Proverbial Wisdom: On the Winning Team

 Read Proverbs 13

I pray that these devotionals in the book of Proverbs have been a blessing to you as they have been for me.  Every time I dive into the Proverbs it seems that I find something that I hadn’t seen before.  It also testifies to how quickly we can forget about the practical things we need to know and remember to live a good and godly life.

Verse 1:  Mockers and scoffers show how ignorant they are by the way they respond to advice and reproof.  When we try to teach a mocker or scoffer, we’re just casting pearls before swine.  Many times these people think they know everything and we can waste a lot of time if we try to get into heated arguments with them. Instead, we just need to state the truth in love and then trust in the Lord to work respectively in that person’s life.  Many times the enemy will use these types of people to keep our time tied up with them rather than being effective in getting out the gospel to others.  Some people crave conflict and crave the whole concept that they are “always right.”  We need to value the instruction that we receive from a situation and then trust in God that He will show the more stubborn the error in their ways.

Verses 2, 3:  This passage refers to “unfaithful,” treacherous people who want discord and conflict.  The truly godly person sows the seed of unity and peace, not seeds of division.  We are called to be better.  We are called not to fight amongst ourselves.  A house divided cannot stand.  Discord and division in the church are terrible sins because they are contrary to the spiritual unity that Jesus prayed and sent the Holy Spirit for.  How can lost sinners ever believe that God loves them when God’s children don’t even love one another?  Do you see the conflict that we sabotage ourselves with?  The world is looking at us.  They are judging us.  If we are creatures of love because God is love then we should be showing that same love.  

Verses 7,8:  Character is more important than position, and wisdom than possessions.  God doesn’t glorify poverty, but neither does He magnify rich living.  We must not think that the way of the wealthy is always easy, because perils and temptations also accompany wealth and success in life.  That is why there are so many of the rich and famous that battle depression on a large scale.  Wealthy people face problems that people of ordinary means don’t face, for an increase in wealth usually means an increase in responsibility, risk taking, and possibly physical danger.  There are a lot of mental issues that come with it as well including the battle to remember where our true treasure is.  It’s not impossible to be a great Christian and to be wealthy as well for all things are possible with God but Jesus did remind us that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter heaven.  That’s because of the distraction that those things can so easily become in our lives.  

Verse 11:  Proverbs opens with a stern warning against participating in get-rich-quick schemes that involve breaking the law (1:10-19).  These schemes are self destructive and lead to bondage and possibly the grave.  As this proverb points out, we should beware of people who promise to make us wealthy without asking us to work or take any risks.  God blesses the labor of people who are honest.  God expects accurate scales and balances as we read in the previous chapters.  He also expects us to be honest and true to our word when it comes to any business transaction or anything in our life.

Verse 13:  Knowing and obeying the will of God can’t be a halfhearted endeavor on our part.  It can't be a hobby we indulge in when facing an emergency or when we fill it.  God is not something to be put on the shelf and only obtained when “we feel like it.”  God wants us to trust Him with all of our heart and acknowledge Him in all our ways.  Knowing and doing the will of God isn’t a spiritual technique that we use occasionally; it’s a committed lifestyle that involves everything we do.

Successful athletes make winning their full-time pursuit, and this shows up in the way they eat, sleep, exercise, and relate to their coaches and teammates.  The word for this is commitment, and commitment involves obedience.  To deliberately act apart from the instruction of the Scriptures is to rebel against the revealed command of God.  To ignore the Word of God is to deprive ourselves of the guidance we need for making the decision of life.

We need to be committed to God.  It will involve sacrifice.  It will involve time.  It will involve dedication.  Following God is serious business and must be taken seriously.  I remember when I played football back in middle school.  I made a number of friends during a difficult time in my life through that year of 7th grade football.  Friends that I still have to this day.  One thing I always remember is how we would encourage each other and pump each other up before we played a game.  Yeah, sometimes the coach would play music to get us pumped up, but the biggest thing was how we would treat each other.  Slapping each other’s shoulder pads, bumping helmets, and just getting excited for what we were about to accomplish together as a team.  We need to mirror that in the Christian life.  We need to be encouraging each other because this is a serious commitment with serious consequences.  We are in a battle everyday with the enemy and we need to get each other excited to face each day as a new challenge but one with the confidence that we know we will endure.  Why?  We serve the Champion.  We are champions because of Him.   So team,  let’s go win.