Posts by John Staiger (Page 88)

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,When it is in your power to do it.” (Proverbs 3:27). Sunday School teachers would do well to have a list of the mean people in the Bible on there classroom wall. Then the poor victims of bullies, liars, thieves, and wreckers would take comfort in knowing that God speaks up for them.Mean people are neither made nor born that way. They are enabled!To say that there are easy answers…

“Watch over your heart with all diligence,For from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). The Great Wall of China was built to keep out invaders from the north. Interestingly, within its first 100 years, it proved to be a miserable failure at doing so. One imagines thousands of men with grappling hooks and pickaxes being pelted from a great height as they strove to breach the Wall. But not so!In fact, on no less than 3 occasions the…

“A joyful heart is good medicine,but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22). I was watching a three-year-old boy interacting with some of the brethren as they left church. He was totally uninhibited. He asked them their names and ages, he enquired about their grandchildren (whether they had any, or not), and questioned them about their intended destinations. He rolled around on the front steps while he challenged one of the guys to identify the gender of the…

“Hatred stirs up strife,But love covers all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). Hatred is seldom admitted to. It is sometimes deeply hidden, and sometimes sitting just below the surface.But it will eventually show itself for what it is. It takes little added offence for a heart brimming with malice to overflow.Whether it be with quiet and subtle prods, or open provocations, the hater will confront. Soon come the accusations, the threats, and the regurgitation of historical irritations.Never can they be wrong. Their…

“Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king,nor in your bedroom curse the rich,for a bird of the air will carry your voice,or some winged creature tell the matter” (Ecclesiastes 10:20). Mothers have ESP! I am sure that you have vivid childhood memories of your mother’s incredible ability to know your thoughts and motives on any and every matter. What made it worse was when you asked how she knew, she invariably said, “A little birdy told me.” We…

“He who walks with wise men will be wise,But the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Proverbs 13:20). Many a motivational speaker has cried, “Show me your friends and I will show you your future.”All things being equal I doubt that anyone would doubt the wisdom of those words.The apostle Paul came at it from a different angle: “Follow me as I follow Christ,” was his advice for those seeking spiritual mentorship (1Cor.11:1).Too many Christians fall into the hands of…

“Like a roaring lion and a rushing bearIs a wicked ruler over a poor people” (Proverbs 28:15). This sounds very much like an assessment a person might make about their least favourite politician.Fortunately, not every leader is wicked.But people are famous for hearing ‘roaring lions’ and seeing ‘rushing bears’ when political expectations are left unfulfilled. Therefore, a Christian would be wise to be careful how they view leadership at any level. Many of us live in countries where all our…

‘Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this”’ (Ecclesiastes 7:10). The ‘good old days’ can get better with the telling, given the right audience and the right conditions.If anyone could look back on a life of privilege and excess, it was King Solomon. He had it all, at all times, and in all ways. If anyone knew what ‘better’ was, it was him.Here he…

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,But desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12). Absalom’s hope of becoming king was deferred for a number of reasons: Being banished for murdering his brother, playing the baby-kissing-politician on his return home, staging a coup d’état against his father, and being mercilessly speared to death while hanging from a tree by his cousin Joab—to name a few. Moses’ entry into the Promised Land was deferred because of the revolt of the 10…

“Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble” (Proverbs 25:19). I love the comedic poetry of Pam Ayres. Her poem, ‘Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,’ has this haunting line: “My Mother, she told me no end, ‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend.’”A reminder that dentists take holidays to the south of France on the money of those of us who refused to heed our dear…