Coffee With The Lord

A really important “Coffee With the Lord” repost from several years ago [but my Bible reading today once again]!!!

PROVERBS 3:1-12, FOR ME, EXPRESSES SEVERAL KEY LIFE-PRINCIPLES that have guided my life over the years. I read them again this morning with relish. I would have to say these are core concepts that I have personally embraced – they have made all the difference in the quality of my daily life. Each comes with a wonderful promise or assurance. I highly recommend them! Here is a fresh personal statement of those principles…

1. Don’t forget the reliable life-lessons you’ve been taught by the key influencers in your life! What they have invested in you will adorn and distinguish your life. (Vss.1-2)

2. Embrace and live out your covenant relationships! God will honor you… and so with others. (Vss.3-4)

3. Trust in the Lord completely – don’t try to run your own life! The Lord will smooth out your path and work out all the details. (Vss. 5-6)

4. Reverence the Lord and live out that reverence humbly! It is the healthy way to live and you discover fresh vitality in your life. (Vss. 7-8)

5. Honor the Lord with your income and all you possess! He promises to prosper you! (Vss. 9-10)

6. Accept your Heavenly Father’s discipline! It is a sign that he cares about you – that he deeply loves you and you’re his child. (Vss. 11-12 cp. Hebrews 12:5-11)

Take it from me… this passage is worth committing to memory!

I jokingly used to tell my students, “YOU’RE LISTENING TO AN OLD DOG!”  (I’m now 77 years old.)  But I remember vividly many of the “life lessons” taught to me by my father and mother as a child and a young man.  Listen, I’m so glad for the decision I made early in life to listen to them and heed what they had to say (rather than resist them)!  Looking back, I’m so grateful for what they taught me, and their godly example! 

I have other friends – I’ve observed other lives – who rebelled, or resisted what their elders tried to teach them – and were determined to go their own way.  They’re older now and many of them live with deep regrets and in their own words “wasted years.” 

Thought of that this morning as I read these wise words from Proverbs 1… 

“The fear (or reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge!  Fools despise wisdom and instruction.  Hear, my son (or daughter), your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching!  They are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck…  If sinners entice you, do not consent!  If they say, ‘Come with us, let us… let us… let us… we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”— do not walk in the way with them!  Hold back your foot from their paths!  For their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.  For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these individuals lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.”  (From Proverbs 1:7–18 ESV)  

Yes, looking back, I’m glad I listened – glad I heeded the wise words of my parents and other wise leaders and godly influences God sent my way!  No regrets on that score!  Like I said, I’m 77 now and “an old dog”… but I want to keep listening… and heeding godly wisdom! 

An interesting (and very significant) Bible reading today in the Bible reading plan I developed a number of years ago – “Necessary Food” (based upon Job’s words in Job 23:12)… especially in view of the fact we are between two major political conventions and are embroiled in an election season characterized by polarization, anger and vitriol. Never has it been more important for God’s people to be “salt” and “light” in their world! (Matthew 5:13-16)

Thus the challenge of Apostle Paul I read today to the God’s people in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 has never been more appropriate…

“First of all, then, I URGE THAT SUPPLICATIONS, PRAYERS, INTERCESSIONS, AND THANKSGIVINGS BE MADE FOR ALL PEOPLE, FOR KINGS [i.e. national leaders] AND ALL WHO ARE IN HIGH POSITIONS, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, WHO DESIRE ALL PEOPLE TO BE SAVED AND COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.”

After reading these verses this morning I jotted these words in my Bible… “DO IT! DO IT DAILY!! … and God helping me I will!!!