Scripture
Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you.
~Proverbs 2:11
Quote
To make right decisions; your decisions must make things right.
~Ya’akov
Life is filled with choices. Jesus Himself taught that there are two paths or roads–one is narrow and the other is very broad. The narrow path is the higher, virtuous, noble way that leads to life. The broad way has many paths but they all lead to destruction. Making the right choice determines our destiny in life. The first four verses of Proverbs 2 tells us what we should pursue initially:
- We are to TREASURE God’s Commands [word]
- We are to TUNE our ears to Wisdom
- We are to CONCENTRATE on Understanding
And we are to search for His commands, wisdom and understanding as if they were hidden treasures. If we search for His commands, wisdom and understanding we encounter two then’s:
- Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God.
- Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.
What do you think matters most to God; our doing what is right or our pursuit of happiness? The Preamble of the Declaration of Independence reads…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. As Americans, we have the right to pursue happiness but for true believers, is this the highest pursuit? If someone walked up to me and gave me a hundred thousand dollars, it would make me happy unless it was acquired in an illegal or unethical way. If the person said, “Bro. Jack, I stole 200 thousand and decided to give you half,” I would not be able to take the money.Stolen money could never make me happy because it was attained in an immoral way. Thus righteousness trumps happiness.
As believers, our body guards are DISCRETION and UNDERSTANDING. Discretion is our ability to make good, sound decisions. It is the quality of showing discernment or good judgment. Sometimes it means caution and looking ahead at future consequences. A discrete person does not make rash decisions. They study, think and plan before deciding. Understanding is common sense, [v.7, NLT] the intelligence to see a thing from start to finish. It’s not rocket science folks, bad decisions produce bad consequences. A young man called me just days ago complaining about his circumstances. I tried to explain to him that they were the result of his bad decisions. Basically what this young man wants is good results from poor decisions and it is not going to happen. I told him up front, “If you want a different result, you must change you behavior. You can’t keep doing the same old things and expect a different result.” It is common sense and Proverbs is filled with common sense.
Ronald Manley called yesterday: he wants us to pray for his son Jamie who is in Vanderbilt. His blood platelets are so low, they can’t let him go home. We need platelets to be in the neighborhood of 150,000 to 400,000 and Jamie has less than 5,000. Please pray for Jamie Manley [48 years old].
Larry Garner looked better to me. I see slow improvement but he is still too weak to walk. He hopes to move to Summerford’s this Thursday.
June told me that the girls won and will advance to Wallace. Hot dog, kiss a frog, I enjoy going to Wallace. We had another good night at the WBS. We always have bad weather during the WBS, usually snow and ice but this year, the weather has been mild. They missed it yesterday but I do think it is supposed to warm up today.
SENIOR ADULT FELLOWSHIP this FRIDAY at 4:00 in the Parlor. Soup, Sandwiches, Salads, Fried Pies, Ice Cream and Bingo. Darlene and Tina are doing the BINGO. Seniors, your option is a salad. We are having chicken stew, chili, broccoli soup, white bean soup with cornbread.