Opus 2022-001: Jump Start

As I was looking at the new year I found myself wondering about a verse for the year.  With all the panic going on in the media and government I felt like we needed to be reminded about the call to not live in craven fear.  It might be well to remember that fear gets both positive and negative press in the Bible.  In reality there are two very different meanings.

The conclusion is that we are to have a hierarchy in our fear.  The proper fear is a foundation for a successful life.  I fear electricity.  I fear wasps.  I fear a lot of things, and so I should.  If they are not treated with respect they can damage or kill.  That kind of fear does not keep me from turning on the lights, going out side or many other things because the fear I have teaches me respect and control.

Thus our lives begin with fear, the fear of the Lord.  The book of Proverbs keeps repeating that phrase starting with,

(Pro 1:7 KJV)  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

and goes to,

(Pro 23:17 KJV)  Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

I will let you do your own research.  The best known products of the fear of the Lord:  Wisdom, knowledge, understanding.  It goes beyond that.

But there is another verse that I want to focus on this year.

(2Ti 1:7 KJV)  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

A little comparison might be in order to get the depth here.  Look at the NASB,

(2Ti 1:7 NAS77) For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Notice that fear can be read as being timid.  Notice that a sound mind has the idea of discipline.

Those are good strengths for me to cultivate this year.

Grace and peace.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-102: The Phoenix Needs to Trump Gravity, Part 3 of 3

Some manage to go against the flow.  I think of Ronald Reagan.  I think of Thomas Sowell.  I think of Donald Trump.  How did they end up more conservative as they grew older?  One indicator might be that they were liberals when they were young but smart enough to grow out of it.  You may have heard the saying that if you are under 30 and not a liberal, you have no heart and if you are over 30 and still a liberal, you have no brain. 

I think that it might also be a matter of inner integrity.  Integrity demands that you confront truth and respond to it.  If you are ignorant then that explains some of your confusion but if you keep seeking truth then sooner or later you have to acknowledge if a change must be made.  Integrity also has an element of being your own man (sorry ladies, just a figure of speech).  Real integrity demands the courage to stand with truth instead of going with the flow.  Donald Trump comes to mind.  I only voted for him because he was not Hillary.  I admit it.  I was wrong in my analysis even if I was right in my goals.  He has surprised all of us.  On the integrity issue I think that you need to keep in mind that he has endured a two year witch hunt financed by unlimited resources taken from our tax dollars and they have come up with nothing.  I mean absolutely nothing.  Nothing on him.  Nothing on his children.  This is a man who worked in the building trade in New York.  And they found nothing. 

Are there any organizations that are resisting the rot?  The one that comes to mind is the Salvation Army.  I still feel that they are fulfilling their original calling of taking the Gospel of Jesus to the poor.  I don’t think they have any executives that make seven figure salaries.  They are still on track. 

What about you?  What about me?  Ultimately that is the only point we will have any power to change or monitor.  If enough of us stay on the high road and keep on track them maybe we can pull the culture back.  Each of us has to do our part even if it doesn’t work.  That means a series of daily choices.  It might mean finding a way to pass on any family wealth in a way that does not destroy the next generation.  It definitely means how we treat our neighbors. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-101: The Phoenix Needs to Trump Gravity, Part 2 of 3

People and organizations need a Phoenix Moment.  In mythology the Phoenix was a creature that would be consumed by fire and then be resurrected from the ashes.  This should become a law of nature.  We have many colleges that need to sell all their assets and start over again at the struggle level.  I don’t know what they would do with the assets but they need to go away.  There was a day when today’s major universities were struggling little colleges.  The professors were living hand to mouth.  The students were dressed in hand me downs and were not sure where the next meal would come from.  They accumulated massive endowments, became powerful forces, drifted down hill and moral gravity took its toll.

The same could be said of mega-churches.  This is why I am convinced that church splits are not necessarily a bad thing.  Sure there is a bit of pain and a lot of unchristian behavior but at least one of the parties will see the light and have a Phoenix moment.  Revival will follow.

This is why old political parties need to fade away and be replaced.  The Whigs were once the opposition to the Democrats.  Then came the convention when they refused to take a stand against slavery.  The Republicans were in the wings waiting and they came to life out of the ashes of the Whig party.  It may be time for the Republican party to go the same way.

This is why computers need to be rebooted.  My son tells me that you can leave your computer on too long.  Over time it accumulates so many obstructions to its clean operation that it slows down and starts crashing.  When it gets the wrong virus the only answer is to Phoenix the hard drive and start over.

Many organizations are like a patient who has lost both kidneys.  They need to go on dialysis regularly to clean up their blood.  If they don’t, they die.  It would be better to go Phoenix. 

Maybe we need a law that requires all organizations to liquidate after a certain number of years.

To be concluded...

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-100: The Phoenix Needs to Trump Gravity, Part 1 of 3

Water runs downhill.  Always.  Why?  Gravity.  There seems to be the same tendency in public life.

We have seen the pattern.  People start middle of the road or lightly to the right of center.  They are put in a position of responsibility.  They begin to drift left and the movement becomes perpetual.  We have seen it with judges and members of congress.  We are now seeing it with Fox News.  The network still has voices of reason and balance, but the rot is setting in and the drift is becoming obvious.

Consider Jessie Jackson.  He was once a man I could support.  He started out really trying to help poor people and lift them up.  Along the way he had to make a decision and he decided to get back on the plantation and accept the largess of the left.  Which came first, the drifting or the selling out?

We see it in laws.  Take the various Civil Rights Acts.  They are passed for the best of reasons.  In the debates and explanations there are certain things such as racial preferences that are labeled as anathema.  Then they introduce Affirmative Action.  I have read even that was supposed to be balanced when it was introduced.  We have a concern for the environment that has morphed to a tyranny of petty, bored bureaucrats who love to throw around their power.  Concern for safety shuts down businesses and keeps innovative ideas from being developed. 

How can you resist the drift?

To be continued...

homo unius libri