Vision, lifestyle and value…
“My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.” (Proverbs 7:1-5 ESV)
The Proverb writer tells us to put value on the word of God. Count it as “treasure” and keep the commandments like they are valuable. What comes from that is life.
But, we might ask, “How does that work?”
When one makes what is taught in the word the “apple of your eye” it becomes the vision of our life. It becomes how we think about operating in life. It dictates how we live and what we value and what we do.
Speaking of what we do, we have life from God’s commands when “bind them” on our “fingers.” In other words, in our doing, we remember BOTH those things God tells us not to do AND those things God tells us TO do. As a matter of fact, it’s more exciting to think of life as purposefully going out to do what God tells us TO DO than to sit around regretting what God tells us not to do. We must come to value what He says, either way, and count His commands as treasure worth spending in our hearts and lives.
Finally, God’s commands become life when they are what we value. Think about it for a moment; what do you have in your house that you really value? You take care of that. If you love your car, you take care of it. If you value a relationship, you work hard to care for that person. Friends, we must value the commands of God, and that WILL dictate how we think and act toward what He says.
As we “keep” the commands of God and “treasure” them, we will have a life full of vision, and our lifestyle will be affected by what we value.
No comments:
Post a Comment