POLICED

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In Christ, Mark

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

Their malice may be concealed by deception, but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them.

Proverbs 26:26-27   

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

We’re all sinners. We should all know that. We should also know that we’re not living in a world where we are not kept in check by authorities when we choose to do wrong.

There’s little doubt we are policed in life. Drive too fast or recklessly on the highways, violating traffic laws and you can expect to be stopped and cited by law enforcement officers. Cause a disturbance in a public venue and you can expect security personnel to be summoned to escort you out or even take you into custody over your illicit behavior. Initiate illegal actions over the internet and you can be detected and prosecuted by cyber-detectives as the World Wide Web has become a hotbed for dishonesty and deceit (reference the propensity of hacking occurring these days).

I could go on and on but you get the point. We can try to do wrong but we need to keep in mind that we are always policed and held accountable for our actions in ways that are intended to ensure we don’t want to err again.

Now you might say, “Mark, how are we ALWAYS policed because no one I know is always watching everything I do?” My response to that question would be that you don’t feel like you are always policed because you DON’T know the One who is policing you always. And of course, I am talking about the Lord God Almighty, our Maker and Judge.

We never get away with anything in life because He is always policing us. He watches over us to protect us and He watches over us to correct us when we stray from being the people He wants us to be, when we choose sin and wickedness over righteousness and holiness. That correction could come in any variety of consequences and as we look at the words of Solomon in today’s scriptures, we see that we never get away with anything and will pay the price for our sinful actions. Look again at these two verses:

Their malice may be concealed by deception, but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. Proverbs 26:26

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them. Proverbs 26:27

Do something unlawful and then try to hide your transgression and you will find it eventually exposed and disclosed to others. What’s done in the dark will be brought to light or as Jesus put it, “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open” (Luke 8:17). We need to keep this in mind not only as we consider the things that we do but also the things that others might do to us. Whatever is done in secret that is sinful will be brought out in the open.

The Lord also speaks to us through Solomon to warn us that we will fall into our own traps when we attempt to do harm to others. Dig a pit for someone to fall into and you’ll find yourself falling into it. Try and roll a stone to injure another and you’ll find that stone rolling back upon you.

Now you might say, “I’m never going to dig a pit or roll a stone. These words don’t apply to me.” But the word of God here is speaking about more than just the literal interpretation of these words. Many people try to set a trap for others to fall into or set actions in motion intended to wound another. There are more than enough schemes hatched that are similar in principle to digging a pit or rolling a stone and have the deliberate intent to hurt someone. The proverb simply is saying that you will fall into your own trap if you try it, the one who ends up hurt by it in the end.

Friends, we would be better off not even allowing sin to take us to the place where we try to do badly unto someone. For we are always policed by a Lord who sees our most innermost thoughts and knows our intentions before we even place them into action. No authority on earth is as powerful or as just as our Lord and no authority here on earth can unleash the kind of wrath and penalty He can on sin.

That thought alone should keep us in check. My prayer is that it does for you today and always.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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MISUSING PARTS

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In Christ, Mark

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

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.

Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart.

Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit. Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts.

A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.

Proverbs 26:22-25, 28   

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

Sit back for a moment and consider the human body. Think about all the intricacies of each part, those in plain sight of others and those concealed within. Each has a unique purpose and we find parts working in complete synchronicity and concert with one another to allow us to live and function within our lives. It’s simply amazing to ponder and serves to remind us of the great mastery of our Creator God who fashioned us with His own hands.

Those divine hands made us for a distinct purpose: to serve Him and one another. Our legs and feet allow us to travel where He wants us to go. Our arms and hands are used to labor and carry out His will and way. Our ears allow us to listen and hear His still small voice as He guides us to live as He wants us to live. They also allow us to listen to those who need someone to talk to, someone who is looking for companionship, comfort, and encouragement. That comfort and encouragement can often come from the words we speak from the mouth, lips, and tongue that God gave each of us. There is such power in the spoken word, power to bless and inspire, power to uplift and motivate, power to soothe and reassure.

I could go on and on but you get the point. We were made by an amazing God to accomplish amazing things through an amazing body that has so much potential to do good if we use all our parts the right way. But keep this in mind as well, for if we misuse our parts and allow them to partner in sinful behavior, we can take something God designed for good and allow Satan to use it for bad.

Point in case of this fact comes in Solomon’s proverbs for today from Chapter 26. Let’s look at some of the ways we can misuse our bodies in support of wickedness instead of righteousness:

1. The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts. Proverbs 26:22

We all have foods we like to eat. As we consume the food, we savor the taste of the choice morsels in our mouths before we swallow it and allow our digestive system to break it down and provide us nourishment and energy. If we eat the right things, we stay healthy and able to do the Lord’s bidding.

Solomon uses this analogy to show us what can happen when we allow sin to seduce us and pollute us from the inside out. Note here that the choice morsels are really transgressive words of gossip, words that have no intent to edify but rather tear down someone and their reputation. These words are juicy and tempting and if we allow ourselves to partake of them, they will go down into our innermost parts and corrupt us, sometimes to the place where we start using our own parts to spread rumors and gossip to others. When my girls were growing up, I used to warn them about what they allowed to be acceptable to them, particularly regarding the movies or shows they watched and the music they listened to. What you allow to enter the eyes and ears can either help you or harm you spiritually. In the end translation, you are what you eat, an analogy that simply means that whatever you allow to be acceptable to you will become a part of who you are.

Satan is working overtime to take us as far away from being who God created us to be as possible. Know and trust in this. But also remember that God is greater than Satan and will always have the victory when we turn to Him and receive His power to resist sin and temptation.

2. Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit. Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts. Proverbs 26:23-25

In biblical days, dross was used to put a nice gloss on dull pottery. One would not know what was underneath the gloss once applied, such was the deceptive nature of the covering.

Solomon uses this example to warn us that passionate, fervent lips don’t necessarily indicate that a person has a fervent, passionate heart. Rather, the lips can serve as a deception to hide and mask evil within.

Want an example?

Consider this one:

While He was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” Luke 22:47-48

A kiss was meant to be an act of love between two people. In fact, in many of the Apostle Paul’s epistles, he would exhort believers to greet one another with a holy kiss.

Judas’s kiss was anything but holy. His lips were concealing just how evil his heart was as he finally showed everyone that he was an enemy of Jesus who was willing to betray His master and Messiah for thirty pieces of silver. The saddest part of it all was that Jesus knew he was going to do it as He and He alone could see into the heart of Judas behind the mask of his fervent lips.

What does the Lord see when He looks inside you? Does He see goodness or abomination? Do your lips conceal an evil heart within you?

3. A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin. Proverbs 26:28

Our final proverb regarding misuse of the parts of our body that God intended for good centers on the tongue and mouth.

God is love and we are to be love as well as we deal with others. He is also truth and expects us to be truthful in our dealings with others. When we love and live in truth, then we become ever more as He made us, in His own image.

But again, Satan wants to draw us into his evil trappings and we too often oblige, turning from love and truth toward hatred and deceit. Truth gives ways to lies, whether we are flat out fabricating our words to mislead or patronizing someone with words we really don’t mean in our hearts. You know the kind of people I’m talking about because we all have done this, either lying about something or flattering someone when we really don’t mean it. A mouth and tongue designed to support and speak words of legitimacy only spew out words of sin-charged wickedness.

Maybe, just maybe, we would be better off allowing the Lord to give us the words to speak, to place His love in our hearts, to guide the very parts of our body that He planned and constructed. If we have any hope of becoming the people He created us to be, we have to allow Him to orchestrate and dictate the way we use all the parts He has given us for the goodness He intended them to be used for.

Our world will be a much better place because we will be much better people within it if only we would allow that to happen.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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STARTING SOMETHING

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

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

Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own.

Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death is one who deceives their neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”

Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down.

As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.

Proverbs 26:17-21   

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

Are you into logical sequences?

We use them all the time, you know.

Now I’m not saying we are all charter members of the Sherlock Holmes Mystery Solvers Club but we have all been given the ability to deduce, to figure out things using a sense of logic, reason, and good old common sense.

Given this, I present to you a logical sequence regarding our potential as human beings. It goes and flows something like this:

God creates all men and women. With this all men and women have His goodness within them. All men and women descend from the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, who were created perfectly good but chose to disobey God in the garden and corrupted their perfection with sin. Thus all men and women conceived and created afterwards became afflicted with sin. With this, all men and women are sinners and do wrong in the sight of their creator God in His sight while living on the earth He created and placed them on. Therefore, all men and women have the potential to do good or evil.

It’s true, isn’t it?

Even the best person you know can do something wrong that leaves us surprised when we shouldn’t be. We are a flawed and broken people living amongst one another in a world of brokenness. And in the midst of all this is a God who seeks to correct our problem and place our sin afflictions into remission as He guides us to righteousness and away from wickedness. Our world could be a better place if everyone would simply just believe in God and Jesus, His Son, who walked this earth like us to show us the right way to live before saving us through His willingness to die on the cross and pay the price for the our sins. Jesus, who had no sin within Him, chose to become sin, serving as a living sacrifice to reconcile all mankind with God before rising in power and glory and majesty to be with His Father in heaven. In Jesus, we have life and hope now and forevermore. All we have to do is place our faith and trust fully in Him and the God who sent Him out of His love for us (John 3:16).

Unfortunately, the reality is that an ever growing majority of the world is choosing to live their lives void of the Creator and Savior, choosing to allow sin to abide in equal measure to their goodness or even exceeding it.

When we live in this way, willingly apart from God then we can become people of discord and strife, components of our brokenness and sinfulness. In deciding to turn our backs on the Prince of peace, the One who would lead us to a sense of love and peace with one another, we instead find the evil one Satan influencing our behavior and nothing good ever comes from that.

What forms of dissension can Satan create through us? We need only look at our proverbs for today to see how we are often led to start something in our dealings with others. Let’s review our verses one by one and see what God’s word is saying to us on this matter:

1. Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own. Proverbs 26:17

There really never a reason to grab a stray dog anywhere except to maybe love them and give them a home. To grab any dog by the ears would provoke them to defend themselves and produce a bark or even a bite. In other words, involving yourself with something or someone when you have no business doing it, can produce issues that never had to happen. Many people have decided to jump into a dispute even though they were never originally included in it only to find themselves caught up in the melee and often injured in the process. They started something by getting involved with something that wasn’t their matter to get involved in.

2. Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death is one who deceives their neighbor and says, “I was only joking!” Proverbs 26:18-19

In our sinfulness, we can act maliciously and deviously sometimes often with terrible consequence that was unintended. Often that malicious, devious behavior involves deception and dishonesty. In this proverb, Solomon asserts that engaging in this kind of behavior against our neighbor is akin to a maniac firing flaming arrows of death. In other words, when a flaming arrow of death finds its target, it’s going to do its damage and that damage is irreparable just as the damage done to your neighbor when they find out about your trickery. Nothing the perpetrator can say will heal what they started when they chose to sin against their neighbor.

3. As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife. Proverbs 26:21

Some people just like to start arguments. I can’t explain why except they revel in creating strife in their relationships with others. They love to place some charcoal on the embers of any brewing disagreement to start a fire of dispute and as soon as the argument breaks out, they are rarely ready to stop it at anytime, choosing rather to throw another piece of wood or two on the fire to sustain its burning and keep the quarrel going.

You’ve seen this, right? I know I have and even in my own family to the point where I wonder when it’s ever going to just stop. When will someone choose to stop fueling the fire of disagreement? This question leads us to the final proverb in today’s devotion. Let’s look at it now.

4. Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down. Proverbs 26:20

Start a rumor and you start a fire raging against someone. Enter into a rumor mill already started and you will only fan the flames of the fire someone else started. Refuse to do either and you can either keep the fire from starting at all or put the fire out altogether just as a fire will go out without wood to keep it going.

In this, we see that we have a choice when it comes to the way we relate to one another. We can choose to start dissension or we can choose to promote peace and love. The first only continues to break what is already broken. The latter begins to heal our brokenness and lead us on the path of resolution and reconciliation and harmony.

We all have the potential to be good or evil. My prayer is that you will allow the Lord to always guide you in the ways of goodness and righteousness so that everything you start will be edifying and a blessing to those you associate with.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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USELESS

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

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

A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!”

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.

A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.

A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly.

Proverbs 26:13-16    

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

I’ll start this devotion with a statement I believe is spiritually true.

A believer who is lazy is useless when it comes to being the kind of servant the Lord expects him or her to be.

Don’t believe it? Then consider the following two questions:

1. Don’t the Lord’s commands call us into action?

The answer is an absolute yes! There are many examples but just look at the final task that Jesus gave His disciples (and all of us) before ascending to sit at the Father’s right hand:

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19-20

Go. Make. Baptize. Teach.

All calls to action. All calls to be useful in a way that will help others enter into their own relationship with Christ, a relationship that will call them out of inactivity and into employment.

2. Don’t the scriptures speak badly about those who are lazy?

Again, the answer is an absolute yes! Just looking at today’s proverbs, we see that God’s word does not support those who choose lethargy over motivation. Look at these verses from Proverbs, Chapter 26:

A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!” Proverbs 26:13

One of the axioms of leadership we used in my naval service was “Results, not excuses.” I believe this is the Lord’s desire for all those He has called to His purposes. A lazy person, referred to here as a sluggard, will find any excuse to not go out to do something. In the instance of the proverb, it is the assertion that there is a lion roaming about making it too dangerous to go out. The sluggard in this instance and any other instance where they come up with a different excuse to try and validate their laziness is simply useless to the Lord for anything.

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. Proverbs 26:14

Think about a door. It never moves from the doorpost from which it is hinged. All it does is simply swing in and swing out, nothing more and nothing less. This is what a sluggard is compared to, so lazy that they don’t move from the bed they are seemingly hinged to. Rather, all they do is turn over one way and then back the other, nothing more and nothing less. You can’t get more useless than this commitment to slothfulness.

A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. Proverbs 26:15

The illustration here is that a sluggard can start a task but cannot finish it, even something simple as eating. Such is the sad state of their lazy condition. The Lord is not interested in people not committed to see a calling through to completion. This is just one more reason a sluggard is useless to the Lord when it comes to accomplishing His purposes.

A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly. Proverbs 26:16

  

Perhaps this is the biggest issue with someone who is lazy. They live a lie by thinking they are the smart ones. After all, they are able to live and breathe and eat and sleep with little or no effort expended. While others are out working and working and working, a sluggard can just sit around and do what they want to do, which is usually nothing. After all, that’s what makes them a useless sluggard in the first place and distances them from useful people who are discreet and prudent in the Lord’s sight.

Friends, it’s time we looked ourselves in the mirror and asked whether or not we are as proactive as we need to be for the Lord. For we are called to be useful, called to action in order to accomplish the His will and way. Anything other than that is unacceptable for the Lord will not stand for any of His followers to disrespect His call, rejecting useful initiative for the useless life of a sluggard.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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