LIFE PRESERVERS

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.

The highway of the upright avoids evil; those who guard their ways preserve their lives.

In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls, but those who would preserve their life stay far from them.

Proverbs 13:3, 16:17, 22:5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

If you ever been to a swimming pool or a beach or went to sea on a ship or boat, you’ve seen them. Round rings made of flotation material meant to help save the life of someone in the water and in distress. Of course, we know them as life preservers.  

There’s no way to quantify just how many lives have been saved or lost by either having or not having life preservers but I do know one thing, if you’re spending anytime in or on the water, you should ensure one is handy as well as someone who knows how to use it if need be. Your life might very well depend on it.

Sometimes as we live life, we can feel like we are adrift and even sinking into the depths, drowning in the difficulties and challenges that life can bring. It’s during that time that we yearn for rescue, for someone to save and deliver us from our trying circumstances.

Thank goodness we have the word of God. For read it enough and you’ll see it is full of spiritual life preservers, consistently tossed our way by the Lord to help pull us out of the deep and get us back onto solid ground again, ground where He is waiting to lead and guide us to safety. Look at a few of these found in our proverbs for today:

1. Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin. 13:3

Watch your mouth! God’s message is clear here.

If we guard our lips and use discernment in the way we speak, then we’ll find our lives preserved. So where do we find our life preserver? As in all things, it is in the Lord for when we allow Him to provide the words to speak then we will ensure our words are free from sin and thus life sustaining.

2. The highway of the upright avoids evil; those who guard their ways preserve their lives. 16:17

Watch your ways! That’s what God is saying to us here. We need to be careful about where our actions take us. Live in a way that is void of God’s direction and you will travel on the highway of the wicked. Conversely, allow the Lord to help you and you will have a behavioral life preserver that will ensure you go through life on the highway of the upright, your life divinely guarded and preserved.

3. In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls, but those who would preserve their life stay far from them. 22:5

Watch out for trouble! This is the last warning in our trifecta of life preserving proverbs.

Walking through life minus the Lord’s help only leads you to walk in sin and wickedness, on a path wrought with traps and pitfalls that will harm and sometimes even destroy. You can navigate around all these troubles only when you have the Lord to show you the way, to help you walk around life’s potential minefield by leading you to walk in righteousness.

Friends, we should give thanks that we have a Creator God who loves and cares for us so much that He would always be ready to throw us a life preserver when we need it. The key here is seeking His help in everything we do, in every thought, every word, and every deed. For then and only then will we find ourselves thinking, speaking, and behaving as He wants us to, walking the path that brings us safe and abundant life.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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