Good morning. We are back
in Proverbs. We will skip the verse about a beautiful woman who lacks
discretion being like a ring of gold in a swine's snout. The desire of the
righteous is only good. Too many times it's only what is good for us or our
families. There is one who scatters, yet increases all the more, and there is
one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want. As in the
play Hello Dolly when she was quoting her late husband: "Money is like
manure – it's no good unless you spread it around". (I saw the play in
Mobile with my parents, staring Carol Channing). If you are generous to those
who are in need, God will bless you immensely. If you are stingy, your purse
will have holes in it. Verse 25 says: The generous man will be prosperous, and
he who waters will himself be watered. And then the infamous verse: he who
troubles his own house will inherit the wind (starring Spencer Tracy). The
fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls. Your
fruit is a tree of life. You are wise, and you will win souls. If the
righteous will be rewarded in the earth, how much more the wicked and the
sinner. Sometimes though it doesn't look like it's going to happen. It seems
like the wicked get away with everything, and the good people are doomed to
failure. But in the end righteousness will prevail. Father thank You that the
reader is prosperous and is able to water those in need. His/her fruit is a
tree of life and his/her wisdom wins souls.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
Comments
Post a Comment