Black Friday

Most people know the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday. A day to get a head start on Christmas shopping where retailers over fantastic sales. It is often the busiest day of shopping the entire year. I too celebrate Black Friday, but I do not enter any department stores to do so. I honor Black Friday each and every year by watching the Colorado Buffaloes take on the nebraska corn people on the gridiron.

Black Friday 2007 will go down as one of the more happierestest days in a while because the Buffs absolutely demolished the corn folk scoring 65 points. I will hereby commemorate Black Friday 2007 by wearing CU clothing for 65 consecutive Friday’s.

Happy Black Friday… one week later

Pony Up

I am so pumped to be doing the Chapel service for the SMU Football team tomorrow. The entire team will be in attendance along with coaches. I will get to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to about 150 people and many of them do not know or follow Christ. Wow! I am so excited! How often do you get to tell the sweet story of Jesus to such a captive audience. I can't wait!

Please pray for me tomorrow morning. Pray for those Ponies as well. Pray that they will respond to the powerful truth of Jesus Christ!

Rescue

So I took my own advice and read some Job. Wow...

Job 38:2-3
"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you shall answer me."

Yikes.

Job 38:4-5
"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off it's dimensions? Surely you know!"

Uhh...

Job 38:22a
"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow..."

Well, uh - no...

Job 38:28
"Does the rain have a father?"

Not sure...

Job 38:35
"Do you send the lightening bolts on their way? Do they report to you 'Here we are'"?

And it keeps on going. So I have decided that I want in on God's wisdom and not the wisdom of the world. I have a song on my heart today that we often sing at church. I can't get it out of my head - it's called Capture.

I need You Jesus
Come to my rescue
Where else could I go?
There’s no other name by which I am saved
Oh capture me with grace
I will follow You
This world has nothing for me
This world has nothing for me
This world has nothing for me
(I will follow You)
This world has nothing for me

That about sums it up!

The Wisdom of This World

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 says:

“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"; and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."’

I started thinking about this verse and kept wondering… what is the wisdom of this world? I know a part of it is the education that we can gain, but I think the main point here goes beyond that. I think the scripture is talking about the things that the world values and holds up high. I think we are talking about the importance that we place on things. So yes – we value education, but what other things do we really think matter? Things like status, and money, and career, and personal space, and movie stars, and appearance, and technology, and self-esteem and all of the other things that we place way too high a value on. I believe that Paul is telling us that the things that we think will satisfy us won’t. So if you give yourself to those things, in the end it will be futile. In contrast, God works in a different economy of wisdom. He tells us to shun the things that the world elevates and embrace a totally different type of life. Become a radical. Be a fool in the world’s eyes. But in doing so – become completely enamored with Me! As we become enveloped in God’s ways we do lose our desire to be wise by the world’s standards. We begin to have an appetite for the things of God – things like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 22-23).”

Let’s review:

The wisdom of the world
Education
Status
Money
Career
Personal Space
Movie Stars
Appearance
Technology
Self-Control

The fool
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness

If you want to know more about wisdom – try reading Job 38 – 41…