ResponsiveReiding

Proverbs 6:6–11 (ESV) — 6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. 7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. 9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Mentoring is big in our culture right now. This is true both inside and outside the Church. Executives and business people of all stripes look for those who can be their “life-coach” or “mentor”. The idea is to have someone more experienced you can dialogue with on an ongoing basis, to help you make decisions and mature in how you manage your life and career. It’s nothing new. The master/apprentice relationship worked much the same for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Actually, the Bible has had a word for this for centuries – we’ve called it “discipleship.” Think of Paul and Timothy or Barnabas and John Mark – or as far back as Moses and Joshua and Elisha and Elijah. The New Testament addresses it quite plainly in Titus 2:3–5 “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” As well as other places.

While this is a desirable circumstance, the truth is, it doesn’t always happen. And there is no shortage of complaint to be heard from all corners about the lack of having the advantage of a mentor. Some in fact, use the absence of one almost as an excuse for why they have failed to engage some things in life well. They had no one to show them. No one to guide and teach them. No one to take them under their wing.

On the one side, this points up a need within the Body of Christ, that we all seek out ministering to one another in this way. As Paul’s 2^nd letter to the Corinthian Church opens, The Holy Spirit reminds us that even our sufferings are not our own – but are to be seized upon so as to give the benefit of how we’ve experienced Christ’s keeping power in them to others. Has God blessed you in a trial? Be ready and willing to come along side others who may be suffering now as you did – and share how Christ met you there, so that they may more easily meet Christ there. Don’t be selfish with your pain. As you’ve been ministered to, so minister to others. You’ve been given His comfort when you received it, expressly to give it to others when they need it.

On the other side, what do you do if you have no “mentor”, no “life-coach” or discipler? Sit and sputter? Bemoan the vacancy? Get bitter and wallow in self-pity? Excuse your lack of spiritual progress on the fact God has let you down in this area? Or run to the pages of Scripture and in prayer begin to let the Holy Spirit fill that role directly?

Let us take our text today and apply it to ourselves in just such a circumstance. God has not left you without. But you might have to do some heavy lifting and actually seek out someone to help. More, ask for good Biblical resources to read and study and listen to. Take every advantage of the teaching opportunities your Church gives you. Join Bible studies and ask around for things others have found useful. Read your Bible. Pray. Meditate on God’s Word. But please, please, don’t just sit there. Do not allow yourself to excuse inaction by the fact you have no one to “mentor” you. Even the ants can do what they need to do without a commander or overseer. It is good when leadership is available, ready and willing. But even when it is not – we are still responsible to be about Kingdom business – especially in regard to our own souls. Christ will attend you. The Spirit indwells you. The Word is available to you.

Never forget that even when human “shepherds” fail or are not available – the Great Shepherd is always attending you. He never leaves nor forsakes you – EVER.

Proverbs 6:1–5 “My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, 2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, 3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. 4 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; 5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.”

One of the dangers of reading Proverbs rather casually, is that it can easily degenerate into being interpreted as merely moral or ethical advice. That then can degenerate further into Imagining that Christianity itself is just ethics and morals – do the right thing and you’ll have acceptance with God. New Covenant or not, being a Christian is just following the “new” rules Jesus brought. Forgetting the types and shadows of Christ throughout, so that you miss the Cross in it all.

On the other hand, some ignore Wisdom literature like Proverbs, setting the ethics and morals aside completely, because they’ve come to know grace and reconciliation to God in the imputed righteousness of Christ and don’t know how to balance the two. They live in a painful, unresolved tension between grace and works (not a true tension, but one bred of misunderstanding) and so leave those portions alone because they fear falling into works salvation. They do not grasp how these precious texts give us insight to how holiness is lived out in the power of the Spirit. So we do not want to ignore the morals and ethics altogether, or we miss some of the gifts God has treasured up for us in them.

In the text above we get an opportunity to explore what happens when two ethical principles seemingly collide.

Solomon warns his young son first of all to avoid committing himself to a “neighbor” (some translations “stranger” – not a family member) in an arrangement like co-signing for a car loan or a mortgage, etc. Not being the guarantor to someone else’s debt. Not taking their responsibility on himself. As we discussed in our sermon yesterday, this is over-involvement that is unhealthy. But it often appeals to us either because of pride – “I can be the rescuer” or perhaps out of a misguided sense of obligation in friendship. Obligation which in this case is out of proportion given the relationship.

So what is one to do in such a case? Isn’t it ethical to keep one’s word and go thru with it (once agreed to) even though one realizes it is a bad idea? We can’t just renege on it can we? We have to be men and women of our word – being honest and upright.

Solomon does not counsel failing to follow through even though it might be very costly and detrimental. What he does counsel is to do everything you can to re-negotiate, and put yourself out of harm’s way. And that, is humbling and embarrassing. Yet how many of us would rather suffer the consequences than humble ourselves sin such a matter?

How many have become engaged, and know full well that there are warning signs all over the place that it is not a good match. And yet, the invitations have gone out. The rooms booked. The shower gifts opened. And rather than suffer the embarrassment, an ill-advised marriage headed for disaster is launched.

How powerful is this principle? According to Matt. 14:9 – it boxed Herod into beheading John the Baptizer. And in Judges 34, it resulted in Jephthah sacrificing his daughter, even though the Word of the Lord was clear on the subject of human sacrifice.

The text is calling for nothing less than a Spirit enabled death to self in extraordinary terms.

Beloved, if you have entered into an improper or foolish agreement, then do everything you can within Biblical bounds to extricate yourself from it. Some things ought never to be promised, and then certainly never carried out. Oh that Jephtha had done this. His foolish, careless, rash oath to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house ought to have been  recanted of and NOT fulfilled. It was time for him to humble himself, rather than keep his pledge to do that which God never would demand, and at the cost of his daughter’s life.

Now this is good and sound but please – DO NOT stop at the ethics! If you do, you’ll miss the point. Because it is in precisely this kind of tension that we can see the root of the Gospel being exposed – the wonder of how God can be both just, and the justifier of sinful men. How can He remain holy and still save us? Not by being paralyzed by seeming collision between the two. But in the miracle of the substitutionary death of Jesus at Calvary. Christ our surety. Christ our guarantee. Christ Jesus, the answer to the REAL dilemma of the ages. In Him, the resolution of the cosmos is possible.

What a glorious Savior He is!

Proverbs 5:3–6 “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, 4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; 6 she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.”

We have noted that Proverbs uses the imagery of the “forbidden woman” as a type of all temptation to sin. The picture is especially poignant for a young man, but we do not want to lose the impact of it for both men and women in all sorts of temptation. The idea is, that it is alluring and appeals to the natural appetites, but contains the element of drawing us toward what is not rightfully ours.

The 6^th verse contains a massively important insight.  Temptation always includes this element of failure to consider the end of what it is proposing.

The first part of that diversion is found in that It offers “an” end – some pleasure, some satisfaction, to supply something which we imagine is missing and “ought” to be ours – but not THE end. It obscures, distracts us from seeing the ultimate end of succumbing – death.

Here is why the appeals of sin and temptation have such an apparent sincerity to their claims – they are deceived themselves. The arguments they use are plausible and seemingly filled with good will. But the deception of blindness is there. And we must bring the Light to it to understand. We must bring Christ into the situation. We must ask: How does what we are contemplating accord with Who He is and what He is about in the world? This is the question which must ever be in our hearts and minds.

We must also ask – as Believers – How does what we are contemplating accord with who WE are IN Christ? With how our mission as His ambassadors in the world fits with this act, or attitude, or pursuit?

This theme of considering what is fitting given who Christ is and who we are in Him is found throughout Scripture – and it brings us back to think about ultimate ends versus immediate ends. If I have planned a trip to California as a final destination where my family is and my job is and all the things I truly love are, but someone has said if I go to New York City I will be really happy for a day – I have to ask myself, can going east get me west? No. Obviously not.

Can any sin move me closer to Heaven? No. Can any sin move me closer to the image of Christ? No. Can any temporary pleasure which will be immediately followed with days or even years of guilt, shame, regret and the ruinous impact on other’s lives if not my own really be worth it? No! And yet that is the very decision we often make. No wonder one old wag said that “sin is the divorce of reason from the will.” In it, we will what is in the final analysis unreasonable.

So the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 5:2–3  — “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.”

We don’t want to overstate this, but in some ways, more important than asking “does the Bible say this is sin or that is OK?” is asking – how does this fit with who I am as God’s image-bearer? Is it “proper” among the saints? Does it fit? Will it take me where I am supposed to be going?

Proverbs 5:15–20 “Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. 16 Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? 17 Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. 18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, 19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. 20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?”

It is ESSENTIAL in overcoming temptation that we are taking full advantage of what God HAS given to us, so as to prevent having much of an appetite for what He has not. This is an abiding and vitally important principle. It was established for us back in Eden.

Before God’s command to our first parents forbidding them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, came this: Genesis 2:15–16 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden.” It is interesting that this “permission” (“you may”) is prefaced in the text by saying “the Lord God commanded.”

Eat! Was the first command. And with it, the reminder that they may “surely eat of EVERY tree of the garden.” In other words, have as much as you want. Taste as many different things as I have given you. And do not let yourself go hungry, you may SURELY eat. Scope it out. Sample them all. Eat to your heart’s and stomach’s content. Eat!

It is only AFTER this that man is commanded to refrain from the forbidden tree. God is not interested in depriving us and then setting us up to fall. He provides for us out of the rich bounties that are at our disposal.

It is for want of reveling fully in His goodness and grace and filling our souls with the delights which do rightly belong to us, that we are so powerless to refuse those things which are not appointed for us, when offered. This is true in every area of temptation, but it has special application to the married.

For married couples, there can be no doubt that the Writer’s words are aimed especially at making sure your physical and emotional desires are being properly met WITHIN your relationship. If you give up there, or begin to grow dissatisfied, much care must be taken to be sure one or the other is not defrauding their partner and thus creating a scenario where temptation has a better chance of getting a foothold.

In order for this to be a reality for most of us, the truth is that husbands and wives must discuss this with one another, and take responsibility toward one another in it. It must be talked about. Calmly. Lovingly. Thoughtfully, allowing for each other’s varied needs and differing appetites. But when such talk is off limits; when we are too embarrassed or unwilling to open up to one another – and not loving enough to accommodate one another (this is NEVER one-sided) we will inevitably run the risk of unspoken and un-agreed upon expectations driving a wedge between us. In practice then, we add weight to our spouse’s already existing burden of temptation. And what can be more unloving than to weaken our partner’s ability to fight the temptations which accost us all? So that each is tempted to find solace in places they were never intended to.

What a practical way to learn how to “love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)

Proverbs 5:3 “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil”

As we saw in the sermon yesterday, Proverbs 5 is what we might call a “strong meat” passage. Solomon doesn’t mince words with his son. Since the subject matter impacts the eternal state of his son’s soul, he spares nothing. He is bold and plain in his speech.

In our politically correct day – the tendency to be overly polite has crept even into the Church, so that our words are often “defanged” in an all-costs effort not to offend anyone. Offending people has taken on the character of being the only real cardinal sin of our age. You can say anything, as long as in reality it says nothing that can bother anyone else.

The Bible treats people as more valuable than that. It assumes that what is most loving, is what is actually best for people not what may or may not make them feel best. It respects us as being able to grapple with the truth, and not needing to live in a fantasy world where all is lilies and puffy clouds. God is a God of truth. And as made in His image, humankind is to be a race of truth – hard as some truths may be.

Let me remind you briefly of two things which appear in the text above, and which were amplified in the rest of this chapter.

1. Useful for our studying the rest of Proverbs (as well as other passages of Scripture) is to bear in mind that the idea of a “forbidden woman” is not ONLY an appeal to dealing with sexual sin for men – but a picture of all temptation to sin, for men, women and children alike.

All temptation – no matter what the object, calls us to partake of the forbidden, what God for whatever reason(s) has put off limits to us. As forbidden, it is some thing (or some one) we have no right to.

With that, comes a promise of certain “sweetness” – a seductive good implied in what is being proposed. This is accompanied by arguments in the heart and mind to smooth out any objections to pursuing the proposed good our consciences, God’s Word or anyone else might propose to us. The power of which resides in the fact that our own hearts are self-deceptive: Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

2. The unmasking of sin is one of our greatest weapons in overcoming it. Seeing it for what it really is. Stripping away the illusion. It is a constant battle, and a tactic which cannot be overestimated. We desperately need to see things as they are from God’s perspective. What Francis Schaeffer used to call “real reality.”

Our culture has decided to not call sin sin anymore. We concoct an entire glossary of terms to avoid it. Alternative lifestyle. Parsing facts. Polyamory. The “disease” model for drunkenness = alcoholism. Positive self-image. Addictive behaviors. Creative or un-orthodox accounting practices. Any way of describing things so as to denude them of any moral content. So we paint sin in the best possible light. We give it a pretty, or at least a non-offensive mask to hide behind. We excuse it in others so that we can excuse it in ourselves if need be. And more than anything, we avoid connecting it with the out-pouring of God’s wrath on Christ in our stead at Calvary.

Solomon wanted to make sin as repulsive to his son as he possibly could. A tactic we need to employ for ourselves. One which should bring us back to contemplate the horror of the cross again and again.

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Keeping the heart is a call of dire need. The heart of the human being – is the core of life. Of course the organ that pumps blood is not being referred to here – but the organ of the soul that communicates life and purpose and passion to the whole being is intended. It is what the old theologians used to refer to as inward “inclination” – what each of us is inclined toward as the governing direction of our life’s pursuit – the gravitational pull of our inward man. What, when all else is stripped away, drives and motivates us.

The truth is, many of us never even take the time to find out what exactly DOES motivate us above all else. We often flit from thing to thing still looking for an all consuming passion. But in reality, we already have one. It is at the bottom of all the choices we make in life. We simply haven’t identified it yet. For some it is safety. For others, pleasure. Still others seek meaning above all else, or a sense of accomplishment, approval, validation or simply to consume what seems most desirable at the moment.

So how does one then “keep” or guard the heart, so that we are walking in wisdom and in fellowship with God and His eternal plans and purposes? What am I to be “vigilant” over for that to happen – so that the “springs of life” – the fountain of true joy and refreshment and sustenance remain unpolluted by the poisons of the Fall?

Our Teacher points out four things.

1. (24) One must cultivate honesty with themselves, and with others. If we are willing to entertain duplicity – to have secret lives, to live dishonestly with others, we will inevitably be habitual hypocrites. We must be brutally honest with ourselves about our own sinfulness and unwilling to seem better than we are to others – even if that invites rebuke. Passing ourselves off as Mr. or Ms. Altogether-Christian for the public consumption of others will lead us to hide, and at the same time to live in constant judgment of others. If you are constantly avoiding letting people see who you really are, or pointing the finger at other’s sins – this is probably your area of need.

2. (25) We must be actually aimed at the goal of Heaven and Christ’s likeness. If that is not our goal and aim in life – if that is not where we are traveling to in life – then we are headed somewhere else. No one stumbles into Heaven – we go there intentionally or not at all. There will be no accidental tourists there. Those who have no clear destination will wander – emotionally, spiritually and in every other area of life. Are you on your way to meet the King? Are you actually plotting a course there? If not, you will not arrive.

3. (26) We must examine and re-examine our decisions to see if they are commensurate with our stated goal and direction. The heart is distracted and polluted when our decision making practice does not at least include (at SOME point) the question as to how this decision fits with where I am going and who I am becoming in Christ. Countless woes would be avoided if we would ask this of ourselves before we entered into things. How does X fit with my journey to see Jesus? Does it help? Does it hinder? Is it compatible?

4. (27) We cannot move off of the path that the Scripture has given us, and still get there. Isaiah calls it a “highway of holiness.” There is only one way to follow Christ – I must walk the same way He does, I must go WITH Him. And He is not going certain places. He is not heading into sexual immorality. He is not moving toward theft, or lust, or dishonesty, or coveting this world’s goods, or fame or pleasure. He is headed home to His Father. And there but one road there – Him. He Himself IS the truth, the life and the way.

So my friend – where are you off to today? And how will you be getting there?

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Man’s wisdom says: Find out what you love, and pursue it. God’s wisdom says: Find out if what you love is worthy of pursuit. If not – get a new love.

Guard and govern what you let yourself love. Moths are attracted to the flame, and often so are we. We can be intrigued with brazen sin, and with diversions in study and even religion. With our mates, careers, hobbies, etc. Enjoy them, we are supposed to enjoy them – but do not love them the same.

The Worlds’ wisdom and God’s are ever at odds. And when you stumble across passages like this one, the differences are highlighted with stunning clarity. For there is probably no place where the very core of what it means to live – to live life – is better unfolded than in examining the loves of our own hearts. Who and what we love speaks volumes.

In fact, it is those loves which set the entire course for our lives and determine how and what we do.

We decide what to do and when based upon what we love. Yes, sometimes those loves are competing and complex – but the main thought here runs true. I may not “love” the idea of having my body cut open and parts removed while I am asleep and helpless, but if I love the idea of remaining alive, I’ll subject myself to the surgeon’s knife anyway.

Love of one thing will make me forsake other things I love – like love for health making me forsake a diet of nothing but ice cream cakes. But in the final analysis, it is always what I love most, which will win out. This holds the key to each of us analyzing the decisions we make. Hence, we have this admonition from the writer of Proverbs 4 to “keep” our hearts, guard them with all “vigilance”. Because the waters of your life and mine, flow out from that place. What we love, will determine how that river flows. Violently after certain loves; Purely after others; Consistently after still others, and Refreshingly to those around us out of other loves yet.

If we were to contrast the World’s wisdom at this point most clearly against the backdrop of God’s wisdom – we could perhaps do it this way: Man’s wisdom says: “Find out what you love, and pursue it.” It is the mantra not only of career counselors, but also of the Church at times. But the wisdom from above says instead: “Find out if what you love is worthy of pursuit. And if it isn’t – get a new love.” This is what it means to guard or keep you heart – to govern what you allow it to love.

In our day of people literally being victims of “falling in love” as though it is utterly involuntary, the Bible bids us to live higher, and infinitely free-er. So my friend – what are the things you love? Are they worthy? If not – get new ones. You’ll find that will ALWAYS lead you to the most worthy One of all. And there – you can love and pursue with utter abandon and joy.

Proverbs 4:7 “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”

My first REAL crush on a girl was on Carol. In High School. She was my first kiss. She was very bright (graduated a year early) and pretty and talented and she liked me. Go figure. And the summer we started seeing each other, I had the wonderful privilege of sharing the Gospel with her and I believe seeing her come to faith in Christ. But she went off to college and I had another year of school and soon we lost contact completely.

About 15 years ago, after the notice of an upcoming high school reunion, I started searching the web for old school chums, and began wondering where Carol was and how life had gone for her. Surly she was married to some extraordinary guy. But she was nowhere to be found.

After tracking down her old best friend, she put me on to Carol’s older brother whom I had known, and was finally able to contact him. Norm was surprised to hear from me. We chatted cordially about other siblings we knew and I finally inquired about Carol. The phone got quiet. “You don’t know?” he asked. Know what? I replied. Carol passed away. 2 years out of high school.

It seems that Carol thought she had contracted the flu. She went to the hospital, and they thought the same thing and treated her accordingly. But she didn’t have the flu. She had contracted hepatitis. They caught the mistaken diagnosis too late. It claimed her life.

What has this to do with Proverbs 4? A lot. In most areas of life, making a decision without ALL the facts isn’t actually life threatening. In Carol’s case it was. And Proverbs is constantly calling us to not settle for surface information on anything – but to gain true wisdom – insight.

This is especially critical when it comes to understanding spiritual truth – where the consequences may far exceed merely life-threatening levels, but reach eternal, soul-threatening heights.

Never settle for a surface understanding of things, especially in Biblical truth. Dig. Inquire. Seek the entire story. Reserve your judgments. Hear both sides, all sides if more. Think. Consider. Turn it over and over. Pray.

As in the case before us in Proverbs – get wisdom and insight into the need to stay on course. What path to walk in life. Where am I going? Where are my steps, my actions, my attitudes and my decisions taking me? Or am I just “going” – not really giving thought to my final destination?

Do I understand how God’s economy in how this world works? And where am I in relation to it? Do I understand the true nature of sin, and of salvation? Of faith and imputed righteousness? Of the need for the cross and the substitutionary death of Christ?

The difference in such matters is not merely an issue of life and death – but of eternal life and death.

Get wisdom. And whatever you get, get insight.

Proverbs 4:5 “Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.”

What becomes increasingly plain in the book of Proverbs is, that insight and wisdom have to do with understanding how things are, and how they work – from God’s point of view. It is insight into the divine economy. It is like having sight in a world of blind men.

It isn’t that we are to try and see things that aren’t there, but see them as they really are.

Values are assigned by eternal standards, not temporal.

Eternal justice must always be held in tension.

God’s sovereignty as well as man’s responsibility have to be kept together.

Man’s relationship to God must define his relationship to all others, and to the the universe itself.

Heavenly Father, how we need this wisdom. How we plead to you for this insight.

All of this requires that Christ be contemplated as the sum and center of God’s plans and purposes. Clearing the fog off of life by redirecting oneself to think about how my life and its various facets fit into the purposes and plans Of God in Christ.

Christ IS God’s wisdom.

Here is where God’s genius is brought before our view in the very deepest parts. To be caught up in this unimaginable plan to bless an undeserving people through untold mercy and grace, and then to bring us right into His family. This is unfathomably wonderful. And if we are failing to be amazed at it, we need to look harder, and ask for more and more insight.

We need to ask ourselves over and over – what is it that is so wonderful in this salvation, in Christ, that the Father holds it up as supremely worthy of our everlasting and infinite inquiry and attention. So if I “just don’t get it”, I need to seek Him until I do.

Proverbs 3:28 “Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.”

The last observation we need to make on this chapter comes to us by way of a closer look at vs. 28.

With good reason, many commentators link this verse with Leviticus 19:13 – “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.” And Deuteronomy 24:15 “You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.”

The idea in these is mainly ethical. Workers were paid on a daily basis, not weekly or monthly. Since they depended upon the day’s wages to meet the day’s needs, timely payment was imperative. To withhold timely payment, was to sin against your neighbor’s welfare.

This is sound for us to observe in our own lives in how we pay our personal debts, as well as for corporations in how they deal with their employees. The immorality of corporations failing to be good stewards and then robbing their employees down the road of promised retirement funds and other benefits is rampant today. All this while at the same time, these same poor stewards provide the most lavish of “golden parachutes” for themselves. Do not think that God turns a blind eye to such things.

Then again, It has application when it comes to meeting the needs of those who might come to us seeking help. Being ready and willing to aide others with what God has so graciously supplied for us is a given. It is loving our neighbors as ourselves. It is living out the Gospel.

Yet, in this profound chapter, aimed at moving us toward a Gospel Centered Mind, we need to look at the thought in that context especially. In other words, in terms of our readiness to meet the deepest, most pressing need of our neighbors, with what every Christian has an inexhaustible supply of – the Gospel itself.

It seems fitting to see this exhortation in terms being at the ready to give the Gospel at every opportunity.

Christian, do not listen to the deceptions of your own hear that argue you need to be in a better mood, or have your mind in a better place. That it is inconvenient, or that you don’t have the time at that moment to do it well. You have the words of eternal life with you at all times. Seize the moment He has provided you. Don’t wait. Fulfill your ambassadorial role and tell them the good news. “Christ has come. He has died the death for sin at Calvary. Final judgment awaits us all – and might be here in a moment. Look to Christ and put your trust in Him as your sin-bearer. Today. Forsake your sin, repent and believe.” What an impact a moment can have on someone’s eternity.

“Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.”