More Than a Hobby, David Green

More Than a Hobby by David Green

Just last year, I actually walked into Hobby Lobby for the first time. There's a store in Nampa, Idaho, about 2 hours from where I live. I am an artist, but I also like putting together funky earrings so I am always looking for fun beads and charms to use. I usually go to Michaels, but they jacked up their prices incredibly high I couldn't afford to shop there anymore. So I decided to try Hobby Lobby and their prices were amazing and I was hooked! 

Not long ago I found this book at a thrift store and because it combines two of my passions, arts and crafts, and entrepreneurial leadership, I thought, well, this should be good. 

This book is written by David Green, the founder of Hobby Lobby. It is part autobiography, but moreso tells about how he runs his business and why, and how that has worked for him, and he also talks about some of the things he has tried that haven't worked, because after all, failure is a way to learn and eventually succeed if you learn from it.

 

Colossians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 Two passages stuck out to me in this little epistle written by Paul, one in chapter 2. Starting at verse 8, "Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of this world, and not based on Christ."

There were so many other religious and philosophical ideas and teachings at that time, as there are today, that people not versed in God's word (back then the Old Testament and the accounts of the apostles including Paul) that they were mixing theology together and losing the Gospel of Christ. On one hand you had those mixing in paganism, then on the other hand you had Jews insisiting  obeying every letter of the Torah, including the 600 some extra laws that the Pharisees put on top of that, with the idea that their salvation was based partly on Jesus, and mostly obeying all these laws. Both were making salvation into something other than what it should have been.

We need to be careful to understand God's word, including the law and His covenant with Israel, but not forget that it is by grace that we are saved, not by our works or our ability to follow the law to the letter. However, knowing the law and the entirety of God's word will help keep us from falling for false teachings. Some sound very good, but put against the standard of God's word, they don't line up.

The other passage was starting at 3: 5 "Therefore put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, God's wrath comes on the disobedient, and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self."

This is a good reminder of things which current society is normalizing, should be things that we have nothing to do with. It's a good reminder to check ourselves, and see if we are allowing these things to enter our minds and lives. Are we participating in these actions? Time to remove them and step it up.

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Ezra. Holman Christian Standard Bible

 The book of Ezra in the Old Testament occurs during Israel's exile and involves the rebuilding of the Temple. 

One thing that caught my attention in this book is the last two chapters, it talks about the people of Israel intermarrying with the pagan people of the surrounding countries. When this matter was brought up, the people of Israel repented and it was decided that they would send away their pagan wives and the children they had with them.

In our own culture, this seems harsh. And maybe it was in their culture as well. The point I took from it is this: God made a covenant with the nation of Israel to remain separate, including racially separate from those around them. Not as a matter of racial supremacy, but because God wanted them to be defined as His chosen people, chosen to bring salvation to the world. There were exceptions made in His law, but the non-Israelites intermarrying had to completely forsake their gods, religion, and culture and follow the law of the covenant to be accepted.  In this case, that is not what was happening. The pagan wives were drawing their husbands away from God into idolatry. The end result, I am sure was messy and devastating, as I am sure in some way they must have loved their wives and children. 

Sometimes hard choices have to be made when it comes to obedience to God. Sometimes we may do something that we know is outside of God's will and will never be accepted in God's eyes. Sometimes we embrace those relationships, those choices, and paths, until it becomes intertwined with us and it just seems normal. But it isn't and if we want to be right with God, we have to align ourselves with God's word and his will, and have to let it go. It gets messy, and it's painful, but then God can begin healing us, and redeeming the situation.

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Philippians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 The book of Philippians, written by the Apostle Paul, to the church in Philippi. Chapter 3 beginning verse7:

But everything that was a gain to meI have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of  the surpassing value  of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ---the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Paul, being a Pharisee of the Pharisees, expert knowledge of the Torah, of the Law, followed it to the letter, but following the law did not save him. He came to understand, through Divine revelation, that it was the Messiah Jesus who brought salvation. Following every detail of the law could never save him, could never make him truly righteous. Salvation comes by grace through faith, not of works, ever.

Ephesians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 Chapter 2:4-9 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!...You are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift---not from works, so that no one can boast. "

The Apostle Paul emphasizes through his epistles that salvation is through grace. It is a gift of God through Christ Jesus. Our works cannot ever save us, even if we obey the letter of the law, it isn't enough to save us, only trusting in what Jesus did, trusting that He is the way to salvation. Jesus is the ONLY way to eternal life.

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Galatians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 The book of Galatians is a smaller epistle written by Paul. What stuck out to me in this book is the explanation that following the law and traditions of Judaism will not save us, only Christ, the fulfillment of the law, can save us. 

There were many factions with differing beliefs, and one of them was that what Jesus did was good, but still was not enough to save us from eternal damnation, that following the letter of the law AND believing in Jesus was the only way to salvation. Gentiles were getting circumcised because they thought they had to be circumcised as part of salvation. People were losing sight that Jesus made the way for salvation, and although good works and living uprightly was great, our works do not, nor can they ever save us. 

Works are a fruit; they show whether we have Life, or not. They are not the Life itself.

Chapter 5 verse 13-18 ( I suggest you read the whole book for proper context): For you were called to be free, brothers,; only don't use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. 

I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don't do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. "

The chapter goes on to give a generalized list of behaviors that will not inherit the Kingdom of God, and then a list of the fruit of the Spirit. Worth reading.

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2 Chronicles, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 2 Chronicles is a continuation of 1 Chronicles, a history of Israel and Judah and the reign of kings. Again, there is the theme throughout this book: those kings who turned away from God and turned toward evil and idolatry, were brought down. Those who turned to God and followed him and did away with idolatry, God blessed them and blessed the land and the people, and protected them. These books show how God's covenant with Israel worked, and still works. If Israel will be his people, and follow him and his commandments, and not turn to wickedness and idolatry, he will bless them.

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2 Corinthians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 2 Corinthians, a letter written to the church at Corinth by the Apostle Paul.  This passage stuck out to me about repentance, chapter 7: "9 Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn't experience any loss from us. For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death."

There is a difference  between repentance and regret. We can be sorry we did something, or sorry that something happened, without actually turning away from it, without acknowledging it was wrong. Take for example if a kid gets caught stealing a toy or piece of candy. He can be sorry he got caught....he knows it's wrong but is only sorry that someone caught him in the act, and he will probably do it again, only sneakier. Or he can be the kid that realizes that it's wrong and he had no right to take what was not his, and apologize and never do it again. Only one is true repentance. 

Our acts and decisions we make, many times we regret them, or regret the outcome. But do we repent? Do we turn away from the sin, the poor choices, and follow God? Do we think twice before acting or reacting? Do we run our decisions and desires past what we know to be God's will for us? It's always best to choose repentance and growth over regret and making the same poor choices.

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1 Corinthians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 There is so much packed into this epistle written by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Church. There are many sermons that have been preached out of here, on love, spiritual gifts, roles of men and women in marriage and the church, doing things that might cause weaker believers to stumble. There is a long discussion about eating food offered to idols, and I think a lot of the meaning of that is lost on modern-day Christians. I think there was more to it than just eating food that was set before idols, then given to others to eat, but I am going to have to research it. We know that in many Greco-Roman temples, not only were there animal sacrifices, but also sexual offerings as well, and demonic activity. But like I said, I think this needs some in depth study before I comment any more on it.

I am going to share one little part of this book from chapter 10, verses 6-13. In context, Paul is speaking about the Israelites during the time of Moses in Exodus, how they constantly turned back to idolatry and sinful acts, and is applying it to believers: 

"Now these things became examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did. Don't become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.' Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day 23,000 people fell dead. Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes. Nor should we complain as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it. "

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Romans, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 Ah, the book of Romans, written by the Apostle Paul, to the Christians in Rome. There is so much good stuff in this book I don't think one can retain it all in one time through it. In the first chapter, Paul tells us that the depravity in the world comes from seeing evidence of God in this world and rejecting him, causing hearts to be hardened, thinking becomes nonsense, and their senseless minds become darkened. Claiming to be wise, they become fools, exchanging God's glory for cheap counterfeits.  And it is for this reason that God turned them over to depraved minds including homosexuality, envy, murder, pride, boasting, inventing evil, parental disobedience, undiscerning minds, untrustworthy behavior, being unloving and unmerciful (paraphrased). Paul lays it all out from the get go and he's pretty blunt. He was speaking to the early church in Rome, a center for immoral behavior, and I am sure that many new converts came from that culture where immorality was just an acceptable part of daily life. He had to make sure they understood that this was not acceptable, especially as followers of Christ. He then proceeds to make sure they know that ALL have sinned and need Christ, from the decadent Roman citizen to the Pharisee in the synagogue, and that true righteousness comes through faith in Christ.

I will probably hit other areas of Romans the next time I read it, I just wanted to share this opening part of it. Note that nowhere does it say that because Jesus loves them, that sinners can stay in their sinful lifestyles and still be part of the body of Christ. We all must turn away from our sin  and not pick it up again. We can't turn away from it if we don't recognize it as sin. And we can't do that without God showing it to us.

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