Monday, November 17, 2014

The Art of Reflection

'There is an art of which every man should be a master, the art of reflection. If you are not a thinking man, to what purpose are you a man at all' 
William Hart Coleridge

Sometimes I think life slips away when we get so busy we don't take the time to look back, reflect, and learn from reflecting.  I was reminded in India and in the Philippines about stewardship in a few different ways but one way is being stewardful of my experience/testimony.  How to do that?  I don't know, maybe blogging is a part of it, so those who are interested can learn from it.  

Proverbs 31:8-9 'Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.  Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.' (NLT)

Going from seeing women oppressed in prostitution and the magnitude of trafficking in India, to the aftermath of the world's worst storm in the Philippines, to a reserve in northern Saskatchewan all within a few days of each other proved the first few months of 2014 to be a learning curve in many ways.  How do you process this all?  Going to God's word and understanding His heart for justice is an encouragement and challenge to me.


Isaiah 1:17 ‘Learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.’

1John 3:18 ‘Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.’
Isaiah 61:8 ‘For I, the Lord, love justice

Micah 6:8 ‘He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?’

Psalms 82:3,4 ‘Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked.

Luke 12:48b ‘From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.’

Luke 11:42 ‘Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.’

Proverbs 21:15 When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.

Proverbs 29:7 The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.

Proverbs 21:13 'Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.' (NLT)