Tag: Romans 5:6-8

Romans 5:6-8 |The Surprise Gospel | We Shall All See God as He Really Is!!!

When you and I see God as He really is, we will Worship Him in the beauty of His Holiness and not ours. We’ll truly worship Him as He desires to be worshipped. We shall have Communion with Him. We’ll all share in this surprising moment.

When Moses saw God and worshipped Him, He ended up giving us the Law – the Ten Commandments. When Job saw God as He really was and worshipped Him, his whole family and estate was magnified and restored to him, Job received his second chance at living life. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, he was given a glimpse of His throne room, inducted into the role of a Prophet of God.

I introduce you to the Pharisee Saul, in his zealousness when he was blinded by the holiness of God on the Damascus Road, he repented, was healed and became Paul, the greatest missionary evangelist who ever lived and gave us the bulk of the New Testament Writings from which we study and learn who Jesus really is.

And when John saw God and fell down before him as dead, he got up and wrote the Book of Revelation, the great Apocalyptic story of the New Testament. As he himself walked behind and alongside his Rabbi for three years with the twelve disciples, he looked upon Jesus as He really was, hung upon the cross and dying. With Peter, He looked into the empty tomb and witnessed to the power of God.

When we finally see God as He really is, we will look forward to the day when we too will be like Him. In the New Testament we are told that someday we shall be like Him because we will see Him as He really is. On that day, we will be holy in perfection. We will be changed, and the sins of our lives will be taken away. We are going to be beautiful in our worship because God is beautiful in His holiness.

Romans 5:1-8 Authorized (King James) Version

5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 and patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

6 For when we were yet without [inner] strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Unconditional love! WOW! This is the “LOVE” God has for us. 

A PICTURE OF GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR HUMANITY is found in John 3:16-For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

In spite of the wrong and sinful things we have done, the unclean places we have gone in our deeds, the unpleasing sinful acts we have committed and continues to commit, the ugly things we have said or the evil thoughts that crosses our minds can, surprisingly, God’s love never leaves us.

God’s love for humanity transcends our sinful condition because even in the midst of them, He showed us His unconditional love.

In other words, there is nothing we can do to make God stop loving us.

There are a vast multitude of sinful things, i.e. (idolatry and unbelief) that we can do to cause us to be separated from a personal relationship with God, but not from His love for each one of us.

Nothing we do can stop God from loving us. Calvary proved that! Yes, it was at Calvary where the “LOVE” of God for humanity was put on display.

Even after salvation, regardless of what we may have to endure through long suffering, hardship, etc.,  Apostle Paul surprisingly declares this concerning God’s love for us in Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither things present nor things to come, 39 neither height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Surprisingly, regardless of my diverse tests and trials, I am “PERSUADED” that NOTHING can separate me from the Love God has for me through Christ Jesus!

It comes as no surprise to me then that I can read and study and pray through the full length and breadth of God’s Holy Scriptures and just want to worship!

My living hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Blood and His Righteousness.

Romans 5:5 This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to us.

If you are saved and have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith, you are daily tasting the outpouring of God’s “LOVE” in your hearts through God’s Holy Spirit whom He was given to us at our point of salvation.

If you do not know Jesus for the pardon of your sins, invite Him in on today by first asking Him to forgive you of your sins and to open the eyes of your heart to His “UNCONDITIONAL LOVE” for you.

When you have made your confession of your desperate need for God, not only is He faithful and just to forgive you, but He is willing to lead, guide and direct the rest of your life by the leading of His Holy Spirit.

Not surprisingly Warrior, King, Master Poet, even master sinner, David declares these words concerning God “LOVE” in Psalm 34:8-Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

It should not come as such a surprise that God’s “LOVE” is an everlasting love.

New life in the “SPIRIT” is available to you on today. 

The Great Exchange is God’s love for our sins. WOW! What an exchange. 

Unconditional “LOVE” is found at the foot of the cross. 

Run to Jesus for He alone offers you UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!

This kind of love cannot be found in nothing or no one else.

When nothing else could help me, “LOVE” was broken for me!

When nothing else could help me, “LIVING LOVE” lifted me!

JESUS IS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!

DO NOT LET THIS BE SUCH A SURPRISE TO YOU!

SHARE COMMUNION WITH GOD AS HE FIRST SHARED IT WITH US!

God bless.

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

Let us Pray,

God of enlightenment, help me to read, study and understand your word. Give me insight into the meaning of your commandments and how I should follow them in their beauty and their truth. As I meditate on your wonderful miracles, As I search your beauty, wonder who you really are, may I be encouraged and empowered. As I study how you have fought our battles from the stories in the Bible, may I be built up and strengthened. Help me to know how you want me to put the hope of your word into real practice. Assist me to know you more fully through your word, be pleasing to you. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Romans 5:6-8 |The Surprise Gospel | I am so Struggling with the Surprise!

The Patriarch Job wrote in Chapter Seven verses 1 – 6 (Message) these words.

There’s Nothing to My Life

7 1-6 “Human life is a struggle, isn’t it?
    It’s a life sentence to hard labor.
Like field hands longing for quitting time
    and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,
I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere—
    months of aimlessness, nights of misery!
I go to bed and think, ‘How long till I can get up?’
    I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I’m fed up!
I’m covered with maggots and scabs.
    My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.
My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles,
    and then the yarn runs out—an unfinished life!

The Bible tells us that even believers struggle with trusting God because life is hard and cruel at times. But we know there is hope and that joy is 100% possible because of the eternal life we have with Christ. Therefore, God wants us to be full of faith and grow in His divine direction, comforted by the Holy Spirit. In this complete trust of our Lord and Savior, we can live with true peace and joy.

Today, we have the opportunity to renew our perspective. Be encouraged, learn to walk through each day with a Romans 5:8 joyful spirit and a refocused mind.

  • Remember the Gospel hope found in God’s promises.
  • Take comfort in God’s divine plan for your life.
  • Rejoice in God’s presence.
  • Reconnect with the true Gospel life-changing hope found in the Bible.
  • Share with others the answer to their deepest problem and greatest need.

The Struggle is Absolutely Real ….

But GOD is also absolutely 100% REAL!

Romans 5:6-8 Easy-to-Read Version

6 Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God, but at just the right time Christ died for us. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

God’s people have been struggling for millennia to understand the love of God.

They have misunderstood him, taken him for granted, ignored him, and sinned against him, but he has never stopped showing his love to them.

Ultimately, Jesus left his throne in heaven to come and show us once and for all exactly how deep the love of God is for us. You and I have to 100% believe that.

You and I have to acknowledge the love of God for us.

That’s my greatest prayer.

The way to your salvation is by trusting the God of all Life that tells this story.

You and I can have love like this, and it does not even matter we’re a sinner, because Christ died for sinners. In fact, he died only for sinners. So, if we see our need for a love like this, we 100% qualify for that love. We can all come to him, and he will not cast us out because God shows his love to a surprising people.

God shows his Gospel love unto a surprising people.

The kind of person that God shows his love to is surprising. He shows his love to sinners. The text is plain and simple, Paul writes, “while we were still sinners”.

If we had the all-seeing eye of God, we would be appalled at not only the sin we see in each other but the sin we see in our own hearts.

I’d venture to say we are aware of about 5% of our sin. But God sees all of it.

We need to understand what our sin looks like to God. Our sins aren’t mistakes.

We like to use that word. It softens it. But the Bible uses words like evil and wickedness in regard to our sin. How often have we called ourselves evil or wicked? But you and I are! We are all one big hot mess. Our sin has ruined us.

Every one of us has experienced this. Every one of us has done something that we do not even want to think nor talk about. And yet God looks down at us in that condition, God sees everything in us! God knows everything of that sin, and says I’ve died for that sin. You are free. For freedom Christ has set us free.

In fact, our sin is our only qualification.

Look at the verse again. God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It is in the midst of our sin that Christ saves us.

Our sin is the ONLY qualification, and we must still be in that sin to qualify, which of course we are.

But this is insane.

Look at the way Paul writes this phrase.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/rom/5/8/t_conc_1051008

God shows [commendeth], present tense. Christ died, past tense.

The death of Savior Jesus Christ still shows the love of God. That one event was enough to show us for all time his love because of the magnitude of the one who died and who he died for. God died for his enemies. Our sin qualifies us, and our faith justifies us through the redeeming work of Christ on the cross at Calvary.

Even the way Paul words this is both fascinating and surprising.

What Paul is saying here is there has been a changing of the guard.

Something has come in and something has gone out.

The Greek text here is saying that in the death of Christ, we sinners have been redeemed.

Even the syntax of the sentence is showing the gospel!

Not just the words, but how the words are arranged.

God shows his love to us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God shows his love to us at a surprising cost.

Why did Jesus die for us?

The simple answer is because he loved us, to love us till the end he had to die.

But you may say, “There must have been another way. Surely someone didn’t have to die in order to save me!”

The Bible says God saves sinners and the only way to save sinners is for the sin to be paid for by someone.

And the Bible later says that the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:20-23)

Therefore, there are 2 options: either we die for our sins or someone else does.

In God’s mercy, the gospel tells us that someone else has died in our place.

But what does this look like? Is the Father an angry God who only wants blood while Jesus is the loving, kind-hearted Son who desperately wants his Father’s heart to change? By no means! God is not unjust, and he is not unloving. But for God’s justice and God’s love to remain 1000% compatible a death had to occur.

It hurts the Father to lose his Son, but he does it because he loves us.

The death of Jesus was costly. He is the most glorious person in existence.

He was there from the beginning – not the beginning of the world, but from the beginning of eternity past. It was he through whom and by whom and for whom all things were created. It is he who upholds the universe by the word of his power. It is he who is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. It is he who was promised, and he who has come, and he who has died, and he who is reigning now and will reign forever. (John 1:1-5, Colossians 1:5-20, Hebrews 1)

It is he to whom every knee shall one day bow.

It is he, of whom the prophet Isaiah says, “he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength.”

It is also he of whom Isaiah says, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for or iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

It is he that has given us access to the throne of grace.

This is Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of Lords.

The Son of God, the Son of man, the Alpha and the Omega, the one who was and is and is to come, the Messiah, the Christ.

This is your Savior! This is God.

And there was no greater pain in the universe than the exact moment Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the elect.

In that moment the Father turned his face away from the Son and gave him over to death so he might bring us who believe to glory.

It cost something to gain us back.

It cost the most valuable person in all existence.

It cost God himself.

You are bought with a price.

God isn’t angry with you because he has done everything, he needs to do to be happy with you forever. The price has already been paid in the midst of your sin so that you can be free from the consequences of your sin.

That is surprising!

THAT IS LOVE!

That is the surprising gospel!

So, if you are prone to think you are too good for God’s love: can you now see that you are a sinner in need of Christ’s saving work? Only when you see, only when you acknowledge this need can you have the righteousness you long for.

And if you are prone to think you are too unworthy for God’s love: can you now see that God saves sinners and sinners alone? Only when you and I see that, only we acknowledge that, then will we be able to have the joy we all long for.

Let’s all lean into the third way of the gospel:

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners (we are worse than we think), Christ died for us (we are more loved than we imagined).

Let me close with these words from Charles Spurgeon, 19th century preacher,

“If today you feel that sin is hateful to you, believe in Him who has said, ‘It is finished.’  Let me link your hand in mine.  Let us come together, both of us, and say, ‘Here are two poor naked souls, good Lord; we cannot clothe ourselves,’ and He will give us a robe, for ‘it is finished.’ . . . ‘But must we not add tears to it?’  ‘No,’ says He, ‘no, it is finished, there is enough.’ Child of God, will you have Christ’s finished righteousness today, and will you rejoice in it more than you ever have before?”

Receive this good news.

Come to Christ.

See what he has done for you. 

Come and live.

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (5:8)

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

Let us Pray,

Lord Jesus Christ, your power is beyond compare. You turned water into wine. You cleansed the Leper, restored sight to the blind and made the deaf hear. You made the lame to walk. You healed the sick and raised the dead. You conquered death in your resurrection. Everything you touch is powerfully transformed. Let me know that powerful touch in my life. Lord, bless me and keep me, make your face shine upon me.  Through your mighty name, Gloria! Alleluia! Amen.

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Romans 5:8 |The Surprising Gospel of God: What does the Surprise Look Like? “I Loved You at Your Darkest!”

The Love of God. It’s a complicated thing. Every generation tries to understand love, fall in love, and explain love. People have gone to extremes to display their love for others, and thousands of years ago God did just that for each one of us.

In Romans 5:8, Paul tells us God demonstrated His love for us this way: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Out of the abundance of God’s great love for us He sent His only Son to pay the debt for our sins, even though we were all His enemies, powerless and ungodly. God’s display of love was not conditional.

It was not based on anything we had done or could ever do for Him. God knew that without His timely intervention we would be forever separated from Him.

Jesus’ obedience displayed grace in an amazing way. Jesus poured out His life for the forgiveness of our sins so we could be reconciled with God. Each of us, through faith, can have the opportunity to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ and experience peace with God, hope in every situation, and eternal life.

Having a relationship with Jesus doesn’t mean life is always easy. Rather, it provides us with the ability to face anything that comes our way. We can have hope in all situations, confident of God’s grace, His faithfulness, and His 100% willingness to do whatever it takes to fully restore our relationship with Him. 

Romans 5:6-8 Amplified Bible

6 While we were still helpless [powerless to provide for our salvation], at the right time Christ died [as a substitute] for the ungodly. 7 Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to willingly give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a good man [one who is noble and selfless and worthy] someone might even dare to die. 8 But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Apostle Paul tells us here in Romans 5:8 that God has shown us his love in the death of Christ. The One who created the heavens and the earth, the One who rules overall, the One who is in the heavens and does whatever he pleases—this One has shown his love to us in the death of his only Son. John 3:16 rings gracefully in our ears, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”

This verse explains what Jesus said in John 15:13 when he told his disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

What Jesus says in John 15 he accomplishes at the cross in John 19 and Paul explains it to us here in Romans 5:8. This is the single most important story the world has ever known. The scale of this sacrifice is still being weighed today.

In fact, for all eternity we will see that the cost and the prize do not seem to balance, but there is glory in this gospel that fills up the throne room of heaven and shoots joy down to our hearts like lightening. This is a surprising gospel.

Romans 5:8 explains this surprising gospel by revealing how God shows his love to us in a surprising way, to a surprising people, and at surprising cost.

God shows his love in a surprising way.

I want us to linger here for quite a few minutes. Let this sink in, because this is abundantly and completely glorious. God shows. God is not a quiet, reserved, no-big-deal king. He’s not afraid to shake the world. He’s ambitious and he’s bold, he loves radically. The very expanse of heaven declares the glory of God.

Why else do stars exist? Why are sunsets as beautiful as they are? What purpose do they serve outside of lighting your heart on fire? God puts on display his love.

These two words, “God shows”, speak to both camps of people, those who think they are too good, those who believe they are too unworthy for the love of God.

From every which direction of our circumstances, we are confronted here with what God does. He shows. He is a relentless lover. He is always inviting us, not just so that we will agree on a limited intellectual level that we are loved, but also beckoning all of us to feel deep in our hearts we are both invited and loved.

It’s as if he is speaking to each one of us from the depths of eternity, “Look. I know some of you think you don’t need me. Some of you think you can’t have any part of me. What made you doubt my love?” “What can I do to change your mind?”

Do we realize the surprising ways in which God loves each and everyone of us?

He doesn’t stop with mere words we may never read or study, he does not stop with parting seas, he doesn’t stop at pillars of fire, or clouds of glory, he doesn’t stop with breaking down walls at the sounds of hundreds of great trumpets, he doesn’t stop with voices from heaven or angels standing before us. He doesn’t stop with a promise we’re just as likely as not to completely, abundantly ignore.

He doesn’t stop with a great or lesser earthly king. He doesn’t stop with one nation, mighty or weak. He doesn’t stop with only one people group. He doesn’t stop with “just good enough”. He doesn’t stop with perfect teaching or with amazing miracles. No, he stops with the death of the Son on the cross. God the Father loves so intensely that he could not give anything less than the absolute best that he had to offer himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son.

God shows his love to us in a multitude of ways but the supreme way he shows his love to us is in the death of Christ for us. What greater love is there?

We, in all our sin and all our messiness – WE – were loved enough by God that he would die for you. He did not just tell us that. He showed it two thousand years ago at 3:00 in the afternoon on a hill called Calvary outside of Jerusalem.

And, even more surprising, he yet, he still shows his love in the death of Christ.

These words are in the present active tense. God, today, now in this moment, is showing us the love, he has for us through the death of his Son, Jesus Christ.

What we see right here in our Bibles – this black text on a white page – is lifting Jesus up before us right now so that we can see with the eyes of our heart the very love of God for us. Do you see it? Oh, I pray you do! Father, open our eyes!

Now, in this exact and exacting moment, that’s the kind of Gospel love we need, the kind of surprise we each need, that’s the unrelenting kind of love God has.

Is not that even 0.01% surprising to you?

Today, surprise yourself and surprise a friend or two or three and Reflect:

  • Have you ever seriously asked Jesus into your life? If so, take some time to thank God for His grace. If not, please surprise God, learn more about His salvation. 
  • How can you surprise someone – show grace to someone today?
  • Do you have hope God can get you through any situation? Why or why not?

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

Let us Pray,

God, from the beginning, you were the word. You sent your only son to save us all and he even allowed himself to be tortured and crucified to obey you. Bless me with the gift of understanding and of unshaken faith in you. Let me know the meaning of your words in the Bible and how to live accordingly. Open the door of my heart, fill me with your light and understanding. Alleluia! Amen.

Another Part Tomorrow …… Struggling with the Surprise

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Romans 5:8 | The Surprising Gospel |

Interestingly, the Bible does not ever just say that God loves us.

Instead, it says: “When we were at our very darkest moment, God demonstrated MAX his love…” “In this is MAX love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us [TO THE MAX] and gave…” “For God so MAX loved the world that he gave…”

Do we see Love is more than an emotion or intention? True love, redemptive love, God-styled love is active; it does something. For us, Jesus did more than something; he sacrificed everything. What’s more, he did it when we most needed it. He demonstrated the core of his love when we were yet sinners!

Romans 5:6-8 The Message

6-8 Christ arrives exactly right on time to make this happen. He did not, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we had not been so weak, we would not have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (AKJV)

This short verse from Paul’s letter to the Romans gives us insight into the core Gospel love of God.

What is God’s love like?

How does God love?

Who does God love, anyway?

Does he love you?

Does he love me?

Does he really love the world?

There are some verses in the Bible that hold more power than the very sun.

This is one of those verses. These 18 words are some of the most glorious in the entire Bible. If you’re wondering about the love of God, this verse explains it.

The primary goal of my devotionals is to preach the gospel wherever I can.

Martin Luther, the great reformer, said, “I preach the gospel to my people every week because they forget it every week.”

Reverend Dr. Timothy Keller, a pastor in New York City, said recently, “One of the signs you may not grasp the unique radical nature of the gospel is that you’re certain you think you do.”

The truth is: We are forgetful people. We are a proud people. But we have a God who humbles himself to remind us of his love. He is not far from any of us. Let’s say our prayers, coming to him and asking for his blessing on our time together.

What Jesus did to save us is the most loving action that has ever taken place in the universe. What took place on the cross was a once in history-type event.

It has happened but the effects of it are forever ongoing. It didn’t just change history; history was created for it. It didn’t just accomplish something in the past but has penultimate power to change the future. There is nothing like it.

But let us not lose the wonder of it. Let us not lose the vision for the beauty in the hideous death of Christ on our behalf. Let us never lose the meaning of the cross. Let it be always treasured by our hearts. We must fight against losing the truth of this verse, because the apex of all history has already happened, and we have seen the maximum love of God for us on a scale that should blow us away.

What do you genuinely believe about the maximum love of God?

Most often we think about the love of God in two categories: either we are too good for it (“Of course God loves me, he’s God! God loves all of his creation. But I’m not sure whether I actually need his love. I do just fine on my own.”)

or we are too unworthy for it (“I’ve sinned my way out of God’s love. Perhaps I could try and get it back, but my sin has overtaken me. I’m really a lost cause at this point. I want to love God but I’m just not sure he could love me.”)

But the Gospel truth is we are all actually worse than we think we are and yet we are more loved than we could ever truly imagine. That’s what the Bible says about us.

So, there is a third way to think about the love of God. It’s the gospel way, which tells us we are too bad for his goodness, but we can have him anyway through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

The gospel humbles the proud and exalts, lifts up the humble. The love of God is transformative.

We do not deserve it, yet we can have it. We need it to live, and yet he gives it to us without cost. What we think about the love of God will determine everything about how we live. What kind of love does God have for us? “But God shows his [maximum] love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Your life, my life, includes the story of sacrificial death on your behalf. God died for you. and he died for me! You are loved so much, I am loved so much, we all are loved, that God was willing to nail his own Son to a cross to gain you back.

My fervent prayer for each of us today is that every single one of us walks out from reading this devotion fully convinced that God loves each and every one of us. Truly, the way to salvation is not in what we do, but in whom we trust. What do you believe about the MAX love of God? Your answer determines your fate.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow —–

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

Let us Pray,

Father God, I thank you for loving me. I love you. I love you for what you have done. I love you for who you are. I love you for your promises. I love you for your faithfulness. Most of all, dear Father, help me to remember I love you because of Jesus who showed me just how much you love me. Please empower me to show my love by serving and giving to others as Jesus did. In his name I pray. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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God said, Show Me Your Friends and I Will Surely Show You Your Character!

Growing up I remember many times when my parents would be concerned with who my friends were.  One time in particular, they basically forbid me from my continuing to hang out with a couple of guys.  I was not too happy with the situation but knew that disobedience to such a strong prohibition came with very real consequences.  Little did I know but it would only be a few months later my mom told me that they were caught shoplifting.  I am not sure what would have happened to me if I had been there with them – but that was not an issue because of the prevailing wisdom of my father and mother over my own. 
 
My dad never quoted this proverb outright to me – but he must have read it.  More than once my parents would remind me that the company, I keep would have direct, decisive implications upon the character I later would possess. If we walk among the foolish, we risk becoming even greater fools than them. Yet, we cannot help but walk among our fellow citizens – we have no choice other than to isolate ourselves in our homes, in the woods somewhere or deep in a cave. In my own foolishness, I cannot always tell the “ever wise” apart from the foolish.

No matter how highly regarded and wise mankind believes himself to be, he will continue to be the consummate fool in the eyes of someone who does not know him. Jesus came sauntering into our lives and we thought him the drunken fool for doing what he was doing among those he was interacting with. But we did not know Him yet. We did not take the time to get to know him because we all thought him to be the consummate fool. We could not even muster up curiosity.

Pharisees thought him to be the ultimate fool for entering into the homes of the tax collector Levi who would become Matthew. Instead of interacting with the crowds in Jericho, Jesus looked up into the Sycamore Tree and called Zacchaeus down – to share a meal and fellowship and salvation. How did that crowd feel?? Jesus crossed the border of the hated Samaritans. What did the disciples feel?? How did the disciples feel about walking on such ground with their Rabbi in the lead? When we first read such stories, how do we feel about such foolish acts?

After we have read them, studied them, pondered and prayed over them, do we continue to feel, continue to believe they were such completely foolish acts?

Just a closer walk with this ever so dramatically foolish Jesus will make us wiser. Wiser to the lesser ways of my even greater foolishness for not taking the risk, walking even among the most foolish with my Rabbi, walking with my Savior who is Jesus Christ my Lord. Walking among fools reveals my true character!

I am weak but Thou art strong
Jesus keep me from all wrong
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee

“Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be” (Author Anonymous)

Proverbs 13:20 The Message

20 Become wise by walking with the wise;
    hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Today’s proverb speaks of these very things.  It speaks of a “walk with wise men” versus a “shepherding by fools.” 

First let’s look at the walk with “wise men.”  The one who walks with wise men will be wise.  The word for “walk” here refers to a journey or a walk from one place to another.  The company during this walk was a wise man, or wise men.

Proverbs 2:20 refers to it as a walk with “good men” and a “pathway of the righteous.”  When looking for companions and mentors – we do well to look for people who have walked with God (Who Himself is the wisest companion to have on the roads of life). 

These people are characterized by the apparent fact that they “allegedly” know God.  This they have supposedly “acquired” over a long or short lifetime of pursuing a relationship with Him through “reading and knowing His Word.”  

They have learned by “experience” that obedience to God is the wisest way to walk – and seeing life through His perspective and Word is how to obtain this. 

Look for such people and surround yourself with them and their counsel.  They will counsel you to walk closely with God – and learn to apply His Word to every situation in life.  Their lives will have the sweet smell of God’s favor upon them (even if the world deems them less than a success by their standards). 

Such people will be humble, gracious, loving, kind – and yet strong and willing to stand on God’s principles no matter what.  The blessing for being around such people is that you will become one of them.  The one who walks with wise men – will himself become wise.  One thing I would add to this is that a wise man or woman will look for at least one wise man or woman with some age on them.  The Word makes one wise – but wisdom over time is a rare thing to find.  When you do – befriend the one who has it – and – listen to them often! That is, of course, if the one “wiser than us” we are walking with is truly the wiser.
 
This one who grows wise in the company of wise men is contrasted with the “companion of fools.”  The word companion here is the Hebrew word “ra ah” which means to tend or feed sheep – i.e., a genuine shepherd of one another. 

Here is one who is being shepherded by fools.  He is fed and tended by them – having them lead him into their ways and their paths.  The fools he considers friends and mentors are mentioned in several ways in Scripture.  The word for fool is “kesiyl” and it means a fool or one lacking in wisdom. 

In Ecclesiastes 4:5 the fool is lazy, folding his hands in inactivity as his life wastes away.  In that same chapter verse 13 uses this word to describe a young man who “knows everything” and will not be instructed by anyone around him.  He even mocks those who offer wisdom – preferring the company of His own foolishness to any advice or instruction, sort of like Jesus’ own disciples as they argued among themselves over who would be greatest. (Luke 22:24-30)

Psalm 49:10 refers to this fool as one who thinks his stuff will last forever and lives for it rather than any kind of spiritual pursuit of God. 

Proverbs 1:32 speaks of the fool as one who loves wayward living and not only ignores the wisdom of God – but written earlier in chapter 1 verse 22 ESV we see him hating both the wisdom and the God who gave it.  22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

Psalm 92:6-7 reminds us that he also mocks the whole concept of God’s justice and judgment.  Proverbs 3:35 reminds us that he displays his godless dishonor like a trophy – and finally Ecclesiastes 10:2 the Teacher says that his heart (that which hates wisdom) is always turning him towards the wrong direction in life. 
 
What happens to the one who has such foolish companions and mentors? 

The language here is a very pointed.  He will suffer harm as a result of these leaders and friends.  The word used here is quite descriptive.  It is the Hebrew word “rua” – which referred to the deafening shout or blast of a horn that took place right before your enemy came upon you in battle. 

Such a shout was called a shout of victory – and to those about to be vanquished – it was the most terrifying sound you can imagine.  Often those who heard it were not prepared for the devastating defeat they were about to receive. 

The psychology of the battlefield. But when the shout rang out – their cockiness would be soon replaced by terror and fear.  Too often that is how the foolish are awakened to the measures of their folly.  They are full of self-confidence and self-congratulation until disaster awakens them to their true state.  The result of their poor choice of companions and commanders is the threat of great ruin. 
 
Unfortunately, some will read this and mock – saying that they are doing fine.  They will even point to a life where everything seemed pretty good for their friends and mentors.  But whether we live in relative comfort, ease, and man-oriented success is not the measure of a man. 

The true measure of a person and the way they lived happens in the twinkling of an eye – in the exact moment after they leave this world.  We are reminded in Hebrews 9:27 that we all have an appointment with death.  This happens only once, “It is appointed for man to die once, then comes the judgment.” 

There is not a second chance – no reincarnation to have another shot.  When we die – we will either be present with the Lord – or wholly absent from His favor forever.  In that very moment it truly will be seen how wise it was to walk with people who are wise.  And ultimately the One Wise Man with whom we should walk is Jesus Christ.  It is by His immeasurable wisdom we will escape so great a peril – so great a judgment – and forever enjoy so great a salvation. Walk with Him – take a risk – be wise – and be blessed far beyond your days on this earth!

When my feeble life is o’er
Time for me will be no more
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom’s shore, to Thy shore

Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

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

Let us Pray,

Holy and gracious God, you are the greatest of all. You are full of wonders that no mere human can comprehend. Lord, I seek to understand you and your ways so that I can live according to your commandments. I pray for your divine illumination in my heart and mind. Help me see what you intend for me to see. Help me understand what you intend for me to understand. Open my eyes and my ears to see you and hear your whispers. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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