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Bible Insights

Seek Wise Counsel and Then Follow It

Choose Advisors with Care

When king Solomon dies, his son Rehoboam assumes the throne over all of Israel, following his father, Solomon, and grandfather David. A delegation comes to him and asks him to lighten their load, to decrease the burden placed on them by his father.

Rehoboam doesn’t answer them right away. Instead, he seeks wise counsel.

Rehoboam first consults with his father’s advisors, who had faithfully served Solomon during his reign. They recommend he do as the delegation requested. Then the people would follow him as king and serve him.

Rehoboam doesn’t like their advice and chooses not to follow it.

Instead, he asks his friends, his buddies who he grew up with, to see what they would say. They give him the opposite answer. They tell him to make a bold statement of power, that he will demand much more than his father ever did.

From a human perspective they may have said this because they saw he already rejected the wise counsel of his father’s advisers. Or it could be they told him what they knew he wanted to hear. Or perhaps they were arrogant and out of touch with the people’s outlook.

But we’ll later learn that God brought about the bad advice from Rehoboam’s friends to accomplish his objective.

Rehoboam foolishly follows his friends’ advice. Most of the nation rejects him as their king, leaving him only the tribe of Judah to govern.

Today’s Lesson

When faced with important decisions or confronted with dilemmas that elude us, we’re wise to seek wise counsel from trusted advisors. Then we should follow it. To do anything else would be folly.

I often have people ask me for advice. I’m happy to share my opinion or impart what God has revealed to me. Most receive my words gladly, but for a few their eyes go glassy, and they stop listening.

For these folks, their minds were already made-up. They knew what they wanted to do and hoped I’d tell them what they wanted to hear. They didn’t seek wise counsel from me.

Instead, they hoped I’d confirm what they were going to do anyway as being the best choice.

It is good for us to seek wise counsel whenever we need advice. But it’s even better to follow the wise advice we receive.

This is why it’s important that we choose our advisors with care, selecting godly counselors who will tell us our Lord’s truth and nothing else.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 1 Kings 12-14 and today’s post is on 1 Kings 12:8.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

Avoid Toxic Environments that Pollute Our Soul

We Should Be Careful What We Put into Our Minds Each Day

We know of toxic people. Because of their personality or character, they are just too hard to be around. Spending time with them threatens to drag us down with their negativity or their drama.

In the same way, a toxic environment is a place or a situation that causes us emotional or spiritual damage. We should avoid toxic environments, just as we avoid toxic people.

Toxic environments cause social tension. They produce an unpleasant atmosphere. They demean our spirit and damage our soul. We should avoid going there.

Two situations come to mind that are toxic to me. These are destinations my body doesn’t go physically, but where my mind goes intellectually.

Toxic News

It’s been years since I watched the nightly news on TV. Most of what they covered were negative events, highlighting humanity’s proclivity toward evil and the darker side of life.

Their negativity depressed me—not in a clinical sense but in a practical manner.

Seldom did they cover positive stories that inspired me or filled me with hope. When it came to the news, I turned off the TV. And I haven’t missed it.

More recently I stopped listening to the news on the radio. It’s been over six months since I tuned in to hear what was happening.

At first, I felt guilty for not knowing what was going on in the world. But I soon realized how much better I felt emotionally and spiritually by not listening to their biased reporting and their slanted opinions presented as fact.

I don’t know what happened to true journalistic reporting, but it’s absent in most all of today’s news broadcasts on television and radio.

Today’s news is a toxic environment we should avoid.

Toxic Social Media

Another area I’m pulling back from is social media, especially Facebook and Twitter. I only login once a day and then only on weekdays. This is to see if anyone has reached out to me, so I can respond to them.

I don’t scroll through feeds, and aside from family, I follow few people—only those I can trust to be an uplifting, positive source of information or insight.

The hate-filled rhetoric and unexamined parroting of vocal, but misguided, trolls have overtaken the pages of social media. I don’t need their voices screaming at me. I don’t want them encroaching on my daily reality.

If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Better yet is to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

I’ve not yet shut down my Facebook and my Twitter accounts, but I’m getting close to doing so. Oh, so close. This is because social media is a toxic environment, even worse than the news.

Pursue Positive Thoughts to Escape These Toxic Environments

Instead of enduring the negativity of the news and the unproductive time suck of social media, the Bible gives us eight things to think about.

We should focus our attention on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8).

These eight positive traits seldom appear in the news or on social media. That’s why we must be intentional about pursuing what is good.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

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Categories
Christian Living

A Thought for Fathers Everywhere

A friend recently asked for advice about fatherhood. Over the years, I’ve done some things right and some things wrong. I had much to share, but I wanted to reveal the best, the most important thing. Here it is:

There will always be time to work late, volunteer more, take it easy, or do the things we want to do for ourselves, but time spent with our children is precious and limited; we must savor it—for all too soon it will be too late.

Eventually we will run out of time. They will grow busier and have less time for us. Or we will run out of time altogether.

Regardless of their age, we need to invest in our children now. I think it’s the best investment we can make.

Happy Father’s Day!

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

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Bible Insights

What if God Told You to do Something Crazy?

A guy named Peter knew how to fish. That was his trade, his livelihood. When it came to catching fish, he was the expert.

Peter’s buddy Jesus was a carpenter by trade. He knew how to make things with his hands, things constructed of wood. He was an expert at woodworking.

So when the professional fisherman didn’t catch a thing, it seems strange for the professional carpenter to offer him fishing advice.

But that’s exactly what Jesus did to Peter, the novice told the expert what to do.

It would have been entirely reasonable for Peter to dismiss Jesus, after all, Peter had been fishing his entire life; Jesus had not.

Yet Peter set aside his pride and disregarded his experience, agreeing to do what Jesus said, just “because you say so.”

Sometimes what God tells us to do seems foolish, sometimes we know better and want to ignore his advice. But if we are truly wise we will do it anyway, just because he says so.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 4-6 , and today’s post is on Luke 5:1-11.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.