Archive for the ‘Wisdom’ Category

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True Religion

January 14, 2026

I am an observer by nature and early experience. I could delve into reasons, but this is not the place or time.

Rather, I observe. I sometimes verbalize my observations. Those are not always (or, perhaps seldom) socially appropriate.

These thoughts invaded my mind as I contemplated this thought from my buddy, James.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 

I discussed the need for the pause between thought or emotion and speech while thinking on anger. That pause is useful in other contexts. We attend church services or mass or prayer meetings or Bible studies religiously (meaning regularly), yet, we have a weakness not yet overcome. We talk to much—about subjects and people we would best remain quiet about.

James continues about being religious in the next sentence of the same paragraph.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Would we like to consider ourselves religious in the sight of God? Attending gatherings provides a foundation and even energy. The proof is how we show this to the world around us. What do we do with our money and our time? Do we TikTok or serve meals to homeless people? Do we have discussions around coffee with people who think like us, or do we contribute to orphanages or child rescue missions? (I link to two of mine.)

I’ve been reviewing some church websites. Some are disappointing. They talk about the Bible. Nothing wrong about that—except they stop there. James (teaching from the teaching of his brother, Jesus) tells us there is much more to life in the spirit.

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Posted in Service, spirit, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

The Big Regression

January 13, 2026

A slight deviation from James to a different kind of wisdom. Practical advice.

When the folks at 37signals released a new email client in 2020, I jumped on it. I love HEY. An added bonus is a client for sending email newsletters. You can find mine here.

I’ve been involved with electronics most of my life. Gadgets. Tools. Ways to make things better. My involvement with automation taught me that not all automation (as in all technology) is beneficial. Sometimes we get way to smart for our own good.

37signals co-founder and CEO Jason Fried recently wrote about a house he rented for his parents while they stayed in his town for a bit.

Not a good experience

My folks are in town visiting us for a couple months so we rented them a house nearby.

It’s new construction. No one has lived in it yet. It’s amped up with state of the art systems. You know, the ones with touchscreens of various sizes, IoT appliances, and interfaces that try too hard.

Did they love all this state-of-the-art?

And it’s terrible. What a regression.

When you want light, you flip a switch. Easy.

The lights are powered by Control4. And require a demo to understand how to use the switches, understand which ones control what, and to be sure not to hit THAT ONE because it’ll turn off all the lights in the house when you didn’t mean to. Worse.

This one takes the prize for idiot-of-the-year.

The Miele dishwasher is hidden flush with the counters. That part is fine, but here’s what isn’t: It wouldn’t even operate the first time without connecting it with an app. This meant another call to the house manager to have them install an app they didn’t know they needed either. An app to clean some peanut butter off a plate? For serious? Worse.

Setting the temperature? Should be easy.

Thermostats… Nest would have been an upgrade, but these other propriety ones from some other company trying to be nest-like are baffling. Round touchscreens that take you into a dark labyrinth of options just to be sure it’s set at 68. Or is it 68 now? Or is that what we want it at, but it’s at 72? Wait… What? Which number is this? Worse.

Compared to his experience on vacation:

It’s really the contrast that makes it alarming. We just got back from a vacation in Montana. Rented a house there. They did have a fancy TV — seems those can’t be avoided these days — but everything else was old school and clear. Physical up/down light switches in the right places. Appliances without the internet. Buttons with depth and physically-confirmed state change rather than surfaces that don’t obviously register your choice. More traditional round rotating Honeywell thermostats that are just clear and obvious. No tours, no instructions, no questions, no fearing you’re going to do something wrong, no wondering how something works. Useful and universally clear. That’s human that’s modern.

If you are designing automated anything—consider these experiences. Make the thing human friendly.

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Are You a Hearer or Do-er?

January 12, 2026

Quick, tell me—what was the message of the Pastor’s last sermon?

Did you remember it for the rest of the day? How about the day following?

She or he worked several hours crafting a message explaining part of the Biblical message or something important in the life of the church. And you blew it!

I remember a phrase that is an apt description of the phenomenon—in one ear and out the other.

James warns us about the spiritual situation of those who sit and listen to teaching only to leave the gathering and do as they please. I love his analogy of the mirror:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Researchers tell us that we can act our way into believing or changing our mood. The best way to kindness and generosity is to practice kindness and generosity no matter how we feel at the time.

Don’t be a listener—be a doer.

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Posted in Doing, Service, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Anger

January 9, 2026

The early Jesus-followers were magnificent psychologists. They observed how the deepest emotions could grab priority in our lives disrupting our spiritual balance, as well as, our relationships.

Anger held a special place of dishonor on the “Wall of Shame.”

James observes offering advice, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

Silence works wonders. That purveyor of sweetened poison—Pepsi—used to advertise “the pause that refreshes.” The real pause that refreshes occurs in the moment between provocation and response. And the Lord knows that I know how difficult that pause is. I’ve done better over the past 20 years. But sometimes it’s still a struggle.

Quick to listen; slow to speak. Excellent advice for living.

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Posted in Listening, Silence, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Temptation

January 8, 2026

Put a bag of potato chips near me, and I am tempted. I know they will show up as added white adipose tissue (fat) on my abdomen the next day. Knowledge does not negate temptation.

Put a woman in close proximity to some men, and they are tempted to reach out and touch.

Put a sweet treat near some women, and temptation insidiously injects into psyche.

We have small temptations. We have temptations that can lead to life-changing folly.

You can refer to Freud, Jung, Adler, James, or other psychologists. Or, better, check out early Christian writers. For example, our current guide—James.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Temptation is a fact of life. Quick check—are you breathing? Then temptation lies just around the corner. Even worse today are companies that hire scientists and engineers to develop products (from chips to social media) specifically designed to subtly tempt you into excess.

Self awareness of the desires that pop into consciousness plus a developed routine to avoid such nonsense protect us from yielding. Build a solid foundation that thwarts the invasion of tempters.

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Posted in Awareness, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Wisdom

January 5, 2026

I have recommended a month of reading Wisdom literature to start the year on a good frame of mind for most of the 15 years of this blog. Usually I recommend the book of Proverbs. I will be reading James and the Sermon on the Mount this year for a change.

A class I led once tried to read Proverbs, but they soon grew bored. It’s tough to read straight through. James reads more like a homily. Not quite like your dad yelling at you constantly.

I rather like Andy Stanley’s theme for his podcast (and sermons)—Make Better Decisions and Live a Better Life. The best summary of Wisdom I’ve heard.

And, of course, at this site we are considering the words of Jesus as the foundation for Wisdom—sometimes explained or amplified by other writers. Maybe Paul or James from the New Testament, or maybe the desert Fathers, or later spiritual writers.

James calls himself a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He continues, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who, gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given himBut let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”

Shall we then ask God for wisdom to help us live through 2026?

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Wisdom January

December 31, 2025

January has 31 days. The Book of Proverbs has 31 chapters. Coincidence? I think not. (Well, since January was invented 1,000 years after the Proverbs was published, maybe it is.)

My longstanding tradition, as well as suggestion for others, consists of reading a chapter a day during January and reflecting on them to start the year off on the front foot.

The general letter of James, the brother of Jesus and early church leader, is written in the Wisdom tradition. It is pithy, short, advice as relevant today as 2,000 years ago.

Further, Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus is that of a Wisdom teacher. 

This year’s focus for Wisdom January will include reading and reflecting upon James and the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7.

I may not be writing every day from them, but I promise to study them faithfully—again.

You could do worse than to devote about 10 minutes every morning or evening to these guides to Life with God.

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Posted in Disciplines, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Jesus Was There…Is Here

December 26, 2025

We have had the Feast Day (I hope your “feast” was bountiful, almost healthful, and pleasant) celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Almost nothing is recorded about Jesus from about two years old or fewer when the Magi visited until his ministry. That leaves much to the imagination. The most imaginative book I’ve read speculating on those years is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Jesus’ Best Pal by Christopher Moore. If you are shocked by imaginative literature, don’t read it. But I found it both hilarious and poignant.

Back to reality. Jesus began a ministry. His first word was an invitation, which I take to mean us as well as the original disciples—Follow Me.

What did it mean to follow—for them and for us and for those we also invite?

Jesus answered that with his only command, “Love God with all your heart, mind, spirit, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Some people stop at the “love God” part. They ignore the rest.

Don’t be “some people.”

If you wonder about the love your neighbor part—James gives some pithy examples. Also read the letter to the Romans—chapters 12-15. These answer the question, “What’s next?”

What sort of person do wish to be in 2026? You could do worse than emulate those instructions.

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Posted in Attitude, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Sometimes It All Becomes Clear

December 16, 2025

Yesterday I was thinking about the “songs” of Mary and Zechariah and how they didn’t realize the full implications of what the birth of Jesus really meant.

Not their fault. They went along with what they had been taught. No problem with that.

We have a few stories later in the Gospels that told of Mary’s struggle to figure out what Jesus was doing.

I thought about this figuring out thing last week as my wife and I were working a jigsaw puzzle.

I group pieces by color and begin assembling. Focusing on one piece at a time, soon I had a chunk of picture completed.

I stood up and stepped back. Suddenly the picture of the old pickup truck startled me. I could defocus and see the big picture.

Sometimes when we study, we focus on a word or phrase at a time.

Meaning only comes when we mentally step back. Maybe going outside for a walk. Maybe closing our eyes briefly and then brewing a cup of tea. Or maybe waking up during the night after a dream.

Suddenly, the big picture comes into focus. We look beyond the little snippets of scripture we recite and see what Jesus really meant.

Those are good moments worth celebrating.

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Posted in advent, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

When a Small Group Seeks Power

November 20, 2025

Often throughout human history a small group (usually men) gather and think that they are somehow endowed with the wisdom to tell everyone else how to live.

Jesus opposed the Jewish religious establishment of his time.

Plato wrote an essay called The Republic wherein he argues that government should be run by a small group of philosophers—because philosophers of his time pursued the “truth” and were therefore wise. Unfortunately, not all people who think they know the truth are also wise.

Throughout a large chunk of the history of Europe, the small group was composed by clerics.

Sometimes it is a group of the very wealthy.

Jesus looked at everyone who through some situation became wealthy or politically powerful or held religious power and asked a simple question—what is the status of your heart? 

I have others to expand on that. Where is your focus? Do you have the humility to lead well? Can you handle your wealth for the benefit of the community?

Do not listen to mere words. Evaluate their actions. Seek the status of their heart.

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Posted in Awareness, Intention, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

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