Have you ever read something over and over and never seen an insight that hits you and makes you feel the old V-8 commercial with the slap on the forehead?  That happened to me Wednesday morning.  I thought I would take a reprieve from boring you with our renovation 🙂 and share some insights I gleaned while reading.

I have been reading through the New Testament this year- one chapter a day.  I am in Acts right now.  I also like to read Proverbs every other month.  This is that month.   Yesterday, May 1st, I sat down to read when the alarm went off telling me I needed to head to an emergency ortho appointment.  “That’s okay.  I’ll read when I get back.”  Let’s just say that didn’t work.  🙂  So I sat down  this morning to read both May 1 & 2 (Proverbs 1 & 2).  Each time I read I like to take a different color pen to mark so that I am making sure I am not highlighting the same verse each time.  As I read, 1:29-31 hit me.  I noted in my journal the “Because…therefore” that stuck out like a sore thumb.  Then I read chapter 2 and these verses seemed to be leaping off the page.  I noted in my journal the “if…then” connection.  Looking at them further brought out something I had never seen before.  The section in chapter 1 was a “sow and reap” passage.  Another look at the chapter 2 passage shows that it is also a “sow and reap” thought.

BUT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!

The first is a negative approach.  The second is a positive approach.  The first is like a parent wagging their finger saying, “Because you did this, then you will have to suffer the consequences.”  The second is like a parent who says, “If you listen to what I say and fulfill my wishes, then you will enjoy the rewards.”  I like the latter approach a whole lot better than the former.

There is a whole lot more joy in doing something because you want to and find pleasure in doing it, than in doing something because you have been threatened or browbeat into submission.

As a pastor I have to constantly ask myself the question, “Why am I suggesting this? What does this sound like to the listener?  Am I being or sounding heavy-handed?”  Or “Am I offering a way to the listener to enjoy service to God?”

What do you think?  Would you please take a moment to read those two passages and give me your thoughts?  Do you feel your service to God is out of fear of retribution or enjoyment?