Just Don't Do It

For Friday, September 29, 2006
Proverbs 4:24-27

24 Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
25 Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.

Just don't do it. Don't try to fit in with the speech of the unrighteous. Don't talk behind the backs of others under pretense of seeking justice or their good. Don't visit places of temptation in order to understand the needs of sinners. Don't try to fit in with the unrighteous by telling their jokes, speaking their language, and living by their morals.

Keep you eyes on Christ - on his sacrifice for you, on his love for you, on his commands to follow him, on the hope of his return and reward. Follow the example of the apostle Paul: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

Springs of Life

For Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Proverbs 4:20-23

20 My son, be attentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and healing to all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.

"Where did that come from?" we will ask when we have surprised ourselves with an inappropriate remark or action. It came from the heart, what was lurking deep within. Jesus taught as much when he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him" (Mark 7:20). In like manner, we may be surprised how we have risen to the occasion and spoken or acted in some generous manner. Our proverbs explain that we are to take care of the heart through diligence in studying the wisdom of God's Word. Just as our body is impacted by the flow of blood pumped through the heart, and thus we are to care for the physical heart, so our lives are impacted by what flows out of the spiritual heart, and we need to provide good care for it.

The real care for the heart comes from the Holy Spirit, and perhaps Jesus was thinking of this very proverb when he said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" 39Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive...

Turn to Christ today that your heart may pump out "springs of life."

Righteous Light

For Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Proverbs 4:18-19

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.

Consider these words in light of Ephesians 5:8-14:
for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
"Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

James Boice writes:
The bottom line of this discussion is that Christians are to be God’s light in the midst of this world’s darkness. They are to be an enlightening element, and this is to be so precisely because they have first been enlightened. Paul says in verse 8, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.”
The most important thing about this statement is that Paul does not say merely that before their conversion Christians were in darkness and that now, since their conversion, they are in the light, though that is true. He says something more profound. Before they were darkness, now they are light. He is pointing to a change in them, not merely to a change in their surroundings. Before they were not only in darkness; darkness was in them. And now they not only are in light; they are light and therefore must shine out as lights to their benighted society. That makes all the difference. If it is only a question of seeking the light or living in the light, then Christianity is no different from any other religion or philosophy, and there is no more hope from it than from any of them. But if becoming a Christian involves a change from darkness to light, then the presence of Christians in the world is itself hope as together we stand against the darkness.

The Happy Wicked

For Monday, September 25, 2006
Proverbs 4:16-17

For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.

Here we are given insight into the psyche of the wicked. When we come across crime, especially something like vandalism, we ask how someone could do such a thing, as though the perpetrators' conscience sould be troubling them. Not only are they not troubled, they are delighted by their mischief. They feel powerful; their self-esteem is strengthened as they accomplish a goal through their ingenuity and skill.

They delight in taking advantage of others. Violence is one means; deception and theft are others. Cheating is honored. For the wicked, these things are achievements. All the more reason to avoid the wicked, both in terms of being victims and in associating with them.

Can the wicked change? God can change anyone. But don't be foolish enough to think that if you hang around in a wicked crowd, you will be the good influence that changes them. More likely they will change you before you realize what is happening, or you will get caught in a compromising situation, or you become their victim.