Yesterday, I alluded to Solomon’s request for wisdom. Sometimes, I think, we wait for wisdom to come, assuming that we’re not part of the process.

In a letter to a group of people he knew and loved and respected, Paul said “Live as wise.”

Knowing that the times are bad, live as wise.

What did he mean? We can see at least five things in his words to them and to us. We’ll talk about a couple of them today.

First, be careful how you live, live intentionally. One of my coworkers often says, halfway or more through a shift, “how did it get this late?” She’s been busy doing the work that we do, having hard conversations, standing close to pain, paying attention to the edges. Time goes by fast.

Time always goes by, it gets consumed. But Paul says, don’t let it be consumed, redeem it. Buy it back. Get it back from evil.

The time we have, how are we investing it? In people or stuff? In distraction or devotion? In rebellion or in rest?

The rest of his words will be helpful, I think.

Second, Don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And that seems confusing to us, or obscure, or something. Some of us are always struggling to figure out what God’s will is: Do we do this or that, do we take this job or that job? Do we buy this car or that?

And I wonder whether being that worried about picking wrong is what Paul meant by being foolish. Because we know, because Jesus told us, that all of God’s commands can be summed up in these two: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.

That’s what the Lord’s will is.

So don’t spend all of your energy sitting and wondering which of these two things God wants, if in the meantime you are grumpy.

I’ll be back with more on this on Thursday.

+++

As some of you who read this newsletter know, Rich Dixon’s handcycle broke. (He writes here every Wednesday). And we’ve been part of helping with the GoFundMe to help Rich get a new bike. It’s called Help Rich Dixon Get Back On The Road Again. It’s 2/3 of the way to the needed level, and I’m pretty sure that a lot of you (us) are part of that. Thank you.