“First, I want to think for a bit about the characteristic excellencies that help someone mature and deepen in their encounter with the Christian faith and their ability to communicate it. There are three characteristics, or you might even call them virtues, that I want to commend to you” - Jake Meador
“…our culture and our technology all work against waiting. We demand immediacy. And our technology provides it. ‘We have not quite reached instant gratification here…but we are getting close.’” - Gene Veith
“A creeping sentiment that a situation is hopelessly ridiculous and futile can deaden our resolve, courage, and constancy, manifested in thoughts and words along the lines of ‘Really? This is my marriage? This is my job? This is the relationship I have with my children and family?
Scripture is clear—Proverbs in particular—that there are such things as fools and these individuals are nothing but trouble. We shouldn’t be in their company more than necessary—much less put important responsibilities in their hands.
Though the English word “fool” appears 60 to 65 times in most English versions of Proverbs, the book doesn’t offer a concise definition. That leaves us with some ambiguity. How many of the traits of fools does someone have to have to be rightly classified as a fool? Are we supposed to take the qualities of fools only as way to gauge the degree of foolishness?
Read Part 1.
Why the “fear and trembling” in Philippians 2:12? In the three verses that come before, it says,
Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Php 2:9-11, LSB)
In Philippians 2, there is an overarching theme of unity the church with the more specific application of obedience that points toward our need for humility. But humility is a slippery thing. When you say you have it, you do not.
In this article, I want to turn our attention to our need to follow the model the Lord Jesus Christ laid out. We need to be humble, and this is shown when we humble ourselves in obedience before the Lord Jesus. Concerning this and the danger of false humility, Charles Spurgeon has written:
“The lack of vocal opposition by the (American) Senate to the nomination of multiple candidates whose lifestyle fits the definition of moral turpitude is an apt reflection of what Alasdair MacIntyre has described in his book After Virtue.” - Mere Orthodoxy
“Last month, the National Institutes of Health found one of its top neuroscientists guilty of scientific misconduct.” - Breakpoint
“in the three presidential election cycles since 2012, when Gallup first measured presidential qualities this way, the candidate with the higher honest/trustworthy score has won.” - Gallup
“These changes are consistent with… overall favorable ratings. Biden’s most recent favorable rating, 41%, is down eight points from the end of the 2020 campaign, while Trump’s 42% is statistically similar to the 45% 2020 reading.” - Gallup
