Timothy, at not quite two, is a well mannered southern gentleman. When his mom asks him to do something, he says yes ma’am in his sweetest voice, usually without being prompted. His vocabulary is expanding rapidly and though I sometimes need to ask his mom to translate, he makes himself understood with more patience than you might expect from a toddler. His yes ma’am sounds a lot like yes man, but my hands down favorite is when we’re playing baseball and he’s at bat.
My daughter and her husband took the boys to their first baseball game this summer with a group of friends from their church. The opponents of their local franchise, the Crawdads, had a player named Peebles. Thomas latched onto the name and began recreating the game at home daily. He was Peebles and he dubbed Timothy Junior Peebles. Mom was Mrs. Peebles and dad, when he is home to play, is Mr. Peebles and sometimes Pepperoni. It’s great fun to watch but even more fun to play.
The first time I pitched to Timothy, aka Junior Peebles, he spun out a stream of syllables that sounded for all the world like a professional catcher calling from behind home plate. He seemed to want me to understand so I tried several iterations, searching for the correct words. Thankfully his mom heard me struggling and interceded. “Ok, Peebles is ready,” she called from the kitchen.
I remember when my firstborn started talking, quite early actually. He went everywhere with me and people constantly commented on how well spoken he was for his age. Some also scratched their heads and wondered aloud how I could understand him at all. It’s a special grace given to mothers by God that we are able to communicate with our children early. It comes from time spent constantly together, interacting, modeling, and teaching.
In our home, we still teach and model respect and southern hospitality. I don’t think it’s so very rare, although it may sound different depending on where you’re from. The first time I heard Timothy’s yes ma’am, I mistook it for yes man and I thought to myself that it might be nice to have your little one be so agreeable, but that’s not exactly what a yes man does. He may seem agreeable to your face but he is merely a flatterer, mocking you behind your back, ready to betray you at the first opportunity. That is definitely not what our Timothy was trying to say.
“A scoffer does not love one who reproves him.
He will not go to the wise.
He who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who listens to reproof acquires understanding.”
Proverbs 15:12, 32 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/pro.15.32.NASB1995
Use caution when you’re feeling particularly sure of yourself because the Bible teaches that pride comes before a fall, but false modesty is pride in disguise. (Proverb 16:18) You will almost always be able to find someone to back you up in nearly every situation. For every opinion, every argument, every decision, there is no shortage of yes men ready to jump on the bandwagon and help you set yourself up for a fall. There are no end to the viewpoints of temporal human beings but there is only one Truth. His name is Jesus.
“Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.”
John 14:6 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/jhn.14.6.GNT
We often read over this familiar passage, noting Jesus as the One way to reconciliation with God, but how often do we camp on His other attributes stated alongside? He is the Truth. Jesus is not a truth. There is no your truth or my truth. Jesus is God and He is absolute Truth. He has been Truth for all time and eternity because He has always existed and He never changes. John called Jesus the Word of God who was God and was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2) It may be difficult to wrap your finite mind around but that doesn’t make Him any less Truth. What we believe about Jesus, who He is and what He has done and is doing on our behalf marks us. Everything about how I see and interact with the world and the people around me is changed when I take hold of the Truth.
““You have also heard that people were told in the past, ‘Do not break your promise, but do what you have vowed to the Lord to do.’
But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise.
Do not swear by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by earth, for it is the resting place for his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Just say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’—anything else you say comes from the Evil One.”
Matthew 5:33-37 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/mat.5.37.GNT
We learn from Peter and from Job that our enemy, the devil, roams the earth looking for someone to devour. (I Peter 5:8, Job 1:7, 2:2) But scripture also reminds us that the Lord keeps watch over the whole world to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to Him. (II Chronicles 16:9) While we were utterly helpless, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6,8)
“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.
Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”
2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.5.15.NLT
“For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!”
And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”
2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.1.20.NLT
Jesus’s sacrificial death and resurrection makes it possible for everyone who believes in Him to inherit eternal life. Peebles, Junior Peebles, Mr. and Mrs. Peebles- like the family of the jailer who guarded Paul and Silas on the night their hymns to heaven brought an earthquake that loosed their chains, whose entire family believed in God and was saved- all who call on the name of Jesus, confessing their sins and turning to God in repentance will be saved. (Acts 16, I John 1:9) When I choose to deny the selfish me and to live fully surrendered, obedient to the One who is King of all kings and Lord of all lords, when I humble myself before Him in every situation, then my weakness becomes strength for the glory of His name.
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”
Psalms 1:1-6 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/psa.1.1-6.NASB1995
“Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.
They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?
From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.
No, he is being patient for your sake.
He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.
Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.
On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.
But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.
This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters.
Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture.
And this will result in their destruction.
You already know these things, dear friends.
So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.
Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
All glory to him, both now and forever!
Amen.”
2 Peter 3:3-4, 8-18 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2pe.3.3-18.NLT
The Potter (Nothing Is Wasted) ~Zach Williams https://youtu.be/yBb3S_zPPs4?si=NmmjJ5_Xrm53sqOT
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