Folk Lore
But He answered and said “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’” Matthew 16:2
Red – “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.” Yes, centuries after Yeshua mentioned this already common bit of folk lore, we still use the same expression. Of course, Yeshua’s point is that we are quite capable of applying folk lore prophecies about the weather, which everyone knows is as unpredictable as anything on earth, and yet we seem incapable of applying the clear signs of God, which are undoubtedly the most stable things on earth.
With that in mind, perhaps we would do well to recall some of those sayings that help us measure the spiritual weather.
“It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. . . . Our reach must exceed our grasp. If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing; . . .” Oswald Chambers
“The hallmark of an authentic evangelicalism is not the uncritical repetition of old traditions but the willingness to submit every tradition, however ancient, to fresh biblical scrutiny and, if necessary, reform.” John Stott
“One thing is clear to me: the temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love…” Henri Nouwen
“Maybe they’d be O.K. if somewhere along the way they’d had true friends, defined as a group of people who share a mutual inability to take each other seriously. Maybe they’d be prepared for what is about to happen if they’d subordinated their quest for immortality to the joys of domestic ridicule.” David Brooks
“Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.” Mother Teresa
“People seek methods of learning to know God. Is it not much shorter and more direct to simply do everything for the love of Him? There is no finesse about it. One only has to do it generously and simply.” Brother Lawrence
“The Church’s mission is not to accommodate her language to the existing language, to disguise herself so as to slip in unnoticed and blend in with the existing culture. Her mission is to confront the language of the existing culture with a language of her own.” Peter Leithart
Topical Index: citations, spiritual weather, Matthew 16:2
Thanks Skip…Great verses.
All worthy of reading, re-reading and then reading again.
David Brooks and Brother Lawrence…what a juxtaposition! The Brooks quote certainly is consistent with the sentiment expressed by Henri Nouwen…a natural companion of that sentiment, really.
I had a conversation with someone a while back about how we all get to worship something…that it’s a reality of being…we will do it regardless of whether we realize we are doing it or not. I related it back to the Ten Commandments admonition to have no other gods before Him. It’s certainly a worthwhile self-check ask yourself (myself) if what I’m worshipping really is Him…or self or power or achievement or something else veiled in an exceedingly thin veneer of worshipping Him.
Thanks for the “forecast” this morning, Skip!
Hi Stacy, I like the question you posed, “…if what I’m worshipping really is Him…” I have asked that same question of myself on many occasions: am I really worshipping God or simply being thrilled by the musical crescendo, like a kid at a rock concert? Am I really worshipping God or just responding to the poetic splendor of the lyrics; or am I just caught up with those around me who seem to be expressively caught up into a different state of being?
Early on in my walk with Jesus, I had the good pleasure of being with a youthful youth worker who happened to be very real and expressive about her relationship with the Lord. Often when we would be out in public, no church around, no matter where we were she would, out of nowhere, just exclaim, “Thank You Jesus,” or “I love You Lord God.” In reality she was worshipping God without the aid of music, or choir, or some exalting worship leader saying something like, “C’mon let’s put them hands together.”
As I grew in the Lord (thank You Yeshua), I began to find myself worshipping God at different times, at different places, and under different circumstances that had nothing to do with any type of formal assembly. For me, this is TRUE worship – blessings this day.
You’re right, Fred. Worship isn’t something we do “in church”. Worship is a lifestyle. In fact, in the Hebrew view living life is worship. You can’t have true life without worship, and you can’t have true worship without life (and we all know who is the source of true life, and therefore true worship).
It occurs to me that whatever our thoughts are drawn to most often is what we worship. “Where our heart is, there is our treasure. As we grown in the Lord, our thoughts are more frequently drawn to Him and our desires more often are for Him to be glorified through the offering of ourselves as living sacrifices. As the song goes:
When the music fades and all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring something that’s of worth
That will bless your heart
I’ll being you more than a song, for a song in itself
Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within, through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart
The origin of worship is in the heart. Our heart goes 24/7 for Him…unless we are dead!! (spiritually speaking, of course)
Hi Skip,
Of the people on the list, I only know the writing of Mother Theresa and David Brooks.
Although they are not known as famous intellectuals, for me they are both intellectual role models.
I like their work because they seem to describe the same world that I see, but they see it more clearly than I do and they are more articulate.