“Keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching! Bind them on your heart always! Tie them around your neck! When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life!” (From Proverbs 6:20–23 ESV)
Hey, it’s true of wise parental advice… but even MORE TRUE of what God’s Word teaches!
I know you’ve seen them… wounded people, cowering souls, who almost seem ashamed of themselves – afraid of almost everything, reluctant to look up, fearful of speaking up, sharing their opinion, and terrified of getting involved in almost any cause…
God’s presence and transforming influence in a life doesn’t produce that kind of person! His grace is at work within lives, where He is invited, produces wholeness, health, integrity, love, joy, peace, and hope!
NO FEAR! NOT ASHAMED! BOLD – NOT INTIMIDATED! These need to be more than just bumper sticker slogans!
That’s the kind of people God wants and the Holy Spirit produces in a culture that is increasingly anti-Christian and a world where followers of Christ who openly live out and share their faith are persecuted!
I just read it this morning… “The Spirit God gives us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner [Apostle Paul speaking to Timothy]. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God… This is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day!” (From 2 Timothy 1.7-12 NIV)
In another place Apostle Paul put it this way… “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes!” (Romans 1.16)
ARROGANCE IS SIN! BUT A CONFIDENT, UNASHAMED, BOLD CHRISTIAN, WITH A HEALTHY SELF-CONCEPT “IN CHRIST” IS A GOOD THING! We need to be Spirit-filled, grace transformed, oozing love, walking in faith, living out the mandate of Christ to take the gospel to all people – all nations! LORD WORK THAT WITHIN ME BY YOUR SPIRIT! HELP ME TO BECOME THAT KIND OF CHRISTIAN!
Many of you know I’ve developed a Bible reading plan entitled “Necessary Food” based upon Job 23:12… Using it you read a passage from each of the five major divisions of Scripture daily: Old Testament History, Poetry, Prophecy, Gospels & Acts, and the Epistles. [If you’re interested in using this plan, contact me at leroybartel@gmail.com – it’s a free pdf]
All of that to say, it doesn’t happen often, but yesterday’s Bible readings all seemed to focus, illustrate, and apply one key verse from my reading in some way! Here it is (with a brief comment on each of the readings)…
The key verse from the reading in Proverbs 4:20-27? “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow all the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23)
Then here’s a brief comment applying that principle for each of the passages…
2 Samuel 11:1-12:25: If King David would have heeded this principle he would not have fallen into sin with Bathsheba and plotted the death of her husband, Uriah to cover it up.
Daniel 4:19-27: Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, if he had guarded his heart vigilantly, would have avoided the humiliation he experienced because of pride.
John 4:27-42: Jesus exemplified the truth of the Proverbs principle after His disciples urged him to eat after He had prioritized a saving conversation with a sinful Samaritan woman. He declared to them, “I have food to eat that you know not of!”
1 Timothy 6:2b-10: “Keeping (guarding) your heart with all vigilance” will safeguard an individual from falling prey to the deceptions of greed and materialism!
Doesn’t always happen this way, but THE KEY LIFE PRINCIPLE OF PROVERBS 4:23 IMPACTS “ALL THE SPRINGS (i.e. the dimensions and issues) OF LIFE!”
Coffee With The Lord 