Skip to main content
Don't agree to guarantee another person's debt or put up security for someone else. 
If you can't pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you.
Proverbs 22:26-27 NLT
Some feedback on this proverb yesterday included other areas where we take on responsibility, or the debt of others. 
That might be someone else's emotional debt, trying to rescue them from their feelings and what's going on for them by taking it on myself. 
And then there's parenting where we don't want to see our children hurt or fail so we take on all the responsibility for them (while at the same time knowing that failure isn't fatal and some of our own most important growth happened in those times). 
In Mark 10:17 Jesus meets a young man who has a question for him. Shortly after this meeting Jesus is going to go to the cross to take on all this man's debt, take full responsibility for his sin into himself, yet in this account, Jesus in his humanity let's the young man leave disappointed. Jesus wasn't taking on in that moment something that wasn't his to carry. 
Maybe there's something to chew on today ...
#proverbs
#wisdom
#somethingtochewon

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,  for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16 NLT OK so this is an English translation of a letter Paul wrote to a church 2,000 years ago, but does it feel like Paul is wrestling with words and ideas to try and capture all of who Jesus is, of who God is, of how does it work that the walking around Jesus was also there before the beginning of the beginning of everything we can see and touch and know. Not only that but Jesus was somehow the agent of everything that has been made in the physical, social, and spiritual.  Jesus is at the centre of it all.  Walking around Jesus. Cooking fish for breakfast Jesus. Heart aching as he looks at p
"Do not despise these small beginnings,  for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin,  to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel's hand." Zechariah 4:10 NLT At the centre of this story is not something shiny, something new, but the damaged, broken down ruins.  Jesus met people where they were, in the brokenness, in their hurt, in the mess. That's where he was.  We can tend to hide away the damage, sideline it, perhaps feature it only when there's been restoration.  But this story says something different.  Jesus life tells us something different. God is delighting in the small things going on in the broken down temple. He isn't saying "when it's all fixed up and looking good then I'm interested".  No, He is invested now.  Right now.  Right where we are.  Come as you are to church, to community, to fellowship, to friendship. Jesus never sidelines the hurt parts, never says they don't matter, and we don't need to either... #smallbeginnings #t
"Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware!  For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues.  You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers.  But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don't worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking - it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." Matthew 10:16-20 NLT Jesus instructions to the 12 Apostles take a bit of a turn here - it's one thing going out with no money or resources, quite another expecting arrest, torture, imprisonment, just so you can talk about Jesus.  However consider the attitude Jesus asks them to walk in as they go into enemy territory - smart yet peaceful. Consider the resources Jesus is providing whe