Wise Guy

I am obsessed with board games, especially strategic ones. I am very very competitive when playing, but I do make an effort to not let my competitiveness get in the way of fun for myself and the people I am playing with. There is a game that my wife and I got for Christmas called "Settlers of Catan". If you know of this game or know how to play, please leave me a comment so we can talk about it together, because it became an instant favorite. In the game sometimes you have to make moves that might not get you anywhere at the time, but it will help you get things or allow you to go places later. I thought about this concept while reading about Solomon in the OT.

When Solomon took over, his father David had already bumped and setted the kingship for him, all Solomon had to do was come in for the spike. David conquered all the surrounding enemies, David gathered all of the building materials to build the temple for the Arc of the Covenent of God to reside in, all Solomon had to do was come in and build it.

Then God asked Solomon what He could give him. This is where Solomon made a good move that would set him for life if he maintained his commitment to God. Solomon asked for wisdom to govern God's people in the building of the temple. So God gave it to him, and he used his wisdom to govern the people, and then he used it for a lot more. Solly was working his strategy, but thats when he took it to far and ended up using his wisdom to benefit himself instead of benefiting God. He gained tons of gold and silver, he gained tons of women (700 wives & 300 concubines) many of which were from foreign lands who persuaded Solly to himself worship other gods and allow others to worship several other gods besides his father David's God. God was not happy.

God gives us so many blessings in our lives, some that we ask for and others he just gives us, but a lot of the times we end up taking what He gave us, and using it to get more for ourselves in our selfish ways just like Solomon. By turning away from God we turn our blessings into curses, and we could end up harming ourselves or others around us. Accountability brings consistent focus. Without someone to tell us we are messing up, we would probably keep messing up and not even know that we are messing up until it explodes in our faces.

Bottom Line - Give someone in your life permission to tell you when you are messing up in a loving way. And promise them that you won't get mad at them for telling you that you stink.