weighing mint, anise and cumin

 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:1-7

Hear this, all you peoples; hearken, all you who dwell in the world, you of high degree and low, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and my heart shall meditate on understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb and set forth my riddle upon the harp. Why should I be afraid in evil days, when the wickedness of those at my heels surrounds me, The wickedness of those who put their trust in their goods, and boast of their great riches? We can never ransom ourselves, or deliver to God the price of our life; For the ransom of our life is so great, that we should never have enough to pay it, Psalm 49:1-10

This is true equity: that none of us ever will ever have enough to ransom ourselves. It is through His provision, and His alone.

And wise dealing is framed by righteousness, justice and equity. And with gentle humility I am to live in the truth that my wealth and privilege and education and support system is not of my own doing, but are unmerited gifts distributed to be used for His glory and honor and service. 

LORD forgive us, the Church, for our wretched complacency and arrogance. And our faith will be known by our actions: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, mercy, temperance, faith. Against such there is no law.

And if any of us, for example, me, lacks wisdom, I should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to me.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

And my Environmental Science kiddos have started in on their last project. And one of the objectives is to demonstrate understanding of the scientific process and experimental design, of independent variables and controlled variables, of random selection of subjects, and of quantifiable results and data analysis. 

But now that we have considered the global environmental water issues and affordable energy needs of the United States, and natural resource extraction in Arizona, we have set our eyes and minds on our local community environment, Desert Christian High School. And how do we measure faith, as explored by the Freshman chapel on Wednesday? Are there any signs of actions based on beliefs? Of stored treasure and stewardship and honor among us? Do we fear God?

That is the question we will attempt to ask as an If/Then Statement and set out to measure. Not as a parsing and measuring Pharisee, but let us not be fools with bigger barns and surplus grains, rather let us seek wisdom and instruction. 

Because quite honestly, the Landlord is going to return and settle accounts. Do we really believe that it is all about that Well done, good and faithful servant? Is that what I long for?

And salt that has lost its savor is worthless. It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.