Keep Them and Live
“My son, keep my
words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and
live.”
Proverbs 7:1-2
What is the result of not keeping God’s commandments? In the
end the result is death. Certainly physical death is the end of us all, but
along the way in life there are many deaths. There is the death of a dream, the
death of a friendship, the death of opportunity, the death of hope, the death
of an idea, and many other kinds of deaths. Many of these come because of a lack
of wisdom.
It is wise to keep the commandments of the Lord. To keep the
commandments of the Lord you first need to know them. Our society seems to have
forgotten many of them including the one to which Proverbs 7 is especially
aimed, “You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14) Adultery is a great
contributor to all kinds of death. It’s seduction has taken “many a victim” (v.
26) and laid them low. The number of her slain are “a mighty throng.” (v.26)
How do we avoid the many kinds of death that come from adultery? We need
to be attentive to the words of the Lord. Attentive does not mean once in a
while. It means a lifestyle of applying our heart to the scripture. The only
way it becomes a lifestyle is if we begin to love the words of God. Our heart
makes us gravitate to what we love, and when we love God’s words we listen
attentively to them daily. It is love for God and his word that causes us to
keep his commandments. Jesus promised us this, “If you love me, you
will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
Lord Jesus, create in
me a love for you and for your commandments. Take away the pull of adultery
from my heart so that I may live for you and for your glory. Amen.
How interesting that God considers our unfaithfulness to Him to be adultery, too. Very deep.
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