IT’S NOT HOW MUCH WE HAVE THAT MATTERS

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In Christ, Mark

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

Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.
The wicked accept bribes in secret to pervert the course of justice. 

Proverbs 13:11, 16:8, 17:23

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

NOTE: I am heading overseas today and then to sea for a few weeks. I hope to be able to post while away but if not, I will continue The Christian Walk when I return in early November. Blessings to all the readers of the word of the Lord that I share every day through this ministry.

I am taking my next to last class needed to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and have been learning all about sociological theory. It’s interesting that there was a lot of focus on the matter of capitalism by earlier sociologists like Karl Mark and Max Weber, perhaps because of the effects of money making on the collective psyche of the world’s people. There is no doubt that there was, and still is today, a strong drive to do whatever is needed to get rich, even if it means getting there illicitly.

Indeed, money can easily lead us astray as the quest for it distracts or even removes our desire to place our full attention on the only One who can truly make us rich, the One who shows us over and over again that it isn’t how much we have that matters. God’s word from the following Proverbs underscores this truth:

Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. Proverbs 13:11

Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. Proverbs 16:8

The word of the Lord is clear here. While the world may try and convince us that we should only be concerned with acquiring and accumulating as much wealth as possible, the Bible shares that it’s not how much we have that counts as much as the righteousness we display while living out our daily lives. In fact, if it means we end up with little because we earned what we have the right (or righteous) way then we are richer than even the wealthiest person who gained their riches dishonestly or unjustly. And as we continue to earn what we have the right way, little by little, then we can expect that the Lord can and will bless us and ensure that what little we do have grows.

Frankly, just knowing we are living in a way that is pleasing in His sight should be enough to richly bless us but there’s so much more for us to rejoice in. For as we shift our focus away from our pursuit of money to a pursuit of the Lord and His will and way, we find that we are far more satisfied and fulfilled by knowing that we are rich in Him: rich in His Spirit, rich through our obedience in Him, and rich in His love and mercy and grace.

In the end, if we allow the Lord to be the Lord of our life, we will see that it’s not how much we have that matters. Rather, it’s who we have our faith and trust in that really counts. Today and every day, make that the Lord God Almighty and you will never go wrong.

You can bank on it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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HELD FOR RANSOM

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In Christ, Mark

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

A person’s riches may ransom their life, but the poor cannot respond to threatening rebukes.

Proverbs 13:8

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

NOTE: I am heading overseas today and then to sea for a few weeks. I hope to be able to post while away but if not, I will continue The Christian Walk when I return in early November. Blessings to all the readers of the word of the Lord that I share every day through this ministry.

Have you ever been held at ransom by something? Most of us would say, “No.”

We think of ransoms as what kidnappers ask for after they have taken someone or something of value of another. And since most of us have never been in that situation, we can discount the word “ransom” as it applies to our lives.

But consider what the Bible has to say about ransoms. For when we do, I think we find a broader application of the word to consider. Look at the proverb for today from several translations:

A person’s riches may ransom their life, but the poor cannot respond to threatening rebukes. Proverbs 13:8 (NIV)

The ransom of a man’s life is his riches, but the poor does not hear rebuke. (NKJV)

Wealth is a ransom for a person’s life, but the poor get no threats. (NRSV)

The rich can pay a ransom for their lives, but the poor won’t even get threatened. (NLT)

The rich may have to pay a ransom, but the poor don’t have that problem. (CEV)

As we look at this passage broken out from other translations, we get a better understanding of what Solomon was getting at. For the world pushes us toward the pursuit of riches for the sake of becoming wealthy, and although on the surface, it might seem harmless, accumulated riches can place us in a position where we are vulnerable to those with criminal intent.

Think about how many kidnappings have occurred in the history of mankind, where someone takes a family member of someone who is affluent and then demands a ransom for their return. The prosperity one finds ends up being a blessing on one hand and a curse on the other.

Conversely, one who is poor doesn’t have the same issue. After all, they have nothing to start with so there’s really no incentive for anyone to threaten them and try to demand ransom.

This is what God’s word is saying from a material sense but let’s now look at the spiritual implications of Solomon’s proverb.

For think about what happens when one has an accumulation of wealth. Does it not sometimes hold the owner of it ransom, providing such a distraction that more time is spent on the making and managing of money than the making of saved souls in response to the Great Commission of Jesus? It’s little wonder why Jesus told us that we cannot serve two masters. We have to choose between God and money (Matthew 6:24).

The poor don’t have this problem. They have little except their faith and trust in Jesus but that’s more valuable than any amount of riches they could have. With no treasures on earth to distract them, they are able to focus on producing treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20).

God’s word doesn’t completely discourage people to have money. If God blesses us with it, then we are to be thankful, rejoicing and seeking His guidance to ensure we will be good stewards of what He has provided. But we need to watch how much we accumulate for there is a tipping point where we become potentially compromised, held hostage, and rendered powerless to carry out the will and way of God the Father.

The good news is that the Lord will always direct us to the proper and perfect limits of accumulation when we allow Him to be our Master and manage every aspect of our financial management. He and He alone will keep us from ever being in a position where we are held hostage.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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THE STENCH OF SHAME

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In Christ, Mark

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

The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked make themselves a stench and bring shame on themselves.

When wickedness comes, so does contempt, and with shame comes reproach.

Proverbs 13:5, 18:3

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

NOTE: I am heading overseas today and then to sea for a few weeks. I hope to be able to post while away but if not, I will continue The Christian Walk when I return in early November. Blessings to all the readers of the word of the Lord that I share every day through this ministry.

Think about some of the ways we connect the senses with life through our sayings:

“I found that hard to swallow” – referring to some difficulty one had to deal with that was particularly hard.

“I think you’re out of touch with reality” – not saying that a person can actually touch reality but just saying that they are not looking at a situation realistically.

“Something doesn’t smell right (or even taste right) about that” – Not that we smell or taste situations but we can sense when things don’t seem to be as they should be.

Yes, we use the senses a lot to talk about life. So does the Bible and today we’re going to look at just one sense used: the sense of smell. Look at our proverbs for today:

The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked make themselves a stench and bring shame on themselves. Proverbs 13:5

When wickedness comes, so does contempt, and with shame comes reproach. Proverbs 18:3

We know that sin is unacceptable and detestable to God. We have received that message over and over again in scriptures we have studied here in the Book of Proverbs.

God hates sin, plain and simple, and those who engage in it will be seen as contemptible and receive His reproach, rebuke, and judgment. People who reject God’s offer of righteousness, opting instead for wickedness, are nothing short of shameful but look at what else we learn about them.

They make themselves a stench.

I bet sinners don’t usually think about themselves this way but they should. That includes all of us as we all have sinned and fallen short of deserving God’s favor. That’s what makes His grace so very amazing.

But think about being a stench to God, that when He gets a whiff of you the smell is simply awful. No amount of deodorant can cover over our sins and the smell they bring. Only repentance and a turning back to obedience can bring us back to a place where we begin to smell right with God.

Go back to the Old Testament scriptures and you can see where God enjoyed the aroma from the offerings dedicated by His people, offerings which represented their repentance of sin and commitment to getting right with God. Here are a few excerpts:

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. Genesis 8:20-21

Burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord. Exodus 29:18

Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord. Leviticus 8:28

Yes, the Lord does like the aroma of His people trending toward righteousness and away from wickedness, those who choose to follow His will and way.

So the question is, “How do you smell to God?”

When He smells you is it a pleasant aroma or a stench of shameful sinfulness?

As Christians, we had better be that pleasing aroma for that is what we are called to be. As I close this devotion, look at these words of Paul to the church in Corinth:

Thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

As Christians, when we carry out the calling of Jesus, the One who is the way and the truth and the life, we spread His aroma everywhere because in our obedience to Him, we become a pleasing aroma to Him as well as among those who are being saved. In other words, the aroma of Christ is everywhere, blessing others with His beautiful fragrance while bringing eternal life to all who breathe it in.

It’s a beautiful vision but we need to make it more than that. We need to make it a reality, turning from stench-producing sin and instead becoming the aroma of Christ that saves sinners and furthers the Kingdom of heaven here on earth.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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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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A FRIEND CLOSER THAN A BROTHER

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In Christ, Mark

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

The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 12:26, 18:24

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

How do you choose your friends?

I’m not talking about social media and Facebook here but rather friends from a socially personal perspective. I think the answers to the question would probably vary.

Some people are so socially integrated that they consider any person they hit it off with as being a friend. They have no problem interacting and relating to others, giving second thought to carefully getting to know someone before getting close. A recent television advertisement underscored this kind of person when two men were cheering loudly for their team, exchanging fist bumps and even embracing when their team was winning. After one of the men left the scene, the other man’s spouse came, apparently having had to use the restroom, and asked, “Who was that?” Her husband simply responds, “I don’t know.” After a cutaway to promote the business, the ad flashes back to the scene where the man who had left returns, sees the other man’s wife and simply asks, “Who’s she?” It’s funny but often a true representation of how people interact in friendship sometimes without really knowing one another.

Well, not everyone is so liberal when it comes to their approach to friendship with others. For some people need a lot of time to warm up to someone enough to cross into the realm of friendship with them. These people are more guarded and may even set their standards for friendship so high that they have very few people they would even refer to as friends. People with this attitude toward friendship will prefer to label those they associate with as acquaintances rather than friends, reserving the latter word for the closest and deepest relations they have with other persons.

Then there are those who have trouble choosing the right friends. They definitely lack discernment and judgment in their selections, perhaps willing to forego sensibility for sinfulness, especially if they decide to hang around with friends who trend more toward wickedness than righteousness. For when someone sides with those who live for sin, they will end up falling into that same sinfulness and suffer the subsequent consequences for that.

Finally, there are fair weather friends. Maybe you have had a few. Perhaps you have even made the mistake of being one. These kinds of friends will be there for you until really need them. Then they won’t be able to be found. They are unreliable and often times are only a friend because they want something from you.

Yes, there are all kinds of friends out there and any number of methods for choosing them. Looking at our proverbs for today, we find the word of God speaking about that every matter:

The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. Proverbs 12:26

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

Going back to the question about how we choose friends, the right answer, the Biblical answer, is right there in the first proverb. We are to choose carefully, falling back on our righteousness to do so. We’re not to make quick decisions when it comes to who we befriend. No, we’re to proceed with caution, allowing the Lord to reveal to us whether a person is suited to be our friend or not. For when we rely on righteousness, then we rely on the only One who will perfectly guide us in the right ways which include choosing who our friends are. The Lord will never lead us wrong but the wicked will always lead us astray or prove to be unreliable and only leave us in ruin. There’s a lot at stake and this is why we had better choose our friends wisely.

This might be enough for our word from the Lord today but there’s one more critical point to me made about choosing friends. And I wouldn’t even call it a point but more of a proposition.

For what if you could have a friend who would always be guaranteed to be there for you and always love you, a friend who would always be available to listen and talk to, a friend who would never abandon you or lead you astray? What if you could have a friend that would stick closer to you than a brother or sister or any other person who you consider family?

Wouldn’t you want a friend like that?

I know I would and I know I do have such a friend.

His name is Jesus.

Look at His words from the Gospel of John:

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. John 15:12-17

Believe, trust and follow Jesus. Obey His commands. Love one another as He has loved and you will be considered a friend by Jesus, the One who God the Father placed in authority over all creation, the only One who is the way and the truth and the life, the only One who can open the way to living with God forever (John 14:6).

Jesus laid down His life for each of us. There is no greater love that someone can have for another than that. And this Savior, God’s only Son sent to save us, longs to be our friend, a friend who will stick by us closer and more faithfully than anyone else.

Looking for a friend? Choose Jesus. For there is no better friend you will ever have, a friend who will be with you forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com