A Word to the Wise

Wisdom…, it’s something we look at, strive for, yet few seem to grasp what true wisdom is. The end of James 3 teaches us that true wisdom is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” This is the wisdom from above, or from God in other words. James also teaches us that there is another type of wisdom in this world.

“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” – James 3:14-16

See, many leaders in our world feel they have wisdom, but take a quick look at their motives. Many, though not all, have some selfish motive behind their so-called wisdom. This is shown throughout history in many different stories of corruption. Countless occasions of people not doing what is best, but most profitable for themselves. People often rely on their own discernment, revealing the corruption of the flesh, rather than discernment from above, which is always good, as described in James.

Another aspect of Godly wisdom is the comprehension of the things of God. So often we try to engage our minds, striving to understand the mysteries of God. Scientists try so hard to understand the workings of nature, developing theory after theory. We as Christians even try to understand things that may not be fully clear to us, though the Bible teaches us that we should try to comprehend these things by the wisdom of the spirit, not of the wisdom of the world.

“For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2:11-16

"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him…" That statement right there sums it up. When we try to comprehend the things of God by our own understanding we fail, but through the spirit God reveals them to us.

Time and time again I find myself learning more and more. Even when I begin to feel I have some understanding, God reveals through his word new thoughts and ideas and I am completely in awe of the vastness of God. Strive to seek out the wisdom from above, not the so called “wisdom” of this earth, for not only understanding, but discernment in all things.

Wonder and Amazement

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.” – Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing; 1757

Man, I am continually in life amazed at the gift of music that God has bestowed upon us. Words of worship to pure and Holy Father are timeless. We have used music for centuries. Music is a medium by which we express emotion and adoration. Ever since we have harnessed this raw power of nature that God has given us, this set of melodic tones; we have used it as a means of expression.

There are so many things about music that amaze me. For starters, just the simple nature of sound frequency, or melodic tones, and how our ears and brain process those tones, carefully working so we understand the sounds. Our ears work as a super powered microphone, transducing the sound to electric signals to our brain. But, not to show too much of my nerdiness, I digress from that.

“When we arrive at eternity’s shore, where death is just a memory and tears are no more. We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring, Your bride will come together and we’ll sing You’re beautiful!”- Beautiful; 2007

In worship we communicate to God. Like I said before, we communicate emotion, passion, and adoration through the songs of worship we sing. And again, the words we sing in worship are timeless. Worship of the Father is not constrained by our musical preference, and we too often our caught on that issue that it becomes sinful in the way our churches operate. Whether we are singing a song written in 1757, like “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, or written in 2007, like “Beautiful” by Phil Wickham, the words exceed our preferences. Both songs are two of my favorites. Not because of the style of music they are played in, but because of the truth in the words that I sing.

“When we arrive at eternity’s shore, where death is just a memory and tears are no more,” or “…here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.” Two lines from different songs, written by different people, in two different millennia, are true regardless of time, style, preference, or any other worldly constriction we try to put on things. They are true then, now, and forever. Whether the songs are written by John Newton or Hillsong United, truth is just that, truth.

Music is such a brilliant gift and we sometimes overlook the miracle that it is. The physical side of it and the way we can somehow harness nature, by the grace of God, and put our emotion and feeling into a true art. My purpose in this post is not to debate musical styles of worship, but to step back, and see the beauty in the things God has given us. Music is great part of my life, and I praise God for the blessing.

Love God, Love People

The I Heart Revolution 2 from Tony Mazon on Vimeo.

"Love God, love people, that's it. That's the revolution - revolutionary I know, but if we understand what that means, if we get it, if we establish in our thinking how that looks, and we start living it, we will change the world. It's not so much about the big stuff, it's just about the stuff. It's about the people in the places being the answer - in the places, and together; becoming the answer to the big stuff. It's about your backyard and it's about my backyard." - Joel Houston

This being my first real post, I want to pose the question, "What does it mean to love God, and love people?". My answer to that begins with biblically defining love. Love is clearly summed up in Romans 12:9, which says, "[Let] love [be] without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good," love is clinging to what is good, the things of God. That being said, if we cling to God, if we truly love him, we will love the things and people that he loves. We will be compelled to reach out to a dying world as God calls us to. It's not enough to stay in our huddle, we have to get out and go to this world and show them the Christ that we have. The basics of what I'm trying to say is that if we LOVE GOD, like we say we do, we should as well LOVE PEOPLE!

Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love [is] the fulfillment of the law. - Romans 13:10