Tag: love

Gloating: When we simply cannot get along, or simply refuse to get along with someone. Proverbs 24:17-18

Proverbs 24:17-18 New International Version

Saying 28

17 Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
    when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,
18 or the Lord will see and disapprove
    and turn his wrath away from them.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Love Thy Neighbor as You Love Thy God and Savior?

We don’t often think of people in terms of enemies and foes, and so when we come to read and study verses like these in Proverbs it may be hard to relate.

For this reason, let me bring it down to a level you may understand.

Are there people in your life who you just don’t like or really can’t get along with or refuse to get along with? Does that hit a more realistic nerve for you? 

While you may not call someone an enemy, I can be certain you the reader can name some people in your life you just don’t any have warm, fuzzy feelings for.

In all walks of life, you are going to encounter people that are hard to like and hard to root for and easier to hate with every kind of passion you can think of.

I usually get along with everyone yet there was this one person who really got so deep under my skin to the point that I just did not want to be around him.

I will spare you the details of why this person impacted me in this fashion.

Recently I discovered that life did not work out so well for this person, and when I heard what happened, my first reaction was, I am not very surprised.

I didn’t realize it at that moment but what I was doing was gloating.

One definition of gloating is when you find some kind of pleasure in someone else’s misfortune, to show in an annoying way that you are proud of your own success or excessively, expressively happy about someone else’s failure and I didn’t want to admit it at the time, but that is exactly what I was doing. 

The hypocritical nature of gloating is sometimes we wrap our gloating and mix it with highest praise, even mightily thanking God for the calamity or trouble of the person we don’t like because they we feel they mightily deserved all of it.

After all, they messed with me, and I am a child of the king.

Yet when we lay our hearts before Scripture and come to verses like these in Proverbs 24:17-18, we realize that is not the way God desires us to respond.

When we do behave in this manner our response could have the opposite effect.

“Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, 
 for the Lord will see and disapprove
 and turn his wrath away from them.” – Proverbs 24:17-18

To say this as plainly as possible, God is not pleased when we gloat over our enemies.

How should you respond to those you don’t like?

Thankfully the Bible lays out an essential framework for how to address those we don’t like, we refuse to get along with or who are our sworn enemies.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” – Matthew 5:43-44

“But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” – Colossians 3:8

Jesus commands you to love and pray for those who persecute you.

Paul instructs us to get rid of all malice, and one of the definitions of malice is to gloat over someone else’s misfortune.

When we lay the cards on the table, gloating is sinful.

The interesting thing about this type of sin is no one around you would ever know unless you opened your mouth and told them.

Gloating and malice are things we keep in our hearts; and while we can hide them from others, God sees what lives there. (2 Samuel 11)

Intersecting Faith and Life:

Proverbs 24:17-18 The Message

28

17-18 Don’t laugh when your enemy falls;
    don’t gloat over his collapse.
God might see, and become very provoked,
    and then take pity on his plight.

Here is a hard test of character.

Here is strong evidence if you are a child of God.

Here is a real measure of godliness and wisdom.

Here is a challenge for your faith, whether you want one or not.

Think now.

Are you happy when bad things happen to your enemies?

God commands you to love your personal enemies, and it is one of the chief measures of a true Christian.

Such love includes being grieved when your enemy falls or stumbles in life.

If you are glad or rejoice when he is hit by adversity, you have sinned.

In this proverb, the Lord God offers a simple rule for spiritual victory in your life.

Read on.

The proverb is not complete by itself, for the next verse, verse 18, explains the consequences of rejoicing at his troubles, “Lest the LORD see it, and it displeases him, and he turn away his wrath from him” (Proverbs 24:18).

God may switch from your side to your enemy’s side, if He detects you gloating about pain or trouble in your enemy’s life.

Beware!

If you are happy when bad things happen to your enemy, the Lord will see your selfish and vengeful glee; He will be angry at your wicked attitude; and He may lift His punishment of your enemy (Proverbs 24:18).

You will have stooped lower than your enemy, all the way to murderous thoughts of the heart – at those, A holy and righteous God cannot stand by.

Revenge is sin; vengeance is God’s (Romans 12:17-21).

But the proverb is not that simple.

The Preacher will not let you escape just because you have not actively sought to injure an enemy.

The wisdom of God is broader, more comprehensive than that (Psalm 119:96).

Solomon is going after your secret malignant thoughts that enjoy seeing your enemies in pain or trouble (Proverbs 24:9).

Do you rejoice – in your thoughts – when your enemy falls?

Are you glad – in your secret heart – when your enemy stumbles?

Do you feel a sense of vindication and pleasure at hearing of his or her misfortune?

These are the sins Solomon condemned.

Ah, dear reader, the glorious light of God’s word shines deep – all the way to your inner feelings. (Hebrews 4:12)

How do enemies fall and stumble?

They can fall and stumble into sin, which gives you no right to joy, because love “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth” (I Corinthians 13:6).

If you care about someone, even in the least degree, you would not be glad to hear of their involvement in sin, for you should have the desire for all men to live righteously.

Enemies can fall and stumble into earthly troubles.

They may lose a job, get a divorce, have problems with their children, contract a disease, have an automobile accident, lose their dog, or catch the flu or a cold.

Wicked men secretly smile in their malicious hearts, for there are few things sweeter to the depraved soul of man than to see his enemy having troubles.

There is a right way to exact holy revenge or retribution on your enemy.

Are you ready for the secret of inspired wisdom?

Treat your enemy with love and kindness, even in your thoughts, and let the Lord deal with him (Proverbs 25:20-21; 20:22).

You prove a righteous heart; the Lord is pleased by your actions; and your enemy will face your angry Father.

Dealing With This All-Too-Common sin called Gloating

Let’s deal with this issue by doing something practical.

Think about anyone in your life you either don’t really like or that you would consider an enemy.

Write their name down and spend the next week praying for that person or people if there is more than one.

I know what you may be thinking, but you don’t know how they are, you don’t know what they have done, or you don’t know what it is like to deal with them.

You are probably right about that, but God’s Word puts no qualifiers on this.

We are to love them, pray for them, hold no malice in our hearts toward them.

Here is why this is important for you.

It is your own heart that is at stake.

When you refuse to get along with them, or harbor malice and gloat over that person’s misfortune, you allow that person to keep a measure and degree of control over you, and you give room for bitterness to take root in your heart.

However, when you pray for them and love them, they no longer have influence over your life. 

Who is that enemy of yours?

Do they work at your job?

Are they your neighbors?

Do they live in your neighborhood?

Do they go to your church?

Are they in your family?

Are they yourselves – are you the one who hates yourself the most?

Wherever they are, love them and pray for them.

James 5:16 New American Standard Bible 1995

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective [a]prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

I can’t guarantee this will change them, but one thing it will definitely do is it will definitely change you, and just maybe that is what God was after all along.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd,
I [a]shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside [b]quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He guides me in the [c]paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the [d]valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no [e]evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You [f]have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
6 [g]Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will [h]dwell in the house of the Lord [i]forever.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Habits of Faith: Loving Ourselves and Loving Others as God First Loved Us is Going to Take Time. 1 John 4:7-10

1 John 4:7-10 The Message

God Is Love

7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

As Christians, we are encouraged to love one another which includes ourselves.

So in a world where love is defined in many different ways, who better to look at and follow His example than God, who is love (1 John 4:8)? 

Like 1 John 4:16 explains, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:7-10 New King James Version

Knowing God Through Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  10  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Please, in this moment, stop what you are thinking about to take a few seconds or minutes and think about all the undefinable depths of love Jesus has for you.

Depending on the day, the time of day, circumstances of the day, perhaps you feel a barrier, because we may know all too well, how we often fail, falter, take our eyes off our King, and at times maybe even want nothing to do with Him.

But God is here to tell all of us right now that in those exact moments, Christ’s all-encompassing love is yet all the more present and there to sustain you!

For He has chosen all of us, though we each will fail, called each of us His own, though we will certainly falter, that we all have a place at His table even when our gaze is not perfectly fixed and laser focused on the divine host. 

So, in the coming moments, in the hours, days ahead do think about how Christ’s love for you is like a consuming ocean you cannot swim away from. 

Do think about that He is the greatest joy in times of both defeat and triumph. 

Do think about that He is your deepest comfort, hope, in your most trying of sorrows. Oh, what love he has for his children…Oh, what love he has for you!

So, now is as good a time as any, join me in praising God, for His persistent love.

Praise God, that He continually reveals to us what love is even right now.

Praise God, that he first loved us which enables us to, therefore, go and love on others exactly where they are. 

So today, remainder of this week, continually, let there be no shortage of love from the children of God especially during the times we are all experiencing.

Ask Jesus right now, to reveal to you how to love others through you as He has so graciously, so indelibly, covered you in his love.

Love Others First – but be sure to include yourself because you matter to God.

For many, love is a reciprocal response.

Someone loves us, so we love them back.

This all started with God, as 1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love because He first loved us.”

So what if, like God, we just start loving other people first?

So, what if, like God, while loving others, we also included ourselves – first?

Often this is easier said than done.

Especially if, maybe like me, you’ve experienced a time when someone decided they just didn’t like you or when that someone was YOU not loving yourself.

In these cases, we usually don’t know why or what is the reason behind their feelings or even our own feelings for that matter. 

When something like this happens, we can choose to overlook their attitudes toward us and love them anyway.

Sometimes our unconditional love will win them over, but sometimes it doesn’t. 

Still, that’s the risk we take when we choose to love others first.

In these situations, we get a taste, a very small glimpse of what God has been dealing with down through the ages in loving those who don’t love Him back. 

In everyday life, we’re given countless opportunities to step out and love others in our homes, churches, workplaces, and communities.

We have countless opportunities where we can choose to even overlook our own feelings in the matter-considering God’s love for His own Son through the ages.

Love others and ourselves Even When It’s Messy

God knows loving men and women in their sins is pretty messy. 

God knows exactly how well we love others, how well we will love others.

God knows how well we love ourselves, how well we will love ourselves.

But, God cuts through all that messiness with this indelible truth …

Romans 5:8 explains, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

Likewise, parenthood helps many men and women understand how God could love us in our messes.

It’s also good training ground for learning how to love others in their disarray. 

All around the world, moms and dads face unpleasant scenarios in taking care of children.

From diaper disasters, food mishaps, exploring incidents, and more, parents push through the chaos to keep loving and caring for their children.

Likewise, loving others can be messy, especially when walking through various situations with them that are uncomfortable, unpleasant, or inconvenient.

Love others and ourselves Sacrificially

Real-life TV shows of love, romance, and marriage often give insight into how individuals view love and what they believe loving one another involves.

Frequently when a prospective bride or groom is asked how they fell in love with the other person, his or her answer involves how the other person’s love makes them a better person or feel special and loved.

But what if once married, the other person stops making them feel like a better person – what happens if they stop feeling loved by their spouse or children?

For many couples, whether married for a few years or longer, with children or not, they start to realize that love isn’t about how a spouse makes us feel but rather establishing just what costs are we willing to pay to show them love.

Are we willing to give up our pride, selfishness, resources, plans, and more if needed to love our husband or wife or dare to go ahead, including ourselves?

John 3:16 describes the high cost God was willing to pay to demonstrate His love to us “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

God demonstrated the high cost of loving others and how to love sacrificially.

He deliberately, intentionally, paid the ultimate price to prove His love to us. 

As the Author, Creator, and only Source of love, He modeled what it means to express love to those around us by loving us first, loving us in our messiness of our breakdowns, break ups, faults, failures and sin, and loving us sacrificially.

Intersecting Faith and Life:

Are you willing to lovingly reach out to others this week?

Are we willing enough, daring too, to lovingly reach out to ourselves this week?

If so, ask God to help you love others, being sure to include loving yourself like He loves you by loving self and them first, sacrificially, and in their messiness.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 New King James Version

The Lord the Shepherd of His People

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not [a]want.
2 He makes me to lie down in [b]green pastures;
He leads me beside the [c]still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will [d]dwell in the house of the Lord
[e]Forever.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Our Kingdom Presence: Cultivating a Honeycomb of Humble and Gracious, Encouraging Words. Proverbs 16:24 

Proverbs 16:24 English Standard Version

24 Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
    sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

It’s true.

People are drawn to those who speak to them and about them kindly.

Speaking to others in a kind manner is a characteristic that we don’t come in contact with today like we use to.

IT TAKES VERY LITTLE COURAGE TO CLICK SEND.

In the past when anyone wanted to speak poorly about someone, they did it behind their back (still a terrible thing to do) but today, in this age of the smart phone and the internet, people get to “hide behind” their computer screens and phones and we get a whole lot more wild, bold with how we respond to others.

You don’t even have to share your name.

You can send something “anonymously” and hide your computers address.

If one was inclined, they can just be blatantly mean and remain anonymous.

SWEETNESS TO THE SOUL

I think today, more than ever before, it’s incredibly refreshing to hear kind and gracious words – such rare words have a huge impact on our mind and our body.

Like the verse says in Proverbs 16:24

Proverbs 16:24 King James Version

24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

I know how much my soul grieves, I know that I have felt sick to my stomach for days when someone has been downright mean toward me and I have felt a renewed sense of joy and energy when I hear true encouragement and praise.

Words affect our entire being. And they can remain a part of our souls makeup for the rest of our lives. I can remember as a child things I was told, both good and bad, and even today I really have to battle all the lies to embrace the truth.

I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED AS KIND AND LOVING

As one who is getting more mature in their years, if I leave one Kingdom legacy, I believe I would want it to be that I left others feeling good about themselves.

Not because I lied to to be politically correct, to over inflate their egos, to butter them up or with man’s wisdom made things up to baby them into feeling good.

But because I truly found the good in someone and left them feeling like I saw that piece of them and treated them in a way that they felt loved and respected.

Even when I have to share something negative, I want to turn to God, I want to strive to do it in a way that is gracious and kind – I want to turn them onto God.

There really are ways to give constructive criticism, to not be so blunt and so disrespectful, both in our every day lives and our social media lives. There are real people on the other side of that screen, who feel hurt, pain, joy, and love.

CHOOSE TO SPEAK LIFE

We each have the power to speak life and/or death into those around us.

We each can make a person feel either incredibly small or incredibly loved.

We need to be more careful with our words.

With our friends, with strangers, and for sure with our families- the ones who sometimes get the brunt of our frustrations.

So, in these days of 2024, stand out from the crowd – please have the courage to be kind – have some courage to speak life into those we come into contact with.

CULTIVATING A HONEYCOMB OF GRACIOUS WORDS

Proverbs 16:24 Amplified Bible

24 
Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweet and delightful to the soul and healing to the body.

What words are you putting out into the world?

Are we choosing our words thoughtfully, are we taking every opportunity to be Kingdom builders, Kingdom edifiers, speaking to encourage and uplift others?

our words “adding honey” sweetening the lives of those who hear, read them?

Or, are we following the Social Media trend to be anonymous, speak your mind, speak truth to set someone straight, or put another in his or her rightful place?

Maybe you try to be encouraging but others just push your buttons to the point where you feel like you have to say something, anything or you’ll simply burst!

It’s so easy in heated moments of conflict to get caught up in the latest political, social, fashion, or celebrity debate, say things you’ll wish later you hadn’t said.

So if you and/or I have slipped up in our words a few times, we are not alone.

James 3:2 describes how, “We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.”

Still, Scripture reminds that,

“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless” (James 1:26).

Maybe we have been surprised by things we have heard or have read by other Christians and perhaps even our own words at times have caught us off guard?

Proverbs 13:3 gives incentive for choosing to be careful with your words, describing the difference it can make in your life to do so, stating,

“Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.”

If you struggle with speaking careless words, ask God to, “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).

As well, Psalm 34:13 urges to

“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.”

When you do, Proverbs 12:14 encourages that from the fruit of your lips you will be filled with good things.

Proverbs 12:14Easy-to-Read Version

14 People get good things for the words they say, and they are rewarded for the work they do.

Likewise, Proverbs 16:23 describes how, “The hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent, and their lips promote instruction.”

Speak truth, Speak of God, Speak Jesus, Speak Holy Spirit, ask God to direct your speech so that your words are helping to build up the faith of those around you.

As Colossians 3:16 urges, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

What is the object lesson of Proverbs 16 24?

As Proverbs 16:24 tells us, pleasant words are like a honeycomb, bringing sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.

We want to be known for the fruit of our gentleness and for the fruit of our compassion and be using our words to uplift and encourage those around us.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 34:1-10 The Message

34 I bless God every chance I get;
my lungs expand with his praise.

2 I live and breathe God;
if things aren’t going well, hear this and be happy:

3 Join me in spreading the news;
together let’s get the word out.

4 God met me more than halfway,
he freed me from my anxious fears.

5 Look at him; give him your warmest smile.
Never hide your feelings from him.

6 When I was desperate, I called out,
and God got me out of a tight spot.

7 God’s angel sets up a circle
of protection around us while we pray.

8 Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
    how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.

9 Worship God if you want the best;
worship opens doors to all his goodness.

10 Young lions on the prowl get hungry,
but God-seekers are full of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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