Scripture

Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.

~Proverbs 10:19

Quote

Human knowledge can produce carnal pride, a sense of self-sufficiency and a spirit of independence.

~Chuck Swindoll

My mentor, Calvin C. Inman said repeatedly, “The most difficult thing to maintain in the Christian life is balance.” I love the opening scene of FIDDLER ON A ROOF, Tevye points to the man playing the fiddle on a roof and says, “In a way, we are all like a fiddler on the roof. Things can get a little shaky. How do we keep our balance? I can tell you in one word–TRADITION.” Keeping our balance is important unless we want to fall off the roof. Education is not a bad thing but we must keep a balance between wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge without wisdom leads to excessive pride. Pride always leads to error and error leads to rebellion. I am very afraid that we Americans are about to fall from the roof. We need to grow in knowledge but we also need to grow in humility at the same time. This is why the LORD allowes us to fail or to encounter difficulty. He wants our humility to stay in balance with our knowledge. He wants us to know more without being a know-it-all.

Both Swindoll and Peterson talk about the radical difference between the Eastern and Western mindset. Western culture takes up where Babel left off and deifies human effort and productivity. We value technology more than we do people. We love our possession and live with the hope of better things. It is simply a matter of hard work and ingenuity. Eastern culture is more like the Thessalonican view. They have a deep rooted pessimism regarding human effort since work is tainted with success and pride. They don’t see a need to work harder; their solution is to withdraw.  The symbol of their attitude is Buddha–an enormous fat man, sitting cross legged, looking at his navel. Their philosophy is–trouble comes from doing, therefore do nothing. The world of motion is evil so get out of the rat race: say as little as possible and do as little as possible. The point of perfection is when you become like Buddha and do nothing at all.

We must have balance: there is a time to attack and a time to retreat. There is a time to work and a time to withdraw. My little building is a sanctuary. It is my safe place and sometimes I am tempted to stay there. I have thought about it many times; I am must less lightly to sin in that little building. It is when I get out and go, that I make the most mistakes. I have never had road rage in my little building but it would not be right for me to stay there. There has to be balance.

Extra

Well it appears that the heat wave of 22 did not fully materialize. I don’t know what happened but I praise God for it. June tells me they have taken all of the 100 degree days out of the forecast. It got down into the high 60’s last night and yesterday was not bad at all–thank you Jesus. It changes my whole outlook.

Rod sent me a story about the HUSBAND STORE in NY city. It has six floors and the ladies have to begin on the lowest level and you can not go back once you have left the floor. He tells about one lady in particular who visited the HUSBAND STORE. She visited floor one and there were men who had jobs. She thought, that’s great but I must see floor two. On floor two she found men who had jobs and loved children. She studied for a minute and then got back on the elevator to go to floor three. She couldn’t believe it: on floor three were men who helped with the domestic chores, loved children and had jobs. Her curiosity got the best of her and here she went to floor four where she found men who had jobs, loved children, helped with the house work and were tall dark and handsome. She was tempted to settle but no, she got back on the elevator to go to floor five. On floor five were men who had jobs, loved children’s helped with the house work, were tall dark and handsome and were very romantic. Her guide could tell she was thinking about the next floor. So he said, there is only one more floor and remember you can’t come back to any of the previous floors. She couldn’t stand it, she had to know what was on floor six. She got off the elevator on floor six and there was a digital sign that read, “You are the 3,104, 365, 481 woman to visit this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exist to prove that most women cannot be pleased.