Proverbs: Chapter 14

The Way Seems Right:

Shelf Road | Canon City, Colorado 

There are many things that we can do or say in order to make others believe we are good people. Unfortunately, most of us will do this in a way that is detrimental to our souls. Folly brings folly. We build our houses yet we disregard where we build them. We create our treasures here on earth and forget about who God is and what He has given to us both in life and in death. We are called to be faithful to God and honor Him with our actions, yet we trample on His commandments then preach a false gospel. Why? Because we are foolish people who believe we can achieve everything we want in life on our own. The motto of 2018 is: "I got this." Yet, we don't have it and we won't get it. What is it that we don't have? True joy and meaning in life, if we are searching for it here on earth, we have already lost our way. God shows us what is right and what is wrong, if we take His advice we will be better for it. Only a fool will dispute right vs. wrong and say it doesn't matter, what is right for some isn't right for others, while this can be accepted in some aspects of life, it is not true for the meaning of life.  We should not wander through life careless about our sins or just going through the motions. We are called to be people who make wise choices and learn from our mistakes and those who came before us. We always have room to grow regardless of circumstance. A wise man does not say: "Look at how wise I am." A wise man would say: "I am nothing without God." and thank Him for all His blessings. I can't say that I am wise, well I could, but it wouldn't be truthful. I am growing in wisdom and most of that has been through my own stupidity and poor choices. One of the greatest things God allows us to do is fail. It is a humbling experience, for the wise person, or it is an excuse generator for the fool. Unfortunately, I believe God has heard my excuse generator run a little too often. Thankfully, His grace is never-ending and He has been very patient with my stubborn self. His love is far beyond anything I can imagine.

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." There is a lot of ways that seem right to Jordan, but its end is the way to eternal separation from God. I believe that I should spend more time diving deep into the idea of eternal separation from God. I think it is something that we take way too lightly. The creator of all things; He who keeps the stars in their place, the planets from colliding, gravity in check, dark matter in space, every atom in the universe operating, etc. and we don't fear being separated from Him for eternity? Hm. Perhaps we are missing something. There are a lot of things that seemed right to me when I was a child, I desired what I wanted, when I wanted it, regardless of how I got it. This concept was sinful and thankfully I matured to the point of not crying if and when I was denied cookies for breakfast. Then, in my teenage years, I developed the Napoleon complex of presenting myself as something far better than I was, disregarding the truth and seeking only what pleased me, God humbled me with a couple surgeries. During College I felt I was the man because I was a talented baseball player, I felt invincible and decided I don't need to listen to God, I know what is best for me and I made many foolish choices. Post-College is when God really went after my heart by revealing that I had a problem with lying, he exposed this in a very emotional and heart-grabbing way. I was launched into the wonderful world of counseling and it changed my life completely. God used a terrible event as the rebuilding of my relationship with God on a firm foundation with Christ as the cornerstone. I am far from perfect to this day, but He gave me freedom from lying amongst other things. He showed me that His way is far better than my way. In the end, I receive Him, a far greater gift than I deserve. Christ's love for us is unfathomable. He restores us in Him every day and He offers us grace upon grace. There is a way that seems right, but it is wrong. All it will do is leave you hollow and it won't fill the eternity-sized hole in your soul, only Christ can grant you that. Seek him with all your mind, heart, and strength. 

Dear Lord, I come to you as an aspiring servant of your work. I pray that you will increase in me the knowledge of you and your mercies that I might better exude your grace. Show me more of you through pain and heartache if necessary. Show me the joy I can find in you by following Christ's example of loving others. Humble me in you. Amen. 

All images © 2015 - 2021 Jordan Tackett

Proverbs: Chapter 13

San Diego, California 

Father's Instruction:

One of the key ingredients to a healthy life are learning from those who came before us. The most obvious and easily accessible (for those who have a traditional upbringing of both parents being around) are their father and mother. Regardless of circumstance, fathers have an incredible impact on their children, for better or worse. It is my belief that all parents do the best they can with where they are in life. (Think about it fully before freaking out on me.) We must listen to our parents and take their advice, place our own perspective on it, and hopefully obey them because they give good advice. I would say that 99% of the time if I had listened to my father's advice it would have turned out better for me than not. However, I didn't always do that, unfortunately for myself and it would end in me crying out to God seeking saving. Thankfully, God always hears the cries of His children and will give us opportunities to learn from our mistakes. We all face choices every day, whether we will choose to work hard at something or be a sluggard. We can guard our mouths and use our tongue in a way that is uplifting or we can tear others down without filtering our thoughts and speak wildly. Clearly, there is a wise way to live and a foolish way. Why do we seldom choose wisely when we are young? Why can't we listen to those who came before us and heed their warnings? Because we believe we are better, smarter, and can handle everything on our own - we know what is best for us! (Spoiler: We don't.) Speaking as a 27-year-old, I can tell you right now that I almost always think I know what is right, true, or best for me. I go into situations believing I can handle them without anyone else's assistance or help, then it blows up in my face and I seek help from others. I attempt to be righteous but then I build up a false sense of righteousness and believe I can do whatever I want and I will be able to breeze through the challenges of lust, temptations, etc. and then I fall into sin. We cannot white-knuckle our way through sins that are addictive. We must seek counseling from others who can help us change the way we think (this is the only way I escaped from the bondage of pornography and to this day I am free from it). This is the problem, we think we can handle these situations without any practice or thinking ahead. We believe that we alone can handle the temptation, even though our history should tell us otherwise, we continue to fall again and again. We pretend we are something we aren't, rich, talented at something, etc. and then the truth shows that we actually aren't and we were pretending. This is a false sense of success that doesn't help us in life but only hurts us in the long run. God placed in our hands His word through many meek individuals who were just like us, wandering the desert and God found them and showed them His way. He wants what is best for us and what is best in Him. He designed every atom that dwells in all of existence and He put it into motion, naturally, He is the way, the truth, and the life, therefore it makes sense that no one can go before God except through Christ, we are not worthy. We are sinners through and through. Disaster follows us wherever we tread and most things touched by us die. Thankfully, we have a Lord and Savior who can show us the best way for us to live. Unfortunately, we always want more. We are not satisfied with what God has given us, we want what others have until we get it, and then we want more than that. This is a natural desire inside of us and can be used for good if we get our perspective right. The perspective of knowing that we were not made for this world and we will never be truly satisfied. We were made for the Kingdom of Heaven that is without blemish or sin, we are eternal beings in a time-constrained universe, we will never feel at home. These are good things! We don't have to take to heart all the horrible things that betray us here on earth. The fallow ground we stand upon is swept away through injustice and all that is will be gone in time. How should we handle this? With joy! Thankfully we are not meant to live eternity in pain, we will be cleansed and made perfect in Him. While we wait for that glorious day we should praise Him with our tongues, honor Him with our bodies, and seek His face with our eyes, not the momentary pleasures that this world wants for us. Now, we can have a lot of fun while on earth and experience a lot of joy, there are great things and should be done! God gave us 10 commandments to follow through Moses, we would be wise to adhere to them as best we can. Don't you think the author of joy has some idea of what we would enjoy? We will never be perfect at this while we are in these bodies filled with shame and regret, but we can show His love for us by drawing close to Him in times of trouble and seeking humility in all things.

Dear Lord, give me the strength to return to you every day. My mind and heart stray from you as I have a very strict regimen of things that take a long time to perform. There is a lot of pain involved in these processes and they distract me from you. Please give me the ability to return to your word and type it out as I have done above this every day. I see the path you want for me clearly, but I do not see the beginning of it. Show me the way. Amen. 

All images © 2015 - 2021 Jordan Tackett