Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father remind us today of what is righteous and what is wicked. Father reveal to us Truth in all things. May our lives be filled with a longing for what is good in your eyes, Father. But let what is wicked smell and taste foul to us. Let what is wicked sound painfully hideous to our ears. May we reject and refute what is wicked and whoever calls good, evil and evil, good. Father, in the name of Jesus and by the guiding, growing power of He, the Holy Spirit, make some of us brave, make others mindful of your purposes, but make us all more obedient to your word. Thank you Father! Amen!
Your Morning Song: "Movements" by Rend Collective
Your Morning Scripture: Proverbs 25:26
Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain
is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
I'm going to be forward, blunt even, talking through this verse with you. So before I continue, just know that my greatest struggle in life has been fear of other people and what they think of me. So when I say what I'm about to say, I am fully aware of what this will cost some of us.
There are two very important takeaways from today's verse. If you have a moment, let's sip some coffee (or tea or hot chocolate) and see what God is saying to us in His Word today.
The first is this. If you claim to love Jesus, then you are going to have to stand up for what He loves, what He wants, what He desires. And you're going to have to stand up to other people. Because we are not islands. We are not isolated from each other. We are more like ping pong balls all thrown in a small room and then someone shuts the door. Our lives crash into each other. And when what we believe and do collides with what others believe and do, we will have to make choices.
A friend is living in unrepentant sin. Do you stay silent and keep the peace? Or do you gently and quietly pull them aside and warn them? A family member wants to do something you know is wrong and they want you to join them. Do you go along with their sin and hope it works out? Or do you refuse? There are so many ways in which our lives collide with the lives of others. Are we brave enough to speak up and speak out against sin? Or does fear of man muddy our waters?
The second takeaway is this, and this is for those of you who like conflict, who get a bit of a thrill out of the way in which we daily collide with one another. Do you speak up and speak out because of righteousness or because you like the thrill of the fight? When you stand and speak out against someone is it to please God or please yourself? Are we self-aware enough and do we love God enough to let Him define what is righteous and what is wicked?
If we claim to be righteous then we cannot let the fear of man keep us from speaking out against wickedness. If we claim to be righteous then we cannot let our own desires and preferences lay claim to God's throne. We must reject and oppose wickedness on God's terms and in His way, not ours.
Church. Our lives our not our own. We belong to God. May our hearts be tender towards what is good in His eyes. And may our minds be sharp against what is not good in His eyes. And may His vision of and in all things be our vision.
