MY SPEECH – MAY IT PRAISE YOU

"My speech – may it praise you without flaw:
may my heart love you, King of Heaven and of earth."
This prayer from 12th Century Ireland shows that in any epoch, watching the tongue is crucial.

James’ letter says much the same thing, but from the negative perspective: “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).

The next time you find yourself on the verge of letting go with some restless evil full of deadly poison, no matter how much you think old so-and-so deserves it, I’d like for you to try something if you would.

Look at whomever you’d like to give a piece of your mind, and see them through the eyes of compassion. If you do, if you truly do, I think you’ll find your anger melts away with the compassion of Christ. You can probably still get your point across, but by taking a path of compassion that heals and doesn’t hurt.

We’re going to explore “compassion” more in the near future, but for now try seeing others through compassion’s eyes. It’s a noble plan.


"A noble man devises noble plans; and by noble plans he stands"

THANK YOU STEPHEN LAWHEAD

I grew up in the age of astronauts landing on the moon and first-run episodes of Star Trek. And while my enthusiasm for space and that final frontier has never abated, my heart is continuously stirred by the age-old stories of knights and daring-dos: of staring down the gullet of a fire-breathing dragon with only your wits and a sword. Of noble women and men putting everything on the line out of loyalty to a righteous ideal.

Even as I write this, the very thought of such noble deeds make my heart beat a little faster.

Few authors have fully captured the nuances, depth, and “reality” of nobility as Stephen R. Lawhead. His books kindled a fire in me many years ago and frankly, he cannot write fast enough to curb my appetite.

Stephen Lawhead is a best-selling author, largely in the fantasy genre. He also has an uncanny ability to slide biblical principles in under the radar so his works are equally popular in both the Christian and secular marketplaces. He weaves fiction together with history and culture, stitched together with elegantly believable characters, to create a artfully crafted and colorful tapestry.

Yes, if you cannot tell, I like his work. But Stephen Lawhead has accomplished far more than to merely entertain me. As I read, and re-read his texts, he was planting a hunger in me, a yearning for nobility in my daily life. I didn’t know it at the time. I had no idea he was covertly conspiring with the Holy Spirit to mold me.

But he did.

Here’s a sample:

I have seen a land shining with goodness where each man protects his brother’s dignity as readily as his own, where war and want have ceased and all races live under the same law of love and honor.

I have seen a land bright with truth, where a man’s word is his pledge and falsehood is banished, where children sleep safe in their mother’s arms and never know fear or pain.

I have seen a land where kings extend their hands in justice rather than reach for the sword; where mercy, kindness, and compassion flow like deep water over the land, and men revere virtue, revere truth, revere beauty, above comfort, pleasure, or selfish gain. A land where peace reigns in the hearts of men; where faith blazes like a beacon from every hill and love like a fire from every hearth; where the True God is worshiped and his ways acclaimed by all.*

I still feel a tug in my soul when I read that.

Thank you, Stephen Lawhead. You, along with J. R.. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and others have added such richness to my life, my family—and most of all—to my faith.


"A noble man devises noble plans; and by noble plans he stands"

*Arthur: the Pendragon Cycle by Stephen R. Lawhead, ©1989, Crossway Books, p.136

ALL THAT IS GOLD

From Noble Plans: Chapter Two

The very notion of everyday people owning anything gold would have been inconceivable not too long ago. In a season where home ownership is an American ideal, we forget that in mother-Europe, landowners were few and serfs or peasants who worked the land were esteemed the disposable and renewable resource. Property, gold, silver, rubies, and diamonds, the very symbols of royalty have, like so many other things in our modern culture, lost much of their intrinsic value by virtue of becoming commonplace—so commonplace that TV networks run round-the-clock sales.

Regretfully, commonness has also overcome holiness. It has been diluted to the point that it bears little semblance to what it once did . . . .

. . . There is a constant call on God’s people for holiness. That does not mean worship only or service only, though those are crucial and worthy aspects of the life of the faithful. It means exactly what it meant in the age of the Bible: the consecration and separation of a Holy Bride for a Holy Bridegroom, the King of all the earth. Our modern distance from regal devices and sovereign rule do not give us leave to do as they did in the days before God established His temple in Jerusalem. “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). Proverbs tells us, “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts (Prov 21:2, italics mine).

How would you be, if he, that is the top of judgment,
should but judge you as you are?
O, think on that;
and mercy then will breathe within your lips,
like man new made.
–William Shakespeare


"A noble man devises noble plans; and by noble plans he stands"

[Photo: St. Edward's Crown]