Degrees.  Just have your credit card ready.

I don’t think anyone would dispute the fact that there is a difference between a PhD from Speedy Degrees and one from the University of Toronto or Harvard.  One can be acquired in less than 8 minutes, the other might take 8 years.

So what does this have to do with salvation?

Well, in today’s religious world, Jesus is being ‘sold’ as a product.  Often he is a means to a desired end (happiness, purpose, religious spice).  You can select the Jesus you want, go through the prescribed 4 or 5 steps, and – voila – you’re OK.  Just make sure you send the required offering.

Just as every degree being offered is not the same, sadly not every Jesus put forward in churches, books and television is the same.

The ‘Speedy Jesus’ will require no life change, accept lip service, be OK with your continued sin and allow you to continue your life as normal.  Just like an online degree, it will require little time or thought and a next-to-zero cost.  But you’ll get some sort of document in hand.  And just like the online degree promises career success, ‘Speedy Jesus’ promises salvation.

But the true Christ bids you to come, take up your cross and follow him.  He tells us forthrightly that our Father is looking for our lives to be fruitful (John 15:2), which means that a likeness to Christ is to be developed in us over the course of our lifetime.  Jesus does not want an hour of your time on Sunday.  He wants your heart – the throne of your affection.  Jesus says, “He who [tries to preserve] his life will lose it, and he that loses his life shall find it.”

It is by following Christ that we experience peace, joy and fellowship with God.  He offers eternal life – a place where there will be no more death, disease, crying, sickness or mourning.  (Revelation 21:4).  He not only points the way to eternal life – He is the way.  The path will not be easy.

There will be trials, setbacks, struggles and the like.  But in the end, the cost willl be worth it all.

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. – 2 Corinthians 4:1-3

He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. - Proverbs 28:13

When someone is walking along the sidewalk and suddenly turns their ankle over or slips, what is their first impulse? Almost guaranteed, it is to look around and see if anyone saw them.  Or, if they know people are around, they will look back sheepishly at the imaginary stumbling block and try to play it off as casually as possible.  Even if they are hurt, they will do their best to walk normally and cover it up.

When a child gets in trouble for something, their first impulse is to do anything to deflect the blame.  It’s a knee jerk reaction, even if it doesn’t make sense.  In truth, kids say the darndest things!

When it comes to sin, humans have an amazing capacity to rationalize and bury things under the proverbial rug.  We will deflect, blame, minimize, ignore and compare ourselves to others (“Well, at least I’m not that bad…”) to soothe our consciences.   Often, we kid ourselves in order to absolve ourselves.

I have the sneaking suspicion that the reason the tabloid culture is so rampant in our day is because looking at the train wrecks that happen in the lives of the Rich & Famous actually make us feel a little better about ourselves.

But at the end of the day, unconfessed sin is a heavy burden to carry.  Guilt saps us of joy and peace.  You can keep it buried under the rug only for so long.  And there are some people who would rather go to the grave than admit they were wrong.

On the other side, the Lord has made provision for every one of us to be freed from the burden of sin through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.  When we confess and renounce (give up and turn away from) our sins we find mercy.

But not only do we find mercy at the feet of a loving Father.  We find peace and joy.  To be able to stand straight-shouldered, freed from the crushing burden of guilt and sin, we can walk in integrity.  There is no better medicine for the soul than to drink deeply from the fountain of God’s grace, made possible by our Great Saviour – the Lord Jesus Christ.

“…the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.” – Proverbs 1:32

The online dictionary defines the word ‘apathy’ as: Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.

I am convinced that more lives are destroyed because of an attitude of indifference and carelessness than almost anything else.  Think of how many marriage relationships erode simply because of carelessness and lack of nurture.  More children are spoiled and eventually develop little-to-no character because of careless parenting.  Health problems can largely be attributed to a spirit of apathy as well.  It affects so many areas of life.

When it comes the prospect of eternal life, most people will eventually miss the mark primarily because they were indifferent to the state of their soul.  They were lukewarm.  They never outwardly rejected anything, but neither did they embrace anything of substance.

In the Bible, the word ‘fool’ does not mean someone who is mentally deficient. Rather, it is reserved for a person who orders their life as if there is no God.  It doesn’t mean they are engaged in obnoxious and terrible evil.  But when it comes to matters of eternity, they are just passive, disinterested and unconcerned.

My hunch is that they have a foggy view that if they live a good life, defined by not hurting others and doing some good deeds, God (if there is a god) will open wide the pearly gates and invite them in.   A lovely picture indeed, but sadly a mirage.

The opposite of careless ease as it pertains to spiritual matters, is a deep hunger and anxiety that will not be satisfied with anything less than the true and living God.  Platitudes and rhetoric don’t do the trick.  New age gimmickry falls short.  Institutional religion is a poor substitute.

Look what the author of Psalm 42 had to say of his feelings:

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

Perhaps the greatest question ever asked in the Bible was on the day of Pentecost, after Peter preached a very convicting message:

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

The blinders had fallen off and the people found themselves stripped of self-righteousness, religion and anything else they might have rested on.  They were agitated in their spirits and would find no rest until the question on their hearts was answered.

Likewise, our prayer is that the hearts of people would be plagued and given no rest until they come to the best place a man or woman can ever come to, and say, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling.” No longer passive; no longer apathetic; no longer looking to clouds that have no water to quench the thirsting of their souls.  Our prayer is that careless ease would be replaced with fervent hunger and desire to come to know the Lord.

Isn’t it amazing that man’s greatest riches can only be attained by recognition of his weakness? Matthew 5:3.

In closing: get hungry.  Ask God to fill you with a hunger for Him that will not be satisfied.  Pray.  Continue in prayer.  Seek the face of God, not just His hand (what you want from Him).  Get off the couch (spiritually speaking) and start living for God daily, starting with your family life.

The greatest plague that affects mankind is not cancer, influenza or any other type of disease.  It is poverty of soul: a global, all-encompassing plague that makes no distinction of race, age or place.

Here’s a question: “How would you describe your relationship with God?”

Barren. Vibrant.  Dead.  Lively.  Distant.  Unknown.  Actually, a lot of people think that “Me and Jesus got a good thing going” until they begin to understand what it means to live out this Christian faith.  The truth is that God is not to be confused with a genie or your grandpa.

Poverty of soul is brought about because of a 3-letter word: sin.  Sin afflicts us all and separates us from God.  So what to do?

We might try to bridge this divide with good works, being a “good person”, or even being religious.  This might soothe our conscience for a while, but it will not eradicate the poverty of our soul.

Others take another route entirely, trying to fill their lives with all that materialism has to offer.  But none of these can escape the deep poverty of their soul.  Is there any coincidence in the fact that today, people are more affluent than they have been at any other time in human history, with the ability to take an annual vacation and own two vehicles, yet the #1 prescriptive drug in North America is anti-depressants?

People are not happier despite all their diversions and distractions.  Despite outward riches, inward poverty reigns.

But the remedy of a loving God is illustrated here:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Prior to His first coming, Christ occupied heaven at the right hand of His Father.  Yet this great Saviour makes the conscious decision to become human, thereby becoming poor, for one reason.  So that we, who are poor, might be made rich through Him.  In a sentence: He came to bring us to God, our Father.

When He came 2,000 years ago, Jesus was rejected because the people of that time were looking for the Jewish nation to be delivered from the bondage of Rome, rather than their souls freed from the bondage of a greater oppressor: sin.

True riches come when we realize that, through Christ, our sins have been blotted out. True riches come when, through Christ, we realize that God is not distant, but a Father.   True riches come when we can put down our religion and self-righteousness and lean entirely on Jesus for our salvation.

God has removed every barrier and excuse from us, except those we erect to keep Him at a distance.

Why languish in spiritual poverty when God offers me true riches through Christ Jesus?