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“The Facebook God: America’s Bondage to Antisocial Media”

If you enjoy a typical lifespan of 23,000 days, how many of those will be slavishly devoted to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat? Recent studies indicate that, on average, Americans spend about four hours per day – 25% of their waking lives – on digital sites we call social media. That might seem reasonable if the “social” label really fit our time and activities on these sites, but the moniker now seems highly questionable.

Anyone born more than 20 years ago remembers when “social” meant something quite different than sitting around pecking on a keyboard, taking narcissistic “selfies,” and scrolling for hours on a touchscreen. Before the onslaught of laptops, tablets, and smart phones, human beings actually gathered, in the flesh, and engaged one another on a human, rather than digital, level.

People went to grandma’s house for Sunday dinner after church, neighborhood parks for picnics or a game of sandlot baseball, a friend’s house for a hand of cards or a board game, and cafes or diners for real conversations over a cup of coffee. Parents engaged their children around the family table or during traditional vacations. Friends went bowling, golfing, fishing, hiking, or to dinner and a movie. Youngsters had slumber parties and told ghost stories. Sweethearts courted by holding hands, sitting under a moonlit sky and staring dreamily into one another’s eyes … all without the need for “online dating services” to find a match.

Many of us still give a wink and a nod to such human interactions, but with an important limitation: We’re proverbially chained to handheld electronic devices no matter where we go. We take “Androids” and “iPhones” to church with us, to dinner with our friends, to walks in the park, and to coffee houses. We frequently and rudely interrupt any efforts at in-person dialogue, so that we can “check messages” or monitor the number of “likes” someone mindlessly gave our posts on Facebook. Some people take smart phones and tablets to weddings, to funerals, to dental visits, to bathrooms, and to busy highways where they ought to be watching the road instead of their phone. Heck, if Masters & Johnson were still around, it would not surprise me to hear about a research study involving couples who interrupt their bedroom activities to check a tweet.

Don’t get me wrong. The digital age has its advantages and efficiencies. Using “social media” to reconnect with lost friends, or to keep in touch with relatives who live elsewhere, or to occasionally enjoy a good laugh or a friendly online debate, seems healthy. But on the whole, America has developed an unhealthy and downright antisocial obsession with cyberspace. The familiar sci-fi plot about machines someday taking over the planet no longer has a futuristic ring. The machines already control us, here and now, with ring tones, buzzes, vibrations, and beeps. Indeed, if Arnold decides to make another “Terminator” movie, perhaps he will come back as a smart phone.

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith

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Faith

“Really, God? … Zarephath?”

Luke 4 contains one of the more interesting accounts in the New Testament. Not long after beginning His ministry, Jesus passed through His boyhood town of Nazareth. There in the synagogue, presumably the same one He attended as a youth, Jesus stood and read a prophetic scripture from the Book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel.” This bold statement prompted the crowd of supposed friends and neighbors to skeptically ask, “Aren’t you the son of Joseph (the carpenter)?” It seemed apparent from their disbelief that the crowd in Nazareth had no intention of receiving the salvation, healing, and deliverance Jesus offered.

In reply to the crowd, Jesus declared that “no prophet is accepted in His own country.” He reminded them about the story of Elijah performing a miracle for the widow of Zarephath. (See I Kings 17.) The widow received Elijah during a time of great famine, providing him the last of her food, as God had instructed. God then worked a miracle through Elijah to save the widow and her son from starvation. Jesus observed that God did not send Elijah, as one might have expected, to the “many widows of Israel.” Instead, God sent Elijah to the Gentile widow at Zarephath.

The message for those in Nazareth that day, and for all of us, seems clear: If we reject the help God planned for us, He may direct that blessing to someone willing to hear, receive, and appreciate it.

For those in ministry or positions of service, we find another lesson from Luke 4: We ought not become distracted or discouraged in seeking the acceptance of those we might naturally expect to receive us. Our service is to God, not to men. Sometimes God has a mission for us elsewhere, perhaps even in an unexpected place like Zarephath.

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith

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Relationships, Wisdom

“Life Lessons From An Obedient Dog”

I’ve been taking our little Queensland blue heeler (now 18 months) on two-mile walks in the mornings, instilling a bit of discipline. He’s doing great, and his performance this morning got me thinking about lessons all of us can learn from a well-trained dog …

1. You’ll feel better on the morning walk if you don’t stay out howling at the moon all night.

2. Respond when the master (parent, teacher, boss, pastor) calls.

3. Find a home and stay there awhile … don’t ramble aimlessly from spouse to spouse, job to job, church to church. Find the right one and put down roots.

4. Don’t terrorize the neighbors or their livestock … show yourself friendly.

5. Be loyal and protective of those you love.

6. Don’t chase every car that drives up your road.

7. Resist any natural instinct to nose around in the piles of stuff others leave behind them.

8. Be content with what you have. Be eager for what you can become.

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith

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Faith, Relationships, Wisdom

“Teach Your Children Well”

This is not an exhaustive list, but it provides a good start.

1. Keep God at the center of your life; have a personal relationship with Christ.

This encompasses a number of things, including the following:

• Accept Christ as Savior, then follow His instruction to be baptized.
• Be in church every Sunday morning to honor God and to worship Him.
• Pay a tithe on 10% of your gross income; this money belongs to God, not you.
• Give offerings above and beyond your tithe; do so from a grateful heart.
• Be involved in acts of ministry and service to God, and to others in His name.

2. Develop and keep good habits.

Some examples include these:

• Have regular times for going to bed and waking up.
• Be organized and productive; keep and follow a “to do” list each day.
• Practice good personal hygiene and regular physical exercise.
• Limit time spent on wasteful distractions (television, etc.).

3. Be a wise steward of your personal finances.

• Live below your means.
• Save and invest regularly.
• Educate yourself about finances and the economy.
• Keep money and resources in proper perspective; they are simply tools to be used, not “gods” to be served.
• Prepare and follow a budget.
• Live debt-free. (Most people should be able to do this by age 35, if not sooner.)

4. Work hard, and persist.

These two attributes, a strong work ethic and a “never give up” attitude, will quickly distinguish you from the mass of humanity. And remember, all work is honorable. Never seek any form of welfare or assistance if you have any kind of work available to pay your own way.

5. Get a solid education, and never stop learning.

6. Never, never, never compromise your honesty or integrity for any reason.

7. Be loyal and committed in your relationships.

8. Love and respect yourself, and expect others to do likewise.

9. Put yourself in the place of others; do to them as you would want done to you. Forgive.

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith

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Faith, Relationships, Wisdom

“Vain Oblations”

“Reason” ought not be confused with “rationalization.” Reason seeks truth; rationalization hides, obscures, or perverts truth. God, the source of all truth, is the author of one. Satan, the father of lies, is the author of the other.

Genesis 3 contains the earliest recorded account of spiritual deceit through rationalization:
1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Over the millennia, Satan has not lost his subtle touch for encouraging rationalization, and we have not lost our gullible tendency for engaging in rationalization to excuse our immorality. “Professing ourselves wise” (to borrow from the Apostle Paul) we become fools when the vanity of our minds begins to justify sin. Like the proverbial kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar, we offer exculpations instead of remorse. We demand accommodation rather than absolution, a pass rather than a pardon.

“I was born this way” (or some variation thereof) becomes our catch phrase, rather than “Lord, please be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Such trickery of the mind then leads to wanton repetition of the conduct, rather than earnest repentance from it. We no longer plead for grace to help our infirmities, we demand “cheap grace” from God, and “tolerance” from others.

Our Heavenly Father is a God of mercy that endures forever, love and grace beyond anything we can fathom with human understanding. (“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son …”) And yet, the Word makes clear that He is not a God of cheap grace, of rationalizations instead of repentance. In Isaiah 1, God invites us to “come reason” with Him, and to obtain the mercy and forgiveness He longs to offer us, but He requires a sincere heart, not bogus “sacrifices” and excuses:

10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith

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Liberty

“Gratitude”

From the text for the American History class I’m teaching this semester: “The American Revolution involved a massive military commitment. If common American soldiers had not been willing to stand up to seasoned British troops, to face the terror of the bayonet charge, independence would have remained a dream of intellectuals. Proportionate to the population, a greater percentage of Americans died in military service during the Revolution than in any war in American history except the Civil War.” (American Stories, 2d ed., Brands, et al.)

One such “common American soldier” was John Patten, a young volunteer from Bedford, New Hampshire. His father, Matthew, in a well-preserved handwritten diary, penned this entry on May 21, 1776, the day on which Matthew and his wife learned their son had died of complications after being wounded in action:

“[John] was shot through his left arm at Bunker Hill fight and now after suffering much fatigue to the place where he now lies [dead] in defending the just Rights of America to whose end he came in the prime of his life by means of that wicked Tryannical Brute (nay, worse than a Brute) of Great Britain [King George III]. He [John] was Twenty four years and 31 days old.”

Next time you hear someone arrogantly badmouthing our founding generation, or foolishly trashing our Constitution and the brilliant men who drafted it … remind these ungrateful armchair quarterbacks that the freedom they now enjoy to pontificate their follies was hard won by very real sacrifices at places like Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, and Yorktown. Next time you see the powermonger in the White House thumbing his impudent nose at the Bill of Rights, or you hear his wife or his former pastor declaring their shame or damnation of America, remember that real families … people like Matthew Patten and his wife … gave of their most precious treasures so that we today may enjoy the blessings of liberty.

I say God bless America, not God damn America. I say more freedom, not more government. I say “thank you” to our Founders and to the God who smiled Providently on them, not “curse and smear you” as many do today.

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith

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Economy, Faith, Liberty

“Loaves and Fishes”

The political left rarely seems to care about what Jesus has to say, except when they find it convenient to invoke Him as support for an expanded welfare state of government dependency. There can be no doubt about the compassion of Christ, and His instruction that we love and care for others. But a simple reading of the Gospel of Mark, chapter 8, indicates that Jesus likely would not run a welfare program the way our government does.

Mark 8 recounts one occasion where Jesus miraculously fed a multitude of about 4,000 who had gathered to hear Him. The chapter provides these important details of the event:

1. Jesus did not feed the entire nation or province, He fed those gathered to hear Him.
2. He did not abandon the ministry to advocate the launch of a government welfare program.
3. Christ fed everyone in the crowd, not just the poor.
4. The people had gone three days without food, listening to Jesus, before He fed them.
5. He fed them a simple meal of bread and fish, not steak, lobster, or roast leg of lamb.
6. When they had been fed this one meal, He sent them home, presumably back to their jobs.
7. Jesus did not issue the multitude a welfare card usable for anything they wanted to buy.
8. The Lord did not waste anything, His disciples gathered the leftovers into baskets.
9. Jesus and His disciples gave of themselves; they did not take money from others to feed the multitude.
10. Most importantly, He offered spiritual bread, which brings freedom, not dependency.

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith

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Faith, Wisdom

“Making Good Decisions”

Credit for the substance of today’s post goes to my pastor of more than 40 years, Dr. Mack Evans of The Sheep Shed in Neosho, Missouri. About 20 years ago he preached a Sunday evening message titled “Making Good Decisions.” I’ve carried the notes from that sermon in my Bible for the past 20 years, and have relied on them often when faced with important choices in life. Here is a summary of his 12 suggestions for making wise decisions:

1. “Have the mind of Christ.”
2. “Study the Word of God so you can make decisions in line with the Word.”
3. “Recognize that you have the Holy Spirit to guide you.”
4. “Don’t ignore the unction of God … the strong silent urgings of God.”
5. “Seek Godly counsel.” (Seeking counsel means getting different points of view from Godly people.)
6. “Consider getting confirmation, from your pastor or those in spiritual authority over you, before acting.”
7. “Learn to rely on your own experiences and memories.” (Related, “There is no right way to do a wrong thing.”)
8. “Let the peace of God rule in your life — if you don’t have peace about a course of action, don’t do it.”
9. “Forgive and forget.”
10. “Counsel yourself with the same counsel you would give to others.”
11. “Follow the golden rule, and remember you will reap what you sow … both the good and the bad.”
12. “Never … never … violate God’s Word.”

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith

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Faith

“The Choice”

Chapter 21 of the Gospel of John tells us about one of the last meals Jesus shared with some of His disciples, a breakfast, at daybreak, not long after the Resurrection. I had originally thought to focus on the simple warmth and humanity of this account, calling it “Breakfast with Jesus.” It does, after all, offer facts and details that present the real Jesus in sharp contrast to what most of us perhaps would expect. Here we find the living and eternal Son of God, up from the grave, making fire on the shore of the sea of Tiberias, and beckoning His disciples to come in from their fishing boats and join Him for a breakfast of fish and bread. No doubt most of us, if charged with suggesting important tasks for the risen Savior, would not think to include a fellowship meal among close friends on the beach. But then we often miss the elegantly basic purpose of the Cross, enabling restoration of fellowship between God and man.

A fresh reading of John 21, however, drew me to another observation, that involving the choice Jesus presented to one particular disciple, Simon Peter, on the day in question. For in a larger sense each of us will face a similar choice about our destiny, once the Son of God has crossed our path. He does not compel us, forcibly, but instead confronts us, lovingly, leaving to us a choice with eternal consequences. With that in mind, let us briefly consider the account of this “breakfast with Jesus” and the choice to which it led for Peter.

Again, the events in John 21 unfold not long after the Crucifixion. Peter, as you may recall, openly denied Jesus on three different occasions all in the same night, shortly after Jesus had been arrested. This may seem incredible to us, with benefit of hindsight, knowing that Peter had walked with Jesus for three years and been part of His innermost circle. Indeed, his multiple denials of Christ seem all the more incomprehensible when one considers that Peter had been the first disciple to recognize Jesus as the very Son of God and not just some great teacher or prophet. (Matthew 16:16). It was Jesus, after all, who had given the surname “Peter” (the rock) to this ordinary fisherman known merely as “Simon” before Jesus called him to be a fisher of men. (Mark 3:16).

Surely Peter did not feel much like “a rock” after denying Christ. Perhaps for that reason, or maybe because of other doubts, Peter had decided after the Crucifixion to return again to the life he had known – fishing – prior to being called by Jesus. Thus, John 21:3 begins with Peter’s statement to his fellow disciples that “I am going fishing,” and with their reply, “we’ll go with you.” Reading between the lines, one may perceive the loss and dejection they must have felt. Their faith and sense of purpose, boldly displayed when Christ had walked among them, seems to have given way to doubt and discouragement. This must have been especially so for Peter.

Upon spotting Jesus beside the campfire, Peter jumps enthusiastically from the boat, eagerly making his way to shore. Peter then single-handedly unloads the large catch of fish, and Jesus prepares breakfast. After Jesus, Peter, and the other disciples had finished the breakfast, Jesus turns to Peter, and this dialogue occurs:

15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” He saith unto him, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” He saith unto him, “Feed my lambs.”
16 He saith to him again the second time, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” He saith unto him, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” He saith unto him, “Feed my sheep.”
17 He saith unto him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, “Lovest thou me?” And he said unto him, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” Jesus saith unto him, “Feed my sheep.”

Notice two particulars from this account. First, Jesus asked essentially the same question, three times, as if to parallel the number of times Peter had earlier denied Christ. Second, Jesus refers to him as “Simon, son of Jonas,” and not by the surname “Peter” given by Jesus after He first called Peter. Clearly the message holds the promise of grace and redemption, but Jesus also seems to be confronting Peter with a pivotal choice: Do you want to be Simon the fisherman, or Peter the fisher of men? Will you retreat to a place of doubt, or will you embrace a path of destiny? Are you going to keep denying me, or will you boldly proclaim the revelation God first gave to you, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?

Peter made his choice, and wisely. Will the same be said of us? Are you saved, have you accepted Christ as Lord of your life? If so, are you actively serving Him and living out your destiny in Him? Or have you, like Simon who was once called Peter, retreated in doubt, shame, and discouragement? Jesus is calling to you from the shore. He wants to fellowship with you and talk about your destiny. How will you respond? His grace abounds, but the choice is yours. I encourage you to choose wisely.

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith

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About

Welcome to 7Precepts!

Thank you for visiting our blog, where Lawyer Smith and occasional guest editors will share thoughts falling generally into one of seven categories. These categories track seven precepts (or instructions) for life, all scripturally based:

1. HAVE FAITH, in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ.
2. DECLARE LIBERTY, against every form of tyranny and oppressive government.
3. GET WISDOM, for it is the principal thing.
4. PRACTICE ECONOMY, living frugally and building wealth, keeping money in its proper place.
5. FOLLOW YOUR VISION, for without vision, we perish and fail to accomplish God’s purposes for our lives.
6. BE PREPARED, and ready for whatever comes your way, both the opportunities and the challenges.
7. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS, for if He so loved us, surely we ought to love one another.

We will build the content of this blog slowly, to assure a solid foundation and content worth your time. Please subscribe and visit often, and let friends of like mind know about the site.

Godspeed,

Lawyer Smith
March 9, 2014

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