Archive for the ‘Acceptance’ Category


Under Gods Command

 Personal Request 

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love. 

As the Corinthians awaited Paul’s next visit, they were directed to:

(1) Be on guard. They were to be constantly watchful or alert for spiritual enemies that might slip in and threaten to destroy them, whether it be divisions, pride, sin, disorder, or erroneous theology.

(2) Stand firm in the faith—that is, in the good news that they had been taught in the beginning, the gospel that had brought them salvation.

(3) Be courageous, so that they could stand against false teachers, deal with sin in the congregation, and straighten out other problems.

(4) Be strong, with the strength given by the Holy Spirit.

(5) Do everything in love, because without love, they would be no more than prideful noisemakers. Today, as we wait for the return of Christ, we should follow the same instructions. 

Lets Bring it Home: Today, as we wait for the return of Christ, we should follow the same instructions.


Under Gods Command

 The Collection for the Lord’s People     

1 Corinthians 16:1-12 Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me. 

05-09: After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you—for I will be going through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me. 

10-11: When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.

12: Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity. 

16:1-4 The Christians in Jerusalem were suffering from poverty and famine, so Paul was collecting money for them (Romans 15:25-31; 2 Corinthians 8:4; 9:1-15). He suggested that believers set aside a certain amount each week and give it to the church until he arrived to take it on to Jerusalem. Paul had planned to go straight to Corinth from Ephesus, but he changed his mind (2 Corinthians 1–2). When he finally arrived, he took the gift and delivered it to the Jerusalem church. 

16:10-11 Paul was sending Timothy ahead to Corinth. Paul respected Timothy and had worked closely with him (Philippians 2:22; 1 Timothy 1:2). Although Timothy was young, Paul encouraged the Corinthian church to welcome him because he was doing the Lord’s work. God’s work is not limited by age. Paul wrote two personal letters to Timothy that have been preserved in the Bible (1 and 2 Timothy).

16:12 Apollos, who had preached in Corinth, was doing evangelistic work in Greece (see Acts 18:24-28; 1 Corinthians 3:3-23). Apollos didn’t go to Corinth right away, partly because he knew of the factions there and didn’t want to cause any more divisions.

Lets Bring it Home: Do we add to the fractions of our Church which adds to more division?


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 8:9 To the discerning all of them are right; they are faultless to those who have knowledge

Some say, “The Bible is too difficult!” Others say, “The Bible contradicts itself!” Many conclude, “Anything can be taught from the Bible. It is impossible to know the truth for sure.” The devil laughs with evil satisfaction at such absurd remarks. But Lady Wisdom teaches that the words of wisdom are plain and right – to those with understanding and knowledge! If you have a problem with the Bible, you have the problem, not the Bible!

Solomon used personification in the eighth chapter of Proverbs. The feminine pronouns refer to Lady Wisdom, a woman representing wisdom in Solomon’s appeal for men to reject ignorance and folly and embrace understanding and knowledge. The proverb at hand is part of her introduction, as she claims to speak excellent and right things (Pr 8:6), truth (Pr 8:7), and righteous words that are not at all contradictory or corrupt (Pr 8:8).

A little understanding and knowledge, from fearing the Lord and trembling before His word, will open the Bible to you (Pr 1:7; 9:10; Ps 25:14; Is 66:2; Luke 8:18). The words become plain and right, when you study the Bible humbly by its rules of interpretation. If you approach it arrogantly or critically, it is designed to confuse and destroy you (Ezek 14:1-11; I Cor 1:19-20; 2:13-15; II Thess 2:9-12; II Tim 2:15; II Pet 3:16).

The Bible is plain and right, if you are born again (John 3:3; Rom 3:11), are enlightened by the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:17-18), fear God (Pr 15:33), delight in the Lord (Neh 8:6-8; Ps 37:4), obey what you learn (John 7:17), pray for wisdom (Ps 119:18; Jas 1:5), work for it (2:1-9; 18:1; I Tim 4:13-15), will take correction (Pr 26:12; I Cor 3:18-19), have a godly motive (Ps 119:11; Luke 10:38-42), and use God-given teachers (Mal 2:7; Acts 8:30-31).

The Bible, God’s book of wisdom, reveals secrets of the universe that greatly affect human existence, but most men have no use for it. The Bible is closed to them (I Cor 2:6-15; II Cor 4:3-4). God reveals these things only to His children (Matt 11:25-27). They have no regard for intelligence, education, or the opinions of any or all men. They believe every word of God to be absolute truth, and they despise any other ideas (Ps 119:128).

Consider an example. Solomon wrote corporal punishment is the only way to rightly train children (Pr 13:24; 19:18; 20:30; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 26:3; 29:15). But PTA and PETA mothers, drunk with the drivel of Drs. Spock, Seuss, and Dobson, reject the Bible as a primitive manual for insensitive monsters that knew nothing about loving children. They say the Bible is impossible to understand, immorally cruel to children, or needs a gentler application for today’s society; but corporal punishment is plain and right to God’s saints.

Consider another example. Moses and Solomon wrote that capital punishment is the only way to treat murderers (Pr 28:17; Gen 9:6; Ex 21:12-14; Lev 24:17). But Mother Theresa, the ACLU, and others without consciences or justice, actually pity murderers more than their victims. Hard to believe? It is true. They write the Bible off as outdated laws for a violent society, but God’s saints know it has divine wisdom for civil authority. Capital punishment is as obvious to them as putting down a rabid dog after it eats an infant.

Consider another example. Moses recorded earth’s origin by writing, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1). But Charles Darwin and other hallucinating educators, in a profane plot to rid the world of a creator God and His rules for living, contrived an impossible pipedream that chaotic gases exploded to form the universe, primordial slime became reproducing salamanders, who chose to become monkeys, one of which was Charles’ mother. Believers and their children laugh at this false science, which no man has or can observe, define, or duplicate (I Tim 6:20-21).

Consider another example, “This is my body,” from I Corinthians 11:24. Catholics presumed Jesus taught cannibalism and meant the words literally, so they invented transubstantiation – the cracker turns into His body, blood, soul, and divinity – though the cracker is still present to human senses and any kind of analysis. Their Bible-rejecting religion idolizes this blasphemous caricature of the Lord’s Supper, forgetting that Jesus also said, “I am the door,” and, “I am the vine,” among numerous other metaphors!

Lutherans, knowing full well the bread still existed (because they could still touch it, taste it, smell it, and see it), invented consubstantiation – the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus coexist with the bread in their version of the Mass. Presbyterians, also superstitious sacramentalists coming from Rome, invented the notion that Jesus is really, truly, and spiritually in the bread, though not present in body, blood, soul, or divinity.

The children of God, with just a little understanding and knowledge, know that Jesus spoke metaphorically, just as you do when holding up a picture of your mother and saying, “This is my mother.” You only mean that the piece of Kodak paper represents your mother. Jesus gave a simple memorial supper to His true followers. There is no sacrifice offered again in any way, shape, or form. The Supper is only to remember Him by using bread and wine to represent and signify His torn body and shed blood. It is not a sacrament, and it does not involve the altering of any substance, at all, in any way.

Reader, the Bible is the only true book on earth. It alone has the words of wisdom from heaven, which Solomon sought to tell you about through Lady Wisdom in this proverb. If you embrace her, she will bless you; if you reject her, you must love death (Pr 8:35-36). But this wonderful book can do you no good, unless you acquire the understanding and knowledge that opens its treasures. Humble yourself before the great God, repent of your pride and sins, and beg Him for wisdom. He will make the words plain and right to you.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 5:18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth

Married men have a fountain. They should thank God for it, protect it, honor it, and use it. It is the wife of their youth that gives birth to their children. A wife is like a fountain in that she sends forth children to spread a man’s influence. A wise man highly values this advantage of a lawful wife over a whore. He should enthusiastically enjoy life with her.

Fathering children with a wife is a glorious and wonderful thing. Solomon warned his son against adultery by praising the privilege and pleasure of a legitimate family (Pr 5:15-18). The fountain is a man’s generative power with a woman, which he restricted to only his son’s wife. And he exalted a happy family as a blessing and delight worthy of rejoicing.

Adultery destroys this good thing. Whores cannot give it. They avoid conception, lest they be discovered. When a child is born out of wedlock, it causes more problems than blessings. And adultery crushes the heart of your wife. It is only legitimate children from a monogamous marriage that bring blessing and joy to two loving parents. Solomon condemned adultery by promoting a legitimate family.

Boys should be taught early that marrying young – the wife of thy youth – and having a happy family with children are great sexual and social goals. Girls should believe being a wife and mother are their most fulfilling and noble roles. Childbirth, a nursing mother, and happy children are blessings (Pr 17:6; Job 21:11; 42:16; Ps 107:41; 127:3-5; 128:1-6). They are also great deterrents to the short, deadly pleasure of fornication or adultery.

This perverse generation despises and ridicules the large families of several generations ago. Family size in America has fallen from an average of 7.0 children in 1800 to 3.5 in 1900 to 1.6 in 2000. This collapse is partly due to change from an agrarian/rural society to a service/urban one, but it also reflects the selfish and whorish lifestyles of most adults.

Defying the wisdom of a happy family, this lascivious generation promotes a lifestyle of casual sex, multiple partners, commitment-free love, professional women, marriage without children, and spousal independence. The family unit God ordained and blessed, which was for man’s pleasure, prosperity, and protection, has become an item of scorn.

Divorce, single parenting, cohabitation, and same-sex marriages are in. Many children are raised in one-parent homes. When there are two parents, the one child they have is spoiled beyond description. These children’s dysfunctional lives condemn the trends of this evil generation by the obvious results. God’s wisdom of the family is never outdated.

The righteous, who fear God and trust His Word, must restore the glory and prosperity of the family – a man and wife committed for life, loving their several or more children, and rejoicing in their family extension by grandchildren. You can do this by building your own marriage and family to be an example of blessing and pleasure, by condemning and avoiding all forms of casual sex outside marriage, by teaching your children these things, and by reproving and ridiculing all societal trends against God’s family ordinances.


Under Gods Command
The Resurrection Body

1 Corinthians 15:35-58 35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
     So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. Physical and Resurrection Bodies If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
     I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

     Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Paul launches into a discussion about what our resurrected bodies will be like. If you could select your own body, what kind would you choose—strong, athletic, beautiful? Paul explains that we will be recognizable in our resurrected body, yet it will be better than we can imagine, for it will be made to live forever. We will still have our own personality and individuality, but these will be perfected through Christ’s work. The Bible does not reveal everything that our resurrected body will be able to do, but we know it will be perfect, without any infirmities, sickness, or disease (see Philippians 3:21).
Paul compares the resurrection of our bodies with the growth of a seed in a garden. Seeds placed in the ground don’t grow unless they “die” first. The plant that grows looks very different from the seed because God gives it a new “body.” There are different kinds of bodies—people, animals, fish, birds. Even the angels in heaven have bodies that are different in beauty and glory. Our resurrected body will be very different from our earthly body. It will be a spiritual body full of glory.
Our present body is perishable and prone to decay. Our resurrection body will be transformed. The spiritual body will not be limited by the laws of nature. This does not necessarily mean we’ll be superpeople, but our body will be different from and more capable than our present earthly body. Our spiritual body will not be weak, will never get sick, and will never die.
The “last Adam” refers to Christ. Because Christ rose from the dead, he is a life-giving spirit. This means that he entered into a new form of existence. He is the source of the spiritual life that will result in our resurrection. Christ’s new glorified human body now suits his new glorified life—just as Adam’s human body was suitable to his natural life. When we are resurrected, God will give us a transformed, eternal body suited to our new eternal life.
We all face limitations. Those who have physical, mental, or emotional disabilities are especially aware of this. Some may be blind, but they can see a new way to live. Some may be deaf, but they can hear God’s good news. Some may be lame, but they can walk in God’s love. In addition, they have the encouragement that those disabilities are only temporary. Paul tells us that we all will be given new bodies when Christ returns and that these bodies will be without disabilities, never to die or become sick. This can give us hope in our suffering.
“We will not all sleep” means that Christians alive at that day will not have to die but will be transformed immediately. A trumpet blast will usher in the new heaven and earth. The Jews would understand the significance of this because trumpets were always blown to signal the start of great festivals and other extraordinary events (Numbers 10:10).
Satan seemed to be victorious in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) and at the cross of Jesus. But God turned Satan’s apparent victory into defeat when Jesus Christ rose from the dead (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14-15). Thus, death is no longer a source of dread or fear. Christ overcame it, and one day we will also. The law will no longer make sinners out of us just because we cannot keep it. Death has been defeated, and we have hope beyond the grave.

Lets Bring it Home: Paul says that because of the resurrection, nothing we do is useless. Sometimes we become apathetic about serving the Lord or hesitate to do good because we don’t see any results. Knowing that Christ has won the ultimate victory should affect the way we live right now. Don’t let discouragement over an apparent lack of results keep you from doing the work of the Lord enthusiastically as you have opportunity, knowing that your work will have eternal results.


Under Gods Command

1 Corinthians 15:29-34 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

Some believers were baptized on behalf of others who had died unbaptized. Nothing more is known about this practice, but it obviously affirms a belief in resurrection. Paul is not promoting baptism for the dead; he is illustrating his argument that the resurrection is a reality.

If death ends it all, enjoying the moment would be all that matters. But Christians know that life continues beyond the grave and that our life on earth is only a preparation for our life that will never end. What you do today matters for eternity. In light of eternity, sin is a foolish gamble. Your belief in the resurrection will affect your view of the future. It also ought to affect how you live today.

“I face death every day” refers to the dangers Paul encountered daily. The “wild beasts” in Ephesus referred to the savage opposition he had faced there.

Keeping company with those who deny the resurrection can corrupt good Christian character.

Lets Bring it Home: Don’t let your relationships with unbelievers lead you away from Christ or cause your faith to waver.


Under Gods Command

 Proverbs 4:25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

How is your vision? Forget detail, distance, or depth. How is your directional vision? Do you see straight ahead, or do you have peripheral vision? Peripheral vision, or seeing things from the corner of your eye, is a good thing for driving and sports, but it is horrible for Christians. You must see only one object – God, His kingdom, and His righteousness.

Having told you to keep your heart with all diligence (Pr 4:23), the Preacher warned against peripheral distractions, either left or right (Pr 4:26-27). You must establish your direction straight ahead and keep going that way – to the single goal of pleasing the Lord.

“Eyes” and “eyelids” are synecdoche, where part of a thing represents the whole. Solomon did not care about the little flap of skin that covers your eyeballs. He wanted your heart and mind and soul. He wanted all of you. In the last eight verses of this chapter, he lists ear, eyes, heart, flesh, heart, mouth, lips, eyes, eyelids, feet, and hand.

Your eyes select objects and direct your movements toward them, but it is your heart and mind that give and receive feedback from your eyes. Heart and eyes cannot be separated. It is your overall person, eyes included, you must keep in the way of wisdom and truth.

The Lord Jesus taught against spiritual peripheral vision with similar language. And you should look unto Him as the great example of perfect vision for your soul (Heb 12:1-4). The context of His words will let you learn their sense and application (Matt 6:19-24).

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23

Consider the context well. He condemned laying up treasure on earth, when you can lay up treasure in heaven, for your heart will follow your treasure (Matt 6:19-21). And He denied any man can serve two masters – God and mammon, or money (Matt 6:24).

He reasoned, if a man’s natural vision directs his bodily movements, then a blind eye is a horrible thing, for the body cannot know where to move. Considered spiritually, an eye with undivided honesty and zeal for God will lead to holiness, but a double eye of hypocrisy and worldly lusts will lead to destruction. Consider the Saviour’s warning!

Consider an obscure reference to soldiers in Chronicles. Zebulun brought 50,000 fighting men who were of one heart for David (I Chron 12:33). They had no mixed emotions. They were not thinking about going home. They were not thinking about anything else.

Jesus rejoiced to see Nathanael, for his heart was free from duplicity, hypocrisy, and a double mind (John 1:47). He was an Israelite indeed, fully committed to his God. This single purpose in life marks a consistent Christian that is of great value to Jesus Christ.

The Christian life is a race (I Cor 9:26; Heb 12:1). To win, runners must look straight ahead without being distracted by competitors or other things. Paul pressed forward, not looking sideways, to win the prize of God’s high calling (Phil 3:13-14), and he described those with peripheral vision for worldly things as belly worshippers (Phil 3:18-19).

Wicked men have a double heart (Ps 12:1-2). They are not totally committed to the Lord and spiritual things. Their hearts still lust after this world and its things. They are carnally minded, and they show little evidence of grace in their hearts. You can easily spot them, for they never talk about the Lord with the same passion as they talk about their things.

James warned twice against being double minded – or having more than one objective for your life (James 1:8; 4:8). He said a double minded man is unstable in all his ways, and he exhorted you to diligent efforts to reduce your objectives to only one (James 4:8-10).

Eve was seduced by her wandering eyes (Gen 3:6). Lot’s wife could not keep from looking back (Gen 19:17,26). Achan saw Babylonian goods and money that cost him his life (Josh 7:21). And David took what he saw one night from a rooftop (II Sam 11:2).

Your prayer should be for God to keep your eyes from seeing vanity (Ps 119:37). The lust of the eyes is one of the great temptations of man (I John 2:15-17). So careful was Job in his pursuit of holiness, he made a covenant with his eyes against thinking upon young beautiful women (Job 31:1). Contrast him with false teachers (II Pet 2:14).

The first church, under the powerful influence of the Holy Ghost, had a single mind with God and each another (Acts 2:46). They were undivided in their dedicated and solitary ambition of serving the Lord. Things in the corner of their vision did not distract them.

Godly men serve masters with single hearts (Eph 6:5; Col 3:22). Their solitary goal is to please the Lord on the job, regardless of what men may think or do. They do not seek a raise or promotion as their principal objective, for they see only God’s reward.

Dear reader, what distracts your vision and progress? You need only one goal – pleasing God with a holy life and preparing for heaven. Put on your blinders and keep your eyes and motion straight ahead. Look only forward – only upward – and only heavenward!

Did the Lord Jesus have any other objectives in His life on earth? None! Did things around Him distract him? Never! Though he had food, honor, and glory offered to Him by the devil, He remained absolutely faithful to His one goal – pleasing His Father by a perfect life and death. Glory! Follow this great Example and His singular vision!


Under Gods Command 

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. 

Just as the first part of the harvest was brought to the temple as an offering (Leviticus 23:10-44) so Christ was the first to rise from the dead and never die again. He is our forerunner, the proof of our eventual resurrection to eternal life.

Death came into the world as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin. In Romans 5:12-21, Paul explained why Adam’s sin brought sin to all people, how death and sin spread to all humans because of this first sin, and the parallel between Adam’s death and Christ’s death.

Although God the Father and God the Son are equal, each has a special work to do and an area of sovereign control (15:28). Christ is not inferior to the Father, but his work is to defeat all evil on earth. First, he defeated sin and death on the cross, and in the final days, he will defeat Satan and all evil. 

Lets Bring it Home: World events may seem out of control, and justice may seem scarce. But God is in control, allowing evil to remain for a time until he sends Jesus to earth again. Then Christ will present to God a perfect new world.


Under Gods Command                                  

Proverbs 3:29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you.

Those closest to you deserve the most from you. Yet men often treat family or friends more harshly than strangers. The more people trust you, the more you owe them. The more vulnerable a person becomes to you, the greater obligation you have to honor and protect him. You know more about your neighbors than others in your life, but this privilege brings the duty to protect rather than an opportunity to defraud. Beware!

Who is your neighbor? While lawyers quibble about words and wish to reduce this noun to a few friends (Luke 10:25-29), Solomon’s son Jesus Christ expanded it to anyone God places in your life (Luke 10:30-37). It includes your parents or a spouse to colleagues at work or a stranger you happen to sit beside on an airplane or bus. Of course, it also includes those who live next door, but it includes many more than those as well.

It is easy to discover the assets, faults, habits, and weaknesses of those closest to you. Your proximity to their activities and their trust in you combine to make them vulnerable to any lust on your part. God and Solomon, knowing this reality of relationships, warned against any wicked ambitions or defrauding by these advantages. Godly men are scrupulously honest with neighbors, and they are exceptionally protective of them.

Cain slew his trusting brother. Jacob’s sons deceived and murdered Shechem, and then they sold Joseph into slavery. King Saul tried to murder David as he played for him. Joab slew the trusting Abner and Amasa. Judas knew the Lord’s habits, and he used them to earn a few coins by betraying Him to a murderous mob. The sin of this proverb is the cruelest form of personal malice (Ps 41:9; 55:12-15; Matt 26:46-50; John 13:21).

Do you exploit or protect knowledge of colleagues at work? Does the nearness of your neighbor’s wife make him more or less vulnerable to you? Do you exploit or protect gullible classmates? Can any sitting near you anywhere trust you with their belongings? Do you always have fellow church members’ best interests at heart in any interaction? When someone confides in you, is that information strictly off-limits to anyone else?

The sin can also be found at home. Abuse or neglect of spouses is treachery, for marriage exposes everything to another, and marriage is based on assumed loyalty and faithfulness (Mal 2:10-16). Never compare your wife to another woman! Never defraud or demean the man in your bed! Private events of a family at home should never be shared outside the home, for family members assume they are fully secure at home. Only the cruel without a conscience share such private information to promote or protect themselves.

Are all around you fully secure in their relationship with you and in relating things to you? Can your neighbor trust you with a key to his house and cars? Do church members know they can trust you with the intimate details of their lives? Or do they know your evil heart could be tempted to exploit their weakness for your own advantage or to share it with others? Always protect others. Let this proverb warn you. Learn godliness today.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 02:07 He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a buckler (shield) to those who walk is blameless.

The only God has blessings for your obedience – wisdom and protection. He provides true and valid wisdom in abundance for righteous men. God has all the wisdom in the universe, but He has made much available for good men. And He will also be a shield to them as well, which shows strong protection by using the metaphor of a battle shield.

As in any writing, check the context to grasp this proverb. King Solomon, the Preacher of Israel, had listed the means for finding the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God (Pr 2:1-5). He then taught that since God is the fountain and source of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, He gives these things abundantly to faithful men or women (Pr 2:6-9).

Reader, what will you do? Here are wisdom and protection for life. They are available to all who will humble themselves and seek them from the LORD Jehovah, beside Whom there is no other god. When a man chooses to follow the way of righteousness revealed in the Bible, God will reveal truth and wisdom to Him (Ps 119:100; John 7:17).

If you follow the world – the way of folly and sin, you will suffer the dire consequences of being blinded horribly (Rom 1:18-27), of having God turn against you (Pr 1:20-32; Is 63:10), and dying a miserable death in ignorance and sorrow (Pr 5:11-13; 8:36). But you can also choose life and blessing, which God will give for obedience (I Pet 3:10-12).

How much wisdom has God laid up for the righteous? The Bible contains more wisdom than all the educators and institutions of “higher learning” combined (Is 8:20; I Cor 1:19-20; I Tim 6:20). On any subject, the Bible provides answers that confound and shame the ignorance of men (Ps 94:11; 119:113,128). How much time do you spend reading it?

God appointed Solomon Preacher in Israel to give inspired wisdom to His people (Eccl 1:1,12; 12:8-11). And He has ordained more preachers through Jesus Christ since His resurrection and ascension into heaven (Ps 68:18; Eph 4:8-16). It is your privilege to seek them out and find your wisdom from God (Jer 3:15; Mal 2:7; Col 1:28; II Tim 3:16-17).

What is a buckler? It is a shield (I Chr 5:18; Song 4:4). When listed with a shield, it is different in size, construction, or battle use (Ps 35:2). By using buckler as a metaphor, Solomon taught God’s protection for upright men (Pr 30:5; Ps 18:2,30; 84:11; 144:2). The angels of Jehovah, spirit beings superior to men by any measure, are servants for those who fear God and keep His commandments (Ps 34:7; Heb 1:13-14). “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety” (Ps 4:8).

The maximum safety you can have on earth is to walk uprightly, which is to have goals, habits, and a lifestyle of doing what is right. The eyes of Almighty God look throughout the world to show Himself strong for those with perfect hearts (II Chr 16:9). Not only will God protect the godly man during life on earth, righteous living is also the assurance and evidence that you will be safe in the Day of Judgment (Matt 7:21-23; II Pet 1:5-11).