Thoughts on Thursday

The minor prophets are not where most people go when they want to find out what is required of them as a follower of God. I'll admit, as I've been reading through the books of prophecy, I've gotten a bit bogged down at times. I've wondered why God would choose to include so much of it in the Bible. I know there are a number of ways to answer that question, but one reason in particular grabbed my attention and renewed my interest. When looked at through a wide angle kind of lens, the books of prophecy teach us a lot about the character of God. We learn what makes Him angry, what behavior results in discipline, and how wounded He is by our sin.

Here are a couple "big picture" principles I've gleaned from reading the minor prophets:

• God is God and we are not. This sounds simple, but people (me included) have a tendency to forget their place in the equation. When I insist on doing things my way, it results in a mess. We are to acknowledge God and His Word as the final authority in all matters.

• Empty rituals are not enough. God says that He desires mercy, not sacrifice, meaning that the heart attitude matters just as much as the action. Doing the right thing externally doesn't mean much if you have a heart and mind filled with hatred, greed, and immorality. This idea of God desiring His people to pursue mercy, justice, truth, and purity is prevalent throughout the Bible. (I'll post more on this later.)

I'm not trying to climb up on my soapbox my any means, I'm just trying to process this stuff that I've been learning. Well, that's my thoughts today.

The Power Of Encouragement

I was reading an article about spiritual gifts a couple weekends ago and that got me to thinking about encouragement (not the gift, just the act in and of itself) and how powerful it can be. I was remembering specific instances when someone encouraged me in some way and the effect it had.

I remember a note I received from a friend a few years back when we both had work-study jobs in the same department at the community college we attended. I was behind on a project or two for my classes and was fretting about how I was going to get the work done in a short amount of time. One day when I arrived at work, I found an encouraging note on my desk. It was just a plain piece of notebook paper with a handwritten message on it. It was very simple, but very powerful. It literally made my day. I still have that piece of paper! And more recently, my grandma left a note for me with several Bible verses on it that she thought would be helpful. They were all verses I was familiar with, but it meant a lot that she had taken the time to write them down for me. It was...well...encouraging, and I guess that's the whole point.

I think it was Zig Ziglar that said, "A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could, because someone else thought they could." I'm afraid I don't offer encouragement to others nearly enough. I might think about it, but the words in my head never seem to find an outlet, as least not as often as I would like for them to.