May 30 - Proverbs 11:1-13:25

Good morning everyone,

This morning as I was reading the daily scripture I could just see Solomon, sitting at the table with a huge turkey drumstick in one hand (did they have turkeys in his kingdom?) and a goblet of his favorite beverage in the other hand enjoying a fine meal when he has an “ah ha” moment and points to the ever ready scribe, then looks across the table and says to his boy, “You know son, the Lord detests dishonest scales ….” and continues on with many more words of wisdom. 

How many of you have heard and done the same thing? From the moment we were born our parents began instilling their version of right and wrong into our heads. Agreed? Who does not remember hearing over and over, “What’s the magic word? Say please. Say excuse me. Thank you?” As we got older moving on to such things as, “Don’t lie. Play nice. No cheating!” ~ Once, many, many years ago when I was quite young, in fact just a teenager, I was living with my aunt who is the mother of an amazing, then little girl, who, incredibly smart and Shirley Temple witty, one fine afternoon asks her mom if she can go down the street to play with her friend. My aunt looks at her and begins her, “Yes, but …” and without missing a beat, this sweet little girl looks up at my aunt and with one hand on her hip politely cuts in and says, “ I know mom. I’ll play nice. I’ll talk nice, and I’ll say excuse me if I fart, so can I please go and play?” My Aunt smiled at her then lovingly said, “I know you know, but I love you enough to say it again.”

We all know the rules, or at least we should, and may even find ourselves while reading the proverbs thinking, “I know Abba, weigh fairly, have integrity, don’t cheat on my spouse, be an upright person, now can I please get on with my day?”  Yet … yet friends, there is the human nature side, the world side of us the enemy likes to control and he is such a sneaky, sly, scheming, lo-down, slime dog. He won’t start you off with heavy drugs, or major embezzlement or flat out cheating on your spouse. Nope, he will ease you in. He will try to get you to believe that there is a “free zone” before committing a dishonest act, a “fudge factor”, if you will, that allows you to be a little sinful without totally compromising your integrity. It is one of his favorite tools. And once you fall for that seduction, your moral standards loosen, your self-perception as an honest person gets a little hazier, and your ability to rationalize, to make excuses, goes up. A single act of dishonesty can change our behavior and the way we think about ourselves and the way others think about us, forever. In an instant, a single lie can wipe away a life time of integrity, that will never ever be restored to new condition. If you give up your virginity you can never be a virgin again. If you smoke you will not ever be able to claim “I’ve never smoked” again. The same goes with drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, everything and the first cut is the deepest. Once you’ve compromised the first time, the next time is infinitely easier. Does this make sense?

These are dangerous times for the mind and soul. God knows this and is aware of how easily we, like sheep, can wander away. It is exactly why He has the proverbs in a book for us, some of them repeated over and over. I would encourage you each day as you are reading in your Bible the same words you, in fact, have read over and over, to look up and see God smiling down at you, and with agape love saying, “I know you know, but I love you enough to say it again.” Amen?

Have a great day, to God Almighty be the glory.

God bless you all ….