Skip to main content

Prudence


Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:27)

The path of life leads upward for the prudent to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead. (Proverbs 15:24) 

Today, I have to begin with what I believe this verse is not saying. It’s not saying, “Be stoic, just grin and bear it,” or “Be fatalistic, there’s nothing you can do about it.” Even more, it’s not saying, “Chuck your brain in the garbage. Don’t worry. Be happy.” Scripture teaches repeatedly that we should be prudent, which means acting and showing care and thought for the future. None of the responses listed involve being prudent. 
As I think about the idea of prudence, it seems to me that it is a good goal for the summer. The area where I live just went “green.” I suspect some people think that means no more masks, dining out regularly, parties, rallies, and protests all permitted. What it means is that businesses may open – carefully, but that all the same general precautions remain. If you don’t want to get sick, and don’t want to give COVID-19 to others, you’ll keep wearing masks and staying away from other people when possible. My old adage works here: “Don’t be stupid. Don’t over-react. Don’t be stupid. Don’t under-react.”  And I’ll add one more, “Don’t be stupid. Don’t act like you’re the health police, or at the very least, be polite about it.” 
There’s a different, however, between being prudent and worrying. One piece of the difference is that worrying deals with what one can’t do anything about, while prudence addresses what one can do something about. Somewhere along the line, the term prudent fell into disfavor. The modern term used in its place is pro-active. 
When I came home from Florida this spring, I was facing a future that wasn’t what I planned, but I was also facing a sense that I am not prepared for emergencies, or (if the truth be told) for much else. Quite frankly, I think a lot of people are in the same boat. I see and hear a lot of people basically looking to someone else to keep them safe and solve their problems. My adventures in solving my own problems are announced regularly on Facebook, partly to motivate me, and partly to motivate my friends. It’s not about doing what I’m doing. I’m not sure I’d wish what I’m doing on an enemy. It’s about doing what you can – being prudent – and leaving what you can’t do to God.
Are you praying, studying Scripture, trusting God, building relationships with your family and friends (including new friends), reading, learning, exercising, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, eating right, gardening, crafting, singing, dancing, recording what is happening in your life, cooking, preserving…? In short, are you doing anything that moves you forward? Are you being prudent? Or, are you watching TV, looking out your window (not at the birds) and worrying? Or, have you given up?
Friends, we have six months left to 2020. It’s hasn’t been the most pleasant year we’ve ever faced, but while I hope things will get better soon, it’s also possible that things will get much worse. Don’t worry, but take prudent action now to prepare.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more