so it is almost the END OF A BLOG A DAY IN MAY and soon i can kick this living proverbially out the window (of course, judging by the fact that i ordered some books from amazon yesterday and justified it that i HAD to have them and they wouldn’t really arrive until june.... this living proverbially hasn’t really cramped my style. i have made THREE trips to target though and only purchased items on my list. that is a small miracle!)
so today we are onto proverbs 28.
which (of course) i like the message version for this chapter (sorry, debbie)...
the first half is entitled (in the message version) “if you desert God’s law”. which sometimes is my problem. a blatant disrespect for the things i KNOW i should do. yes, that happens even with yours truly every now and then.
i like this verse...
proverbs 28:4(the message)
If you desert God's law, you're free to embrace depravity;
if you love God's law, you fight for it tooth and nail.
it isn’t that i am embracing depravity, it is that i don’t fight for God’s law tooth and nail. i don’t want to mess up my pretty smile of my nicely filed nails fighting for God’s law. it is so much easier to point out all those people embracing depravity WHICH is naturally what they would do when they have deserted God’s law.
another great verse from this first section (or from your morning news report)
proverbs 28:2 (the message)
When the country is in chaos,
everybody has a plan to fix it—
But it takes a leader of real understanding
to straighten things out.
then verses 19-28 are grouped together under the headline of “doing great harm in seemingly harmless ways”. which is another area entirely. one that plaques me more... doing GREAT harm in little seemingly harmless ways. like choosing good things but not the BEST thing.
here are some highlights from that section....
19 Work your garden—you'll end up with plenty of food;
play and party—you'll end up with an empty plate.
21 Playing favorites is always a bad thing;
you can do great harm in seemingly harmless ways.
23 In the end, serious reprimand is appreciated
far more than bootlicking flattery.
25 A grasping person stirs up trouble,
but trust in God brings a sense of well-being.
27 Be generous to the poor—you'll never go hungry;
shut your eyes to their needs, and run a gauntlet of curses.
i especially like the one about “serious reprimand” being more useful than “bootlicking flattery” because i do like to hear some “bootlicking flattery” (and don’t let that stop you from adding some “bootlicking flattery” in my comment section)...
i think the verse that i need to use for my month of proverbially living (and a bit longer than the month) is verse 21...
21(the message) Playing favorites is always a bad thing;
you can do great harm in seemingly harmless ways.
21 (niv) To show partiality is not good—
yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
21 (kjv) To have respect of persons is not good:
for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.
i do like to play favorites. with people. sometimes with children (gasp!) i think it is part of our human (read: sinful) nature to play favorites. to choose those who we LIKE and WANT TO LIKE US to be the ones we play to in a crowded room, crowded schedule.
matthew henry’s commentary on this verse is... “Judgment is perverted, when any thing but pure right is considered.” and my judgement is NEVER purely right. i need to work on not being “a respecter of persons” which doesn’t mean that i disrespect persons, it means that i do not respect one person OVER another person. i must be just and equitable in my dealings with people... no matter WHO they are or WHAT they might do for me...
a bit more research into this phrase “respecter of persons” yields this important lesson...
The Greek word translated “respecter of persons” in the King James Version of Acts 10:34 (“God is no respecter of persons”) is , prosopolemptes (i do so love a big greek word) a word that refers to a judge who looks at a man’s face instead of at the facts of the case, and makes a decision based on whether or not he likes the man. Under Roman law, for example, a defendant’s societal status was weighed heavily along with evidence. Any human judge might show undue favor to a plaintiff or a defendant because of private friendship, bribery, rank, power, or political affiliation, but God, the perfect Judge, cannot be tempted by any of the things that might tempt a human judge to show unfair partiality.
Furthermore, God blesses people in different ways. God’s impartiality does not mean that everyone will have exactly the same amount of money, exactly the same amount of influence, exactly the same number of children, or exactly the same number of years upon the Earth.
so my proverbially living lesson of the day... do NOT be a respecter of persons, do NOT play favorites, do not show partiality based on any earthly criteria for greatness, beauty, personality, or social status. i can do great harm in this seemingly harmless way.
well, i would say that you are ALL my favorite blog readers... but that would be un-proverbial....
seems someone has some news to tell...
my niece, victoria, needs to work on this “respecter of persons” idea... seems that she is only a “respecter of her mama” (nice legs dean)..