Proverbs 14:30 (14:31 LXX)

A man with a gentle spirit is a healer of the heart,
But a sensual heart is the moth of the bones.

Personal Challenge

The first half of this verse is pretty clear, be nice to others, give them the treatment of a gentle spirit, and their hearts will be healed. But the second part of this translation is a little harder to understand. Let’s try a different translation…

Proverbs 14:30 (NIV)A heart at peace gives life to the body,but envy rots the bones.

A sensual heart is a heart full of passion. If that passion is envy or lust or anger or any other negative passion then it will eat us from the inside out. Once again we are being taught that what is in our hearts determines what we do with our lives. Our ongoing personal challenge in our journey of life is to protect our heart from the things of this World and to let our Lord fell it with Himself. Glory be to God!

John 3:36

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

Command with a Promise

The early church fathers (and by this, we mean first and second-century saints) taught that our salvation comes from our faith in Christ and our subsequent actions of working out that faith in our lives. We cannot just say some simple prayer and then go on living our lives the way we always have, A true faith in Christ begins to change us from the inside to the outside and our actions begin to demonstrate that faith in God. He facilitates these changes in us, but we must be willing and active participants in the change process which works out the salvation process within us. St. John Chrysostom said,

“We do not from this assert that faith alone is sufficient for salvation; the directions for living that are given in many places in the Gospels show this.”

St. John makes it clear that our salvation is a process that is managed and controlled by God. This requires us to follow and act upon His commandments, expectations, and precepts. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 118:77

Let Your compassions come to me, and I shall live;
For Your law is my meditation.

Encouraging Words

God loves His creation so dearly. He loves us even to the point of His own death. In that love, He chooses to pour out His compassions upon us and gives us life, both an abundant temporal life and eternal life. Our part in this exchange is to receive that which He is giving us as a free, no strings attached gift and to meditate upon Him and follow Him. He gives so much more to the relationship than we can ever return. Lord, have Mercy!

Proverbs 14:17

A quick-tempered man acts with recklessness,
But a man with discernment bears many things.

Personal Challenge

There is definitely a benefit to learning to hold one’s tongue in the middle of a heated discussion or argument. Being quick-tempered can get a person into a lot of trouble and cause a lot of pain to others. It takes time, effort, and a commitment to our Lord to learn how to manage our tempers and to become people that bear many things. Discernment, the crown of the virtues is a worthy goal in life, for with it we will act supernaturally. Glory be to God!

John 3:30

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Personal challenge

John the Baptist sets the standard for how each of us who claim to be followers of Jesus should live our lives. If we desire to grow in the image of Christ, to become more like Him, then we must decrease and He must increase. This is such an indictment of the so-called prosperity gospel that is so prevalent today. Sometimes God does choose to bless His children with earthly blessings, however, these blessings are not for our own good, but for the prudent use to help build His kingdom. If we are given financial wealth, then we have more to give to our churches or other Christian ministries that need our support. If we are given talents that we use in our occupation, then we can give them to His organizations who need these talents and cannot afford the going rate. He gives us time, which we can all use to teach Sunday School, or hold a crying baby during the church service, or vacuuming the sanctuary, or whatever else needs to be done. This is all part of decreasing so that He can increase. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 119:37 (118:37 LXX)

Turn away my eyes that I may not see vanity;
Give me life in Your way.

Encouraging Words

This is a powerful prayer that we can all say on a regular basis. Asking God to protect our eyes, ears, and minds from those things that will draw us away from Him can help us to stay on His straight and narrow path, His way. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Proverbs 13:10

Deceitful souls are led astray in sins,
But the righteous have compassion and are merciful.

Personal Challenge

Temptations that show up in our lives are not sins. It is what we do with these temptations that end up in sin or righteousness. If our hearts are not right with our Lord or focussed on Him and what He would desire of us, then the temptations will lead us to sin. We choose to give in to the sin. But if we are trying to live our lives to honor God and keep our hearts and minds focused on Him, then we will flee from the temptations and move closer to righteousness. Again, it is a choice. Lord, have mercy? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Encouraging Words

John 3:16! This is probably one of the most memorized verses of the Bible. This is the verse, when I fully came to understand its meaning, lead me to the point of asking Jesus to be the center of my life, over half a century ago. This verse sums up the whole gospel of why God sent His Son to be incarnated as one of us and let Him die on the cross, because of love. It was not until later in my life that I also noticed that verse 17 was needed to complete the story of Gods’ love. God does not judge us like some angry judge wielding the heavy gavel of justice. God has created all of His creation with a right and a wrong. There is an order that is in place that either draws us closer to Him or pushes us farther away from Him. The thing in our lives that pushes us away from Him is our sin. God does not force us to sin. God does not set us up to sin. God created us with a free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong. When I choose wrong or sin, then I am choosing the condemnation, or separation from God, as the consequences. Then verse 16 kicks in and through Jesus, I can repent of this and be forgiven. Glory be to God! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!