To tell or Not

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

TO TELL OR NOT

Prov 17:9

9 He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.

NIV

There is much to be said about keeping the confidence of a close friend, a fellow believer. Is there any of us who has never committed an offense? How would we feel if our closest and dearest friend posted our offense on Facebook? There was an old saying which might be more truthful than we want it to be. “If you want to spread the news, use a telegraph, telephone or tell a Christian”. This saying certainly seems to speak directly to gossip. The problem with sharing an offense is it usually gets back to the one who committed the offense and then the friendship is in ruins. Once trust is broken, although it is not impossible, it is difficult to mend. We must be careful not to break that trust in the first place. If we could be only realize we are not offense free and thus who are we to be sharing what someone did. Gossip only makes, for a short time, the spreader of it feel better about themselves than they should. There is no reason other than self-promotion to repeat a matter. We need to promote love not separation. We need to hold close those who are friends. If someone is neither part of the problem nor part of the solution, do they really need to know about it? We should be very careful not to share a friend’s offense as a prayer request either. That is just trying to sugarcoat gossip. An open mind and a closed mouth make great friends, but a closed mind and open mouth destroy friends. 

The Charm

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE CHARM

Prov 17:8

8 A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it; wherever he turns, he succeeds.

NIV

This saying shows us the power wealth has over an individual. Those who have this charm, this precious stone, as the original language implies, place a great deal of value on their wealth. They see it as not only providing the creature comforts of life, but it offers them power, to do whatever they desire. They believe they can do anything with it. They think because of their money others should be at their beck and call, even justice should give way to them.  Whatever way the turn, they have this precious stone, this sparkling diamond and they expect it should dazzle the eyes of all, and make them do just what they would have them do, in hopes of having it for themselves. This saying also shows us the influence money has over people. Those who have money in their eye, those who desire wealth, have their hearts set upon having it, lust after it, will do anything for it. This unhealthy desire for money will cause people to go and do things that may be against the very principles of a holy and Godly life. We need to be very aware of what we place value on, for what we value; whatever is our charm, our precious stone, our treasure, there also is our heart. If our charm is Jesus then surely wherever we turn in the truth of God, we will succeed. If our charm is money, the things of this earth, then we face trouble ahead. Perhaps not in this life, but surely afterwards, although allowing our hearts to desire this charm can cause a great deal of trouble here as well. Let us set our hearts on things above. 

Eloquence or lies

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

ELOQUENCE OR LIES

Prov 17:7

7 Arrogant lips are unsuited to a fool — how much worse lying lips to a ruler!

NIV’

Perhaps arrogant isn’t the best choice as other translations along with the original carry more of a sense of excellent words spoken, or eloquent words are simply not suitable for a fool to speak. It is unlikely that a fool would say anything that was considered worthy of eloquence, but what is eloquence? We should not dare to judge someone to be a fool based on his inability to speak in an eloquent manner, yet those who God considers as fools are the ones who refuse to accept Jesus Christ. So perhaps if one is not speaking about the things of God, no matter what they are speaking about it is not eloquent. The rest of this saying is certainly a condemnation on those who would be considered rulers. Those who, in our country, we elect to lead us, to be in positions of leadership in the government, are surely guilty of having lying lips. Every day we are exposed to another lie by most of those in office. Certainly they will receive their just reward in the end. But we should also consider that many of us rule in some sense. We who are the head of our family are responsible to God for them and therefore are given authority over them. Since we have authority we could be consider a ruler and therefore should be careful not to fall into the traps of lies. It is far better the keep our lips from lies and speak eloquent words.

Crown and Pride

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

CROWN AND PRIDE

Prov 17:6

6 Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

NIV

It is a great joy to see the children of children, to be great-grandparents certainly does well as a crown in our oldest years. But this truth runs much deeper than simply being grandparents. There is a family relationship shown here that should exist within all the families of God. Whoever is the family patriarch and matriarch bear a great burden of leading their families in the ways of the Lord. They should be respected by those descendants, both living and the ones born after they are gone. There should be such a heritage left by them, one like Abraham left for his descendants, one of following God, trusting God, obeying God, no matter the cost. We aged should hope that our children and their children can say of us, “There was a person after God’s own heart”, as God said about David. Our descendants should be pride to claim they are ours, speaking well of us after we have left this earth for paradise. There is a receptacle relationship that must exist in the families who follow the ways of God. A sense of pride in each other, a respect for each other, a love for each other that goes beyond self. What a joy to watch children and their children grow into a child of God. But there can be pain along the way if the children tend to stray. It can be painful to watch them endeavor to travel their own path, and not respect the views of their parents or grand-parents. Yet love must always prevail. It is our hope and our prayers they will return to the fold of God, if they have strayed. Still they are our crown, and we are their pride. 

The Poor

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE POOR

Prov 17:5

5 He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

NIV

Certainly we believers would never mock a poor person, we would speak in such a manner as to deride them or for that matter gloat when disaster strikes upon a group or a single person. So why are we admonished not to do this? Is it possible we could be guilty and unaware of our offense? It does seem that in our country those who are in power, those who we call politicians might be guilty of this type of offence. By their self-servicing help of the poor it is a form of mocking, a form of gloating over the disaster which befalls people. But what of believers, those of us who read and contemplate the scriptures? How would we mock, as imitating a foreigner, to speak unintelligibly? Could we, by putting on the poor mouth, be mocking those who are truly poor? Could we, when seeing someone who has far more than us, having a bit of envy, thinking how little we have in comparison, be in some way mocking those who are really poor? What about the spiritual aspect of wealth and poor?  There is no greater wealth then to be co-heirs with Jesus. But do we speak against in any way about those who choose to not believe? Do we mock or show contempt toward those poor souls who are bound for disaster? Jesus said that we would always have the poor among us, that we can help them anything we want. Now in context he was speaking to his disciples and that they would not always have him in the flesh to be with them, but of course Jesus is always with us, even to the end. But the fact is we will always have to poor, the truly poor, but the poor in material goods and the poor in spiritual blessings. We should know we are not poor, and we such not in any way speak ill of those who have nothing materially, but especially of those who do not have Jesus, the truly poor.

He Who Has an Ear

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

HE WHO HAS AN EAR

Prov 17:4

4 A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue.

NIV

There certainly are a lot of voices out there that are doing their best to entice us to do things which are not pleasing to God. Surely in our society today we are bombarded with various voice of s sensual nature, the movies, the television, magazines, billboards, even catalogs mailed to us, everywhere we turn it is there. But we also are bombarded in a far more subtle way in other areas which are just as evil for us to listen to. The world would speak with evil lips that we need to trust in our own abilities, rather than God. There are those who would speak those evil words about storing up wealth for our own pleasures of life, rather than doing what God desires of us. There are lips which speak gossip which we should tell to be quite rather than listen with tingling ears. The temptations are only temptations if we are interested in all in them. At the core of all temptations is lust, not just in the sensual sense but in every aspect of our lives, lust for thing, lust for money, and lust for fame, to be somebody special, to be lifted up, to be thought of as a scholar, or a learned person in the scriptures, to have a fancy title. The list of things we can lust for is extensive and they all come from evil lips, and are of a malicious tongue, the tongue of Satan. We should be listening only to the lips of the Holy Spirit, and pay absolutely no attention to the voice of the evil one. Yet he continues to whisper in our ears those things which would lead us in the wrong direction away from God. God has given us the gift of discernment so that we will know what voice is speaking to us, what lips are moving, whether they are liars or are the truth of God. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to us. 

Finding Pureness

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

FINDING PURENESS

Prov 17:3

3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.

NIV

The fact that both silver and gold must undergo a treatment of extreme heat to separate the purest form from anything that would have been mixed in with it is a simply fact known by all. It does not take the Wisdom of Solomon to understand the dross is separated from the pure metal by heat. But with the heart that is a different story. It would seem that God purifies our heart through fire, or adversity. This is not to find the dross or the faults of our heart or character, but to find the purest form of our heart. God desires to separate anything from our character that would distract from us being the purest form of his image. That is why he send Jesus to become the sacrifice for our dross, our sin, that which keeps us from being pure. Through this process we have been made pure if we accept Jesus into our heart. God then sees us through the blood of Jesus, he sees a heart filled with Jesus, pure and blameless. Yes it is true that in the human sense our heart may never be absolutely pure as the finest gold or silver, but the human heart will never inherit the kingdom of God, for we are told that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but that we will all be changed. What is corruptible will be made incorruptible and what is mortal will be made immortal. So it is with our human hearts. It is and will be always deceitfully wicked, but through the power of Jesus, God sees us as a pure image of him. If we communion with Jesus, if we are in Christ and he is us then our hearts have been tested and found pure. Surely we cannot simply go about our sinful ways and expect a pure heart just because of Jesus. Certainly we must make every effort to free ourselves from wicked ways. We must do all that we are humanly possible to live a life pleasing to God and the purest form of that is accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That pleases God more than anything we could do that we label “good works”. The purest form of testing our hearts is to find Jesus there.