Love Covers All Sins

“Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.” (Proverbs 10:12)
“Now the works of the flesh are manifested, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelling, and such like… But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:19-23) We have two warring factions within our bodies if we are born again: the flesh and the Spirit. They are in direct opposition to one another. We are only able to operate in one realm at a time; we either walk in the Spirit, or we walk after the flesh. (Galatians 5:16&23) Hatred, which is a manifestation of the flesh, brings conflict, strife, and turmoil to our lives. The works of the flesh will have dominion over us if we give into them, but we do not have to surrender because the Spirit within us is stronger than the flesh. (I John 4:4) The foundation for all of the gifts of the Spirit is love. Without love, we cannot sustain the other gifts. The unconditional love of God is available to us through the Holy Spirit, so that we can love others with God’s agape love that “covereth all sins” and faults. It is easy to love the loveable but difficult to love the unlovable. However, if we allow the Spirit of God to love through us, we will be able to be impartial men of God, whom He can use as instruments of reconciliation to bring others to Him.

Misconceptions of New Believers

Galatians 6:7 says: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Some new Christians have the misconception that when we are born again, the Lord supernaturally annihilates all of the wild oats we sowed while we were in the world. Thankfully, the Lord forgives all of our sins; nonetheless, there are sometimes consequences and repercussions for the actions of our past (so far as man is concerned). I have heard ministers preach, “If you just come to Jesus and give your life to Him, all your problems will disappear.” Friends, that is a perverted gospel. In most cases, when a man is saved, the battle has just begun. If a new believer is taught this false teaching, he will become discouraged and possibly even abandon his faith when tough times come. Believers need to be taught that trials and persecution are to be expected- even welcomed. It is during the fire that our faith is tried and tested. The hotter the fire, the purer our faith becomes. A friend encouraged me recently when he said: “The greater the pressure is on a lump of coal, the quicker the diamond is formed.” Do not grow weary, brothers, at the testing of your faith. We may well experience ramifications in the natural realm because of past sins that have found us out. (Numbers 32:23) Continue to trust God, and be thankful that He has forgiven us and placed our sins under the blood of Jesus. Even if man does not forgive or forget our past, we can rejoice because God has made us new creatures in Christ. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17)

Have You Made Your Mama Proud?

“The Proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.” (Proverbs 10:1)
There is no worse feeling in the world than seeing your mother cry and knowing you are the cause of her grief. I was once the foolish son, who caused his mother heaviness because of his disobedience and rebellion against God. I was prideful, selfish, abusive, destructive, lustful, arrogant, rebellious and ungodly- everything my parents raised me not to become. I eventually ended up in the pigpen of life, and like the prodigal son, it was where I came to myself. (Luke 15:17) Like the father in the parable, my parents loved me unconditionally and welcomed me with open arms after I returned “home”. I eventually returned to the truth I was taught as a child. Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Notice that the Word does not say that children will not depart when they are young: many people do. It says that they will not depart from it when they are old. How is your relationship with your parents? Do you honor them, cherish them and seek to serve them? Have you asked them to forgive you for the pain you caused them? Have you allowed pride, bitterness, unforgiveness or words spoken in anger to keep you from having a healthy relationship with your parents? Are you an example of the love of Christ to them, even if they have not been the best parents in your eyes? We all desire for our parents to be proud of us. If you have messed up, it is not too late. God will give you an opportunity to reconcile yourself to them.

Watch Your Mouth

“The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.” (Proverbs 10:20)
“It is not a question of who or what you are, but whether God controls you.” (J.Willbur Chapman) Does God control all aspects of our lives, even our tongues? Have we allowed the Holy Spirit to inhabit us so deeply, that we speak His words and follow His agenda? Do we bless with our tongues, encourage, edify and uplift other people, or do we curse, criticize and devise mischief? A godly man’s tongue is as choice silver; it is a treasure to be guarded. Satan will do his best to steal it from you and replace it with a depraved tongue. The tongue has the ability to cause more strife than any other member of our body, and it must be brought under subjection daily. It is so easy to speak before we think, to criticize rather than edify, to complain when we should be thankful. The tongue is usually a good mirror of what is in our heart. What we talk about is a reflection of our priorities, our thoughts and the intent of our heart. Since only God can discern our hearts, we must ask Him to perform “open-heart” surgery, to remove the evil thoughts, wicked desires, selfish motivations and dreams that are not of Him. Men of God, may we have the courage to pray as David did, when he said: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. O Lord, open thou my lips: and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.” (Psalm 51:10, 15)

"The Importance of Our Choices"

“As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.” (Proverbs 11:19)
We tend to place an extraordinary amount of emphasis on the temporal; however, we forget that the spiritual (the eternal) is infinitely more important. A man that pursues evil now, will pursue evil for eternity. He will have eons to reflect on choices made and opportunities missed. Every transgression and act of disobedience will receive a just recompence of reward. (Hebrews 2:2) The righteousness man, on the other hand, shall receive the reward of inheritance: for he serves the Lord Jesus Christ. (Colossians 3:24)
There is great reward in this life and in the life to come for keeping God’s commands and living righteously. (Psalms 19:11) Nevertheless, a man doesn’t go to Hell for what he does, he goes to Hell for what he doesn’t do: namely, receiving Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Every single person on the earth has transgressed God’s law and fallen short of His glory. No man’s works or self-righteousness will get him into heaven. Only grace through faith in the shed blood and completed work of Jesus and receiving His righteousness in exchange for our own, will grant us access into God’s presence. One day, we will die and stand before a Holy God and answer the most important question in the universe: What have we done with His Son Jesus? Is He our Lord and Savior, or did we despise and reject Him? Our answer will determine our eternal fate.

How Are You Using Your Tongue?

“There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.” (Proverbs 12:18)
Words are extremely powerful. They can be used by ungodly men to manipulate, abuse, wound, deceive and kill. Unfortunately godly men are capable of the same.
When a man is born again, he does not receive a new tongue. The tongue continues to be a fire and an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. It has the ability to bless God and curse men, to send forth sweet and bitter water from the same fountain. (James 3:6-11) The difference between the godly and ungodly is that the godly possess the Holy Spirit, who is the only One with the ability to tame the tongue. The ungodly “whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words.” (Psalms 64:3) The godly will “refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” (I Peter 3: 10-12) The world’s philosophy is to do and say whatever it takes to get ahead: after all, if I don’t look out for me, who will? The ungodly are self-centered and will step on anyone who stands in the way of his or her success. A godly man is wise in word and deed. He refuses to allow the world to dictate his behavior. He is beholden to a higher standard of conduct: the Word of God. He keeps his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. (Psalms 34:13) He thinks before he speaks, knowing that his words have the power of life and death, to heal or to kill, to build up or tear down. The Good News version translates verse 18 this way: “Thoughtless Words can wound as deeply as any sword, but wisely spoken words can heal.” May we choose our words accordingly.

Are You Sowing Discord?

“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6: 16-19)
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7) When a farmer plants corn, when harvest time comes, he doesn’t expect to reap watermelon. Even Job’s friend Eliphaz (who definitely wasn’t the smartest guy in the world), had enough sense to know that “they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.” (Job 4:8) If we complain, gossip, speak negatively and sow discord, shouldn’t we expect the equivalent heaped on our heads? Satan is “the accuser of the brethren, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Revelation 12:10) When we sow discord among our brethren, we become collaborators with Satan in his quest to destroy the witness of the church. Sowing discord is the exact opposite of what men of God should be doing in the church. We should be discipling men, encouraging, edifying, loving, laying down our lives and embracing the brethren. Satan has enough tares among the wheat without men of God helping the Adversary do his work. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice! And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:29-32)

Stop Passing the Buck

Ever since the beginning of time, man has been passing the buck and shifting blame. When God confronted Adam and held him responsible for eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, what did Adam do? “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:12) Adam blamed both God and Eve, when he should have taken responsibility for himself. Eve followed the example set by Adam, and she blamed Satan. “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:13) In today’s proverb, we are commanded to gather in summer and not to sleep in the harvest. Jesus told His disciples: “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9: 37, 38) Like Adam, we tend to pass the buck instead of accepting responsibility, especially in the area of witnessing. Too many Christians think that going into the highways and hedges to compel the lost to come in (Luke 14:23) is the responsibility of the preachers and evangelists. The great commission is for disciples, and all those who are followers of Christ are His disciples. What are we doing, men of God, to draw men to Jesus?
You may not be able to win millions to Christ, but you can share the difference Jesus has made in your life with the people God sends across your path. If you do nothing but hand someone an invite card to church, do something. Sharing the gospel is our responsibility, but it is also our privilege.

Why Men Hate Reproof

“He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth.” (Proverbs 10:17)
One of the most difficult things for me to do is to accept reproof when I am wrong. It is bad enough that I was wrong to begin with, but then I have to accept the rebuke of another person on top of it. Even when I know I need it and deserve it, I still cringe. Why? Pride! I enjoy bring right, as selfish as that sounds. This is one of the reasons that godly men are in such short supply. They are not willing to submit themselves and receive reproof when they are wrong. But the Word says: “He that refuseth reproof erreth.” Not only is he wrong, but he erreth (vacillates; is deceived or seduced). First, the man who refuses reproof vacillates: he wavers back and forth like a reed in the wind. He will not listen to godly counsel, so he must rely on his own feelings and intuitions which are not reliable because they change from day to day. Second, the man is deceived. His pride convinces him that he is right and everyone else is wrong. Since he has only one perspective in any given situation, he can be easily beguiled. Third, the man who refuses reproof is seduced. He is enticed by fleshly, lustful desires and is easily led astray. We may be prideful and stubborn, but no man wants to be deceived, seduced or wavering in his convictions. So in order to stay in the way of life, we must keep instruction, submit to godly counsel and receive reproof when it is deserved.