Jan 4 - Today from Proverbs 4 we look at verse 13
"Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well for it is your life."
The first question that comes to mind is, "When would I 'let go' of sound instruction?"
Verse 10 instructs us to 'accept' instruction. The KJV uses the word ‘take’. It is more than just being in the general proximity of something. To accept instruction means we take hold of it. To use an analogy from our modern day, let’s say your sitting in your living room watching some of your favorite fare on TV and a guest walks in. You turn and look, maybe give a nod, and then turn your focus back on the program. The guest might be in your home, but you have not received your guest. It is the same with sound instruction. Sitting in church and listening to a message does not equate with receiving the message. To receive means to embrace and take hold of it. To put it to use. That is how God’s instruction bears fruit in our lives. So, why would I let it go?
I can think of three immediate reasons; Fear, lust (any desire of the flesh), and laziness. I am ashamed to admit I can be guilty of all three. That is not a statement of surrender to sin. By God's grace and through His mercy I am committed to mature and to grow in victory - but it's a struggle at times. Holding on takes an effort. In the front of one of my Bibles I wrote the text "Tempted? - Matthew 26:40". I guess it was in one of those times of effort. The text reads, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." It's still the best way I know of to guard instruction. When I stumble, I really don't forget what is right. It’s more likely that I don't call upon the One who promised strength to guard right in times of weakness . . . those times of fear, lust or laziness.
Life is in Christ. He says that His instruction is life. It makes sense. His instruction is for our best. Our best comes by being in a vital relationship with Him. All else pales in light of that wonderful truth. How simple it seems to pray in times of temptation. How difficult it is in times of reality. It's a discipline, and it is what disciples are called to.
Since Nov 08
About Me
- Ken
- While mentor-ing a couple of young men late in the year 2001 , I told them that if they agreed to read a chapter of Proverbs each week-day as a part of their devotions, I would choose one verse from the chapter and share a meditation by email. They agreed. I continued to write the meditations at my desk in my home for the next two and a half years. They began to forward them to their friends and I received requests from those friends to be placed on the email list. My personal email bundle was to about eighty people. Many of those people forwarded them to friends all over the country – and some over the world. Only the Lord knows how extensive the writings traveled. I am not a professional writer, and each meditation was spun off in a relatively short period of time during my own personal devotions in the morning. In April of 2004 I assembled 366 of the meditations into a calendar year. As I now bring up the Proverb of the Day to send on to my friends, I am surprised at how fresh each of them is to my own heart – and often how they speak to me in a completely different way than when I first wrote them. . . . . Ken Sweers
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