Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Lev. 19:18, NIV

The king’s horse drowned in the river. Enraged at the insolence of the river, the king threatened so to break its strength that in the future even women should cross it easily without wetting their knees. Accordingly he put off for a time his attack on Babylon, and, dividing his army into two parts, he marked out by ropes one hundred and eighty trenches on each side of the Gyndes, leading off from it in all directions, and setting his army to dig, some on one side of the river, some on the other, he accomplished his threat by the aid of so great a number of hands, but not without losing thereby the whole summer season.
(Cyrus Captures Babylon Account in 539 B.C. Herodotus, Book I, para 189-191)
An extreme reaction? King Cyrus never-the-less acted in spite to thwart the river, dividing it into 360 channels
Another Persian king, Xerxes, fighting against Greece, decided to cross the Bosporus, building a boat bridge with each boat connected to the other with planks. This bridge would be over a mile long and required a perfectly calm sea. On several attempts winds and rough seas broke it apart. Frustrated and enraged, Xerxes ordered that the Bosporus receive three hundred lashes with a chain. Properly chastened, the sea remained calm and the bridge was completed.
The kings Cyrus and Xerxes, acting out of petty ill will, attempted to irritate, annoy, or thwart the forces of nature. Now that’s spite!
Yes, I’ve been hitting the Word Books again. As usual, one good word leads to another, and spite has some juicy synonyms, beginning with ‘malice,’ and increasing in severity: malevolence, ill will, malignity, spleen, and grudge.
MALICE implies a deep-seated often un-explainable desire to see another suffer.
MALEVOLENCE suggests a bitter persistent hatred that is likely to be expressed in malicious conduct.
SPLEEN suggests the wrathful release of latent spite or persistent malice.
GRUDGE implies a harbored feeling of resentment or ill will that seeks satisfaction.
The Bible speaks often about the downward path of malice. Paul advises to rid oneself of malice; see Eph. 4:31 and Col. 3:8. Peter, also, calls us as Christians to be holy (1 Peter 1:13-16) and to rid ourselves of malice (2:1).
The old maxim to “cut off the nose to spite the face” speaks well to the perils of spite. Harboring ill will, nursing a grudge, plotting revenge, all stem from anger that ulcerates the soul. We are in danger of cutting ourselves off from the body of Christ. Rather, as Jesus counseled, forgive others their sins (Mt. 6:15.) Turn the other cheek. (Mt. 5:38-41) Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Paul, to Timothy: 1 Tim. 5:15.
July 13, 2003

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com

Scripture: Tenth Commandment:, “You must not burn with desire for another man’s wife, nor envy him for his home, land, servants, oxen, donkeys, nor anything else he owns.“, Deuteronomy 5: 21, The Living Bible
I learned at a very early age that fruit is not good to eat during all stages of development. Especially apples. Little green apples literally turned me green!
It is interesting how we assign a color to many emotions, and to other objects as well. Something that is not fully mature is ‘green,’ as in most fruit. A ‘greenhorn’ is an inexperienced person. The moon is sometimes ‘blue’ - and happens only once in a while, or ‘once in a blue moon.’
If we are too cold, we may turn blue. We can also have the ‘blues’ when we are feeling depressed. A popular song a few years back concerned having “ A blue Christmas without you.”
Scared, we may turn white as a, well, a ghost. Really scared, and even the hairs on your head turn white - overnight! Now that’s scary!
Why is yellow for cowards? A cowardly person “has a yellow streak down their back.”
A black hearted individual is plainly evil.
Rage and anger are red, red hot! The planet Mars is known for its reddish color, and so had the name of the god of war slapped on it. I’ve never known Mars to declare war on anyone, but its color is prejudicial! Prejudice derives from actual colors, too, as in skin, hair, or eyes.
White is associated with heavenly beings in the Bible. Figures robed in white; intense, blinding lights signify the heavenly presence. Doves, the symbol of peace, are colored white. But let’s go back to green. . . . As in “green with envy.”
Was it envy that drove Cain to kill his brother, Abel? The word isn’t used there, but we find that Rachel envied her sister (Genesis 30:1.) Joseph’s brothers envied him, with the result that they sold him into slavery. Peter placed guile, hypocrisies, and envy together (1 Peter 2:1.)
Paul had many things to say about envy, including in his “Love” chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. “Charity (love) envieth not.”
Read Romans 1:18-32; the wrath of God is against all the godlessness and wickedness of men . . . who are “full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.”
1 Timothy 6:4, A teacher of false doctrines “has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind . . .”
Titus 3:3 , “We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.”
Proverbs: 3:31, “Do not envy a violent man, or choose any of his ways.”
14:30 “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”
27:4, “Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy (envy).”
We clearly need to pray that we do not fall prey to envy, because ‘envy’ associates with bad companions!
October 13, 2002

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Jesus said, “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” Mark 7:21-22 NIV

Oh wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion.
--Robert Burns

It is said that Scotch poet, Robert Burns, wrote about “seeing ourselves as others see us,” after watching a louse crawl up the back of a lady sitting in front of him in church. She was decked out in the latest fashion, including a large hat with a feather plume on it. Quite proud of her appearance, no doubt!
Puffed-up pride has been around as long as there have been people. Cain’s pride got him in trouble, and so on through history. Proverbs 16:18 notes that “pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
We need to have a certain amount of pride in ourselves, but of a humble sort, rather than haughty pride. A Greek axiom was “Know Thyself.” We need to be knowledgeable of our capabilities, but also our limitations. One of the most destructive traps is the pride that prevents us from admitting that we are wrong, or that we don’t know the answer. As “Bobbie” Burns observed, “It would from many a blunder free us, and foolish notion.”
One comedy routine went something like this:
1st: “Only fools are positive!”
2nd: “Are you sure of that?”
1st: “Positive!”
Daniel observed that King Nebuchadnezzar was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory because his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride. (Daniel 5:20)
Jesus included pride (arrogance) as one of the things that makes a man unclean. From within, out of men’s hearts, come evils that make a person ‘unclean’. (Mark 7:21-22)
1/07/2001