Watchword
(1 Kings 18.25-46; Matthew 2.13-23)
It is vain for you to rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved. Psalm 127.2
Jesus said to the disciples, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything ?” They said, “No, not a thing”. Luke 22.35
Proverbs 26: 12, 13. 16
Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
There is a lion in the streets!”
The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
Than seven men who can answer sensibly.
What can you say? Your accusation has been completely trumped. You faulted the contractor for not following through on what he promised, but he gave a completely air-tight defense for just why he could not do what he said he would. His reasons leave you with gasping, with nothing to say.
Our series of proverbs today teach us that laziness most often doesn’t come to us as bald inactivity. Instead it is often clothed with excuses, the more shocking the better: how about, a “lion in the streets”? The lazy person always offers his version of mitigating circumstances, unforeseen obstacles, impassable mountains.
Here we discover a particular liability of intelligence: verbiage can stand-in for real doings. For instance, perhaps you have a spouse who has the common sense to understand that you’re not doing what you should be. But you can express yourself better than she. So her gentle (and, don’t forget, true!) admonitions to you sink to the bottom under the weight of your red herrings, sophistry, multi-syllable words.
There is more hope for a fool.
Part of your being saved from sin is leaving behind excuses! When you receive Jesus into your life you are implicitly laying yourself open to His Word which divides the joint from marrow, which discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. In your Christian life, you will soon fathom that you live before “Him with Whom we have to do,” and readily grasp that there is a Day when the Lord will judge “the secrets of men.” Under these truths, your flimsy excuses will soon seem thin, even to you. That’s walking in the truth! That’s when change can happen! That’s a good thing!
Bible Reading: Romans 10: 14-17
This paragraph is often used to demonstrate the importance of evangelism. But let it also delineate what evangelism must include: a spoken Gospel! Not enough to help people or live well before them!
Post a Comment