Wednesday, January 8, 2014

DO NOT (PART 9) – INVEST YOUR WORDS WISELY



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In Christ, Mark

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

Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words.

Proverbs 23:9         

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

NOTE: Will be at sea for the next two weeks and may be off the grid. If I can post, I will. If not, I will begin posting again as soon as I get to where I have connectivity.

What is the number one mission of all Christians?

Jesus gave it when He said the following:

“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 28:18-20

Note that Christ’s words are ones that call His followers to action. We are to not waste time in bringing the good news of the Gospel to the lost, to those who do not have a relationship with Jesus, the only One who can save them, the only One who can lead others to God the Father (John 14:6). There’s too much at stake to be at rest for the cause of Christ for He certainly never rested in carrying out the will of His Father during His short time on earth.

So what happens when in the course of trying to obediently fulfill the calling of Jesus, we encounter people who simply don’t want to hear what we are trying to tell them? In fact, often times these people will actually slight, ridicule, or deride us for simply sharing the Gospel. What should we do?

Well, let’s go back and look at some other words of instruction from Jesus to His disciples. In this excerpt, Jesus is preparing to send His disciples out two by two to carry the Gospel to others. Here’s what He told them:

Calling the Twelve to Him, He sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. These were His instructions:

“Take nothing for the journey except a staff-no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave as a testimony against them.”  Mark 6:7-11

The point Jesus was making was clear. We are to speak wisdom and truth to others about Him but if those we speak to do not want to listen then we are to move on. Those who hear the good news of Jesus have a choice to make. They either receive Him or reject Him. We have done our job by revealing Jesus to them.

Solomon had something similar to say when he wrote the following words in the tenth of the thirty “sayings of the wise”:

Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words. Proverbs 23:9

We have already seen through prior proverbs that a fool is simply one who chooses to reject wisdom and in doing so rejects the Lord who is the creator and instigator of all wisdom. Solomon’s point is simple and forms the “do not” statement in today’s devotion:

“Do not” waste time imparting wisdom to a fool.

In other words, don’t waste your words of wisdom on fools, those who wish to treat the Lord’s special guidance with disrespect, contempt, disdain, and disregard. We’re to invest our words wisely, efficiently and effectively managing our time to the greatest advantage toward furthering God’s kingdom here on earth.

One thing’s for sure. There’s a lot of work to do.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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