Theme of the Week: Let’s Begin! Wisdom that Works
Bible Verse: For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Proverbs 2:10 ESV
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 2:1-22
We all want to grow in Christ. In this passage, God is telling us how we can move forward.
Verses 1–4 tell us how to get real with God. If these verses describe how you feel about him, you can thank him, because he is already at work in your heart. No matter who you are or what you have done.
We see the word “if” in verse 1, again in verse 3, and again in verse 4. We also see the word “then” in verse 5 and again in verse 9. Those are the markers of verses 1–11 that map out the process of change: “If . . . then . . . ” Now, some of us may be thinking, “Wait a minute. That sounds like legalism. How can the grace of God be conditional?”
How can the grace of God not be conditional? We cannot deserve his grace or earn it. But we must reach for it decisively, allowing nothing to stand in our way.
Think of it like this. You and I are standing on the brink of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It is magnificent. You are loving what your eyes have the privilege of seeing. I am standing there beside you. My eyesight is bad, so I put on my glasses. But the lenses are dirty and smudgy and scratched and filthy. I cannot enter into all that magnificence right in front of me. So you say, “Ray, clean your glasses.” And I say to you, “Now don’t get legalistic on me!” You are not being legalistic. Legalism is thinking I can do something to make God pay attention to me.
Legalism is thinking I can do something to deserve the grace of God. Legalism is meritorious thinking. But this passage is simply asking every one of us, are you paying attention? How does God want us to pay attention to him?
As his beloved children, already accepted in Christ. Verse 1 begins, “My son . . . ” We don’t earn that place in God’s heart. He gives it freely through Christ. It is his fatherly love that speaks to us here, calling us to take new steps of growth toward him.
Taken from Proverbs: Wisdom That Works by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., © 2012. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, crossway.org.
As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commission from qualifying purchases on Amazon.ca. Learn more.
Copyright © 2021 Impactus | Promise Keepers Canada. All rights reserved.
About
