Scripture

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector!

~Luke 18:11, NLT

Quote

Man’s only infinite trait is his ignorance.

~Ya’akov

Do you want a challenge mentally? Read Augustine or C.S. Lewis.  Yesterday, Augustine used two words I had to look up: concupiscence and somnolence. He could have said lust and drowsiness and I would have understood without looking them up. Then Lewis comes up with some real dillies: stipend, philologist, scrupulosity, and priggery. I will give you a clue on priggery; we have shortened this word to “prig.” I guess we define a prig as a conceited jerk. Don’t bother to look it up: it is a person who demonstrates and exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner. Even the definition is fuzzy for my feeble brain. As I continued to study the word, an example came to mind. It is the Pharisee in Luke 18. He was smug and arrogant for sure and I think we can also agree that he was irritating. This leads me to believe that my simple definition is the best–“An arrogant jerk.”

C.S. Lewis favorite Psalm is 19 and he focuses on the middle section: “The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.” Lewis makes the point that David {the author} was not a prig. He was simply being honest. What is more precious than light and what is sweeter than honey? Truth is precious and light and truth generally go together: when you have one, you have the other and the word of God is sweeter than honey. You mean to say that David enjoyed feasting on God’s word? That his appetite for the word was as strong as his appetite for food? Did he really delight in a daily study and mediation over God’s word which for him was the Law {torah}? I think the answer is yes, David loved the word of God. They had very little sugar in the ancient world and honey was a natural sweetener. We live in a different world where we have apple pie, cheese cake, ice cream, and pecan pie {hint}. We have sweets galore, an endless number of sweet things but in the ancient world, honey was tops. I don’t want to sound like a prig and I certainly do not admire the Pharisee in Luke 18 but I am telling you–David is right. There is joy divine in the study of God’s word. First, you make it a habit and then, it will make itself a passion.

Extra

They drew fluid off of Peggy’s lung yesterday. She was feeling better. Doing more scans today and possibly be moved tomorrow. Joyce was some better. She wasn’t in pain and setting up. Have not heard from Gregg but assuming things are going well. Pray for all.

I got to speak to our Young People at the POINT last night and loved every minute. We were down a little with Josh be absent but we had a good crowd. Josh and two of the older youth are going with Scott Dawson to Las Vegas next week. The the REVIVE NOW RALLY is August 14. which will be here before you know it.

It was warm yesterday. We did have a breeze all day but it was a hot breeze, like opening an oven door. It will not last long–July is almost gone. August will speed by and Labor Day will be on us. After Labor Day, time seems to increases its speed.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.