21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. 22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. Proverbs 2:21-22
It occurs to me as I decided to do this Proverb a day, that much of the first few chapters are more introductions. I vaguely remembered my childhood reading of proverbs involving more sayings and words of wisdom. I suppose it is right then that I shall just pick and choose what speaks to me, and in chapter 2, this is the section that stood out.
Prior to this section, the writer is telling the listener that he guards the righteous and lays straight their path. These final two verses seemed to summarize it for me.
You see, God is a loving and merciful god, but he is also just and righteous. Too often people latch on the first part of God's nature, and ignore the second. Perhaps this is due to accountability. Were I not in Christ, I'm pretty sure I would ignore that part too. I mean who wants to be accountable?
To be accountable to God/Jesus is really more of an issue of why would we deserve anything less? After all, we are the fallen creation--led astray by Satan, the ruler of this world. God cannot be in the presence of sin, it is against His nature. Therefore, there is a need to eliminate sin before humans could even begin to hope to be in God's presence.
We all like to think that when all of our loved ones pass away, they're going up to the sweet by and by, and in many cases that will be there case. The denial aspect of this comes when we realize that not every person who has passed away, no matter how good of a person, is truly righteous in the eyes of God. Herein lies the problem. How can a sinful creation ever hope to attain an audience and an everlasting existence with a just and righteous God?
In the Old Testament it was through regulations and sacrifices set up by God with Moses to help the Jewish people attain salvation. But salvation isn't really the right word in this sense. They were attempting to remain close to their God, who had set them apart as His people.
So how can sinful creation reach God? Jesus Christ. There really is no other. the Gospel of John seeks primarily to establish Jesus' divinity through his miracles, but also through sayings. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me," John 14:6. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." John 10:1. "I am the true vine... every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." John 15:1-2
These are just 3 of many examples throughout the Gospels, and Jesus repeatedly established that He was the only way a sinner could be reunited with God.
His death on the cross; a sacrifice for all mankind washes our sin, and makes us righteous by His blood, so that we may pass from this world with the knowledge that there is an eternity of life afterwards. Sadly, this eternity extends the other way too.
And I suppose this is what I took from this section of Proverbs 2. There will always be those who are able to walk uprightly with the Lord--I would like to think I and many of my loved ones fit that bill. Just keep in mind, that it is by grace we are saved, not of works...so no matter how many babies you adopt, old women you help across the street, money you donate, impoverished children you help--you will not attain salvation through those means. Those are all noble endeavors and certainly people doing those things make the world a temporarily better place--but there will always be death and suffering--it is the nature of our sin. By trusting Christ for salvation, the Bible says you become a new creation in Him. Then the desire to do those works, not for salvation, but for the new nature will take over.
Much like giving expecting something in return--even the most sacrificial good deed has at its heart a motive of pleasing some being--maybe not always God--but someone. There was an episode of "Friends" where Phoebe bets Joey that she can do a good deed without feeling good about it..but no matter what she did, she always felt good about it---or had some other motive. She finally lets a bee sting her in an attempt to let it fulfill its purpose without it feeling good to her...upon which Joey points out that the bee probably died after stinging her. And so it was established, that all good deeds will make the doer feel good--but wouldn't it be better to feel good knowing you're furthering God's kingdom and not one's own motives?
I would submit that without Christ--there is no selfless good deed. We are creatures of self. no mater how hard we deny it.
Let Christ cover your self. Walk uprightly with the Lord--why risk being called wicked and cast out? The Christian walk is more fulfilling than any worldly walk--it's hard at first--getting used to a new mindset. And, most will regress at least for a time to their old habits (Not nature hopefully), but we are covered by Christ's sacrifice--that's the beauty of it.
Walk uprightly my friends--
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2
No comments:
Post a Comment