We Aren't Teachable When We Are Proud

“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” (Proverbs 9:9)
It is difficult for men to accept help and instruction from other men because of pride. At the root of pride are selfishness and a desire for independence. Pride prevents one man from asking for help and another man from offering it. C. S. Lewis says this about pride: “The more pride one has, the more one dislikes the pride in others. In fact, if you want to find out how proud you are – the easiest way is to ask yourself, `How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or patronize me, or show off?` The point is that each person’s pride is in competition with everyone else’s pride. Pride is competitive by nature. The godly man must lay his pride at the cross of Jesus. Paul testified that the things that were gain to him, he counted as dung, that he might win Christ. (Philippians 3:7, 8) If anyone had a reason to be prideful, it was Paul, (See II Corinthians 11:16-12:10) but he chose to place no confidence in the flesh. (Philippians 3:3) The flesh prevents us from receiving instruction and godly teaching from mature men in the faith. A godly man will “Apply [his] heart unto instruction, and [his] ears to the words of knowledge.” (Proverbs 23:12) If we are wise and just men, we will lay down our pride and allow elder men to disciple us in the faith. We will also be willing to share our knowledge with others, so that they can benefit from the wisdom we have obtained.

What Will Your Legacy Be?

“The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.” (Proverbs 10:7)
Unless the Lord returns first, we will all face death. Our bodies will return to the dust from whence they came and only our legacy will remain. Solely what we have done for God will stand at the judgment seat of Christ and only our spiritual heritage will remain on the earth. Edward E. Hale said: “I am only one, but I am one. I can’t do everything. But I can do something. And what I can do, I ought to do. And what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I shall do.” Our memory upon the earth will be blessed, if we are godly men. “Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.” (Psalms 112:6) In the song “Find us Faithful,” Steve Green sings: “After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone and our children sift through all we’ve left behind, may the truths that they discover and the memories they uncover become the light that leads them to the hope we each must find.” Our spiritual legacy will be passed down to the third and fourth generations. What kind of memory are we leaving behind? The Lord has the ability to preserve our legacy or to cause it to rot. “They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.” (Isaiah 26:14) Ultimate success is not amassing fame and fortune which will disappear once we die but lying up for ourselves treasures in heaven that will remain for eternity.

Walk in the Light or Live in Darkness

“The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.” (Proverbs 11:6)
Because we reap what we sow, we should not expect to reap righteousness, truth and godly blessings if we are sowing unrighteousness, dishonesty and perversion. The principle of sowing and reaping works the same way in both the natural and spiritual realm. Our every action has an equal and opposite reaction, including consequences for every decision we make. “He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” (Ecclesiastes 10:8) To put it simply, we must choose to either walk in the light or live in darkness. Whichever life we choose to lead and whatever kind of seed we decide to sow, will determine what kind of fruit we will reap at harvest time. The righteous can expect deliverance, while the wicked will be overtaken in their own naughtiness. “The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.” (Psalms 11:5-7) What road will we choose to travel, godly men? There is only one choice, if we desire to remain holy. We cannot be double agents with dual lives: there are none in God’s army. We can be sure that if we live a secret life, our sin will find us out. Commit yourself to walking godly today, and watch God bless you beyond your wildest imaginations.

"Help! I've Been Ambushed!"

“The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.” (Proverbs 12:6)
The Complete Jewish Bible translates this proverb as: “The words of the wicked are a deadly ambush, but the speech of the upright rescues them.” We have all experienced a deadly ambush of words at some point in our lives. We were most likely walking along the road of life without any thought of mortal enemies lying in wait for blood just around the bend. An ambush is sudden to obtain an element of surprise, but its main goal is to take out the target with minimal collateral damage to the ambushers themselves. Although ambushing is a tactic of war, it is by nature a cowardly attack. It is an assassination attempt where your enemy seeks to take your life, while never showing his face. In the war of words, our enemies employ similar tactics: they generate rumors, sow seeds of discord and assassinate our character without ever having the courtesy to show their faces. They do not have the courage to confront us directly, so they sneak around and prepare their ambushes, lying in wait for our blood. We have no control over the actions of our enemies, but we can govern our own response. How do we choose to respond to enemies who desire our blood? The natural, carnal reaction is to get them before they get us. However, the answer is not to plan a counterattack of our own. The Word says that our speech shall rescue us. In an ambush, there is no time to talk your way out of the situation. You are in a life-or-death predicament. The only thing we can do is to call on the Lord for deliverance as David did. “Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.” (Psalms 59: 1, 2)

A False Witness

“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him…a false witness that speaketh lies.” (Proverbs 6:16, 18b)
The ninth commandment is: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16) “Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.” (Exodus 23:1) “A man that beareth false witness against his neighbor is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.” (Proverbs 25:18) “A false witness shall perish.” (Proverbs 21:28) God makes His opinion of false witnesses and the consequence of their actions very clear in scripture. One of the most well-known examples of false witness is the story of King Ahab and Jezebel found in I Kings 21&22 and II Kings 9&10. Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard abutting the palace. The vineyard was so beautiful that King Ahab simply had to have it. The King approached Naboth with a reasonable offer, but Naboth refused it because the vineyard was an inheritance from his father. King Ahab, who was not used to hearing the word no from anyone, sulked around the palace until Jezebel finally inquired about the source of his gloom. When she found that Naboth had refused a request from the King, she became indignant. She secured two “witnesses” to falsely accuse Naboth of blaspheming God and the King. Once these false accusations were made, Naboth was taken out of the city and stoned to death. As a result of their greed and false testimony against an innocent man, King Ahab and Jezebel both died violent deaths. The severe repercussions of false witness reveal how much God detests those that speak lies. How many times have we been a false witness? I’ve never intentionally lied about someone you may say. Repeating rumors and gossiping in the guise of spirituality are just as bad. Men of God, may we be always found speaking the truth. God is not fond of false witnesses.

Two Satanists, Two Responses

“Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.” (Proverbs 9:8)
Over the course of a couple years, I shared the gospel with two self-proclaimed Satanists. Tommy was a middle-aged, retired Army sergeant, and Bobby was a young, sarcastic scoffer. Tommy was always respectful and listened attentively, even though he had very different spiritual philosophies than I did. Bobby, the cynic, mocked Jesus and haughtily derided the light as inferior to darkness. He persecuted me and attempted to sully my reputation with others. Tommy eventually committed his life to Jesus after he had witnessed the faithfulness of many believers, and he is now a minister of the gospel. As far as I know, Bobby is still serving Satan and mocking the God I serve. As much as I desired to see to see this young man come to know the Lord, it seemed the more I reasoned with him concerning the Scriptures and the deity of Christ, the more antagonistic he become. Tommy was a wise man, who received a rebuke and sought to know the truth. He is now one of my staunchest encouragers and loves me dearly as a brother in Christ. Bobby rejected reproof, and in the process, rejected Jesus. If he continues to serve Satan, he will spend an eternity in hell. Jesus said: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” (Matthew 7:6) Still, my heart’s desire for Bobby is that he will one day receive Jesus as his Lord.

Hiding God's Word in Our Hearts

“Wise men lay up knowledge.” (Proverbs 10:14a)
In elementary school, I attended my grandparent’s church and went to discipleship class every Sunday night. The teachers told Bible stories, we sang songs and a biblical foundation was laid in my young life. During the first part of every class, we took turns quoting a Bible verse we had memorized during the week. The first verse I learned was “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) I was a little on the lazy side. The teachers made it fun for us and awarded us a gold star for every new verse we memorized. I didn’t realize the spiritual significance at the time, but God’s Word was being planted in my heart. These verses would eventually bear fruit in my life. The knowledge of God’s Word and it’s working in my spirit brought about conviction concerning the life I was living and led to godly repentance. I thank God that His Word will not return unto Him void, but will accomplish what He pleases and will prosper in the thing He sends it. (Isaiah 55:11) In our quest to become godly men, one of the most important things we can do is to memorize the Word of God. We all desire to be wise, but we will only have godly wisdom as God reveals it to us through His word. Hosea 4:6 says: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” All too often, we seek direction from anyone and everyone before we even search the Word of God or prayerfully seek His will. Father, teach us to turn to You before we turn to anyone else. Help us to lay up godly knowledge. Thank you for all the servants you have sent across our paths to teach us Your Word. Use us, Lord, to further Your kingdom.

Judging Others

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. (Proverbs 8:13)
It is easy to hate the sins of pride, arrogancy, rebellion and lust in others, but do we hate these sins with an equal passion when we see them in ourselves? We are quick to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt and make excuses for our own behavior, even as we rake over the coals others guilty of the same sin. I have discovered that often the sins we find so condemnable and annoying in others, are the very sins we struggle with ourselves. We must judge ourselves first before we attempt to judge others. Jesus made this principle plain in Matthew 7:1-6 when He commanded us not to concern ourselves with the mote (splinter) in our brother’s eye, if we have a beam in our own eye. It is an impossibility to help someone with pride, for example, if we have not dealt with our own.
The Lord says that we will be judged in the same manner that we judge others. With that in mind, we should err on the side of grace and mercy, instead of condemnation. Some teachers use this passage of scripture to teach that we are not to judge at all; however, we are commanded to judge and discern the following: 1) ourselves to see that we are in the faith (II Corinthians 13:5); 2) false teachers (Galatians 1:9, I John 4:1); 3) other believers for the purpose of church discipline (I Corinthians 5: 11-13); 4) the character of others (John 7:24). While it is true that we should hate what God hates, there is no reason to hate sin in others more than we hate sin in ourselves. When we call others to accountability for their sin, we should do so in love and mercy, and we should remember our own imperfections in the process.