Tiny Devotional for Tuesday, 05-18-2021

A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, toasted bagels.

When a wicked person comes, contempt also comes,
And with dishonor comes taunting.
Proverb 18:3, NASV

I’m struggling with this verse. Maybe that’s because I have encountered very few wicked people in my life; at least, since I stopped having to ride the bus to school. That’s the last time I can recall active engagement with truly wicked behavior, at the hands of a bully on a school bus. 

I got brushed, mildly, with some awful-acting people in the first few months I was in training in the Army, but the rather rigorous supervision we were under prevented the worst kind of acting out.

In my adult life, I’ve caught a lot more grief from incompetent people than from wicked people. Narrow-minded stupidity, actively applied, causes a lot more damage than the fictional super-villain with a plan to conquer the world. And, over the long term, a healthy institution disposes of active stupidity; they get kicked off the bus.

Wickedness, contempt, dishonor, and taunting all speak to me of a lack of discipline. The one who seems to live to cause havoc is NOT devoting time and other resources to building a future. NONE of those things produce any kind of good fruit.

Social media has the reputation for being a hotbed of wicked behavior. It takes very little effort to be a keyboard warrior, and I’ve had enough rudeness spilled on me to recognize that aggression seems to be the rule in some places. So, I don’t ride THAT bus anymore, either. As Morris Baxter says on WCLK, “Hurt people hurt people, but blessed people bless people.”


Peace be on your household.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tiny Devotional for Wednesday, 06-21-2023

Image
A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, the Fairmount Pattersons are Papa-sitting this morning! It is better to live in a corner of a roof Than in a house shared with a contentious woman. Proverbs 21:9, NASB Today is the 21st of the month; so, Proverbs 21. I have written about verses 1-8;  it’s verse 9’s turn. Thus, my selection of this verse has NOTHING to do with my wife, mother, sisters, or daughters! All of them are intelligent, confident, and assertive; they are NOT contentious. ‘Contentious’ does NOT mean ‘has a different opinion’!  A man who has lived with a contentious woman gives the definition by example: I was 20 years old, and stupid (those might be the same thing).  I thought our marriage would work because she was beautiful, and I was, too. It didn’t take long before I realized I was wrong about that. Most of the time, it didn’t matter what I did; I couldn’t please her. We were married for 3 years,
Read more

Tiny Devotional for Sunday, 08-20-2023

Image
A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, Piper doesn’t like her food. Differing weights and differing measures, Both of them are abominable to the Lord. Proverbs 20:10, NASB If this verse weren’t so important, I’d skip it, because I discovered it in a painful time. Others were involved, and their stories are not mine to tell. So, you get a parable: Stockman Bubba ran a cattle station, in partnership with his horse, Nancy. They worked hard together, and although they were not rich, they had achieved a degree of success. One day, a platypus stung Bubba, incapacitating him. Bubba tried to continue running the station, but after two years had passed, he realized it was time to retire. Nancy couldn’t adjust to this, and she left for life on her own. Three years later, Bubba realized Nancy was never coming back, and considered getting another horse. However, he was concerned that the other station owners would think bad
Read more

Tiny Devotional for Sunday, 07-23-2023

Image
 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, reach for the sky. Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the Lord always. Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:17-18, NASB Today’s verse is 18, but I included 17, because I THINK they are a couplet. I wrote about verse 17 last month, and will try not to repeat myself. Our senses describe the present, our memory describes the past; the future is described by our hopes and our fears. In this little verse, we are given one of the strongest foundations for peace: yes, you DO have a future, and it’s a good one. Under most circumstances, we take the future for granted. If you have ever been forced to doubt that a future exists, you know how chilling that is. ‘No future’ is MUCH worse than ‘bad future.’ This verse draws us back away from the abyss of nothingness, and back into reality: yes, you DO have a future.  (If that
Read more