Proverbs 15 Select Verses NASB1995
4 A soothing tongue is a tree of life,
But perversion in it crushes the spirit.
14 The mind of the intelligent seeks knowledge,
But the mouth of fools feeds on folly.
17 Better is a dish of vegetables where love is
Than a fattened ox served with hatred.
19 The way of the lazy is as a hedge of thorns,
But the path of the upright is a highway.
31 He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof
Will dwell among the wise.
32 He who neglects discipline despises himself,
But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding.
33 The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom,
And before honor comes humility.
What does a perverted tongue look like? It is a tongue which
speaks lies, which distorts and misrepresents truth, and which twists it to its
own advantage. And this is so commonplace today, even among many (or the
majority) of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, including many pastors
and elders of “church” congregations, many of whom are being taught to lie to
the people and to manipulate the truth in order to not offend the ungodly who
they want to attract to their gatherings, to grow their numbers.
Those who speak lies, to their own advantage, in practice,
are not those who are following Jesus Christ with their lives, even if they
profess faith in him with their lips. And many of them speak lies because they
are trying to cover up their own sinful practices which they do in secret,
which they don’t want anyone else to know about. And they twist the Scriptures
to their own advantage to excuse away what they know is wrong, and so that they
can convince themselves that God is still going to let them into his heaven.
The Bible teaches us that “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and
the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the
abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” “For out of the heart come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft,
false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.” And God “will
render to each person according to his deeds.” Those who are “selfishly
ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,” they will face
the wrath of God, not his grace. (see Matthew 15:17-20; Luke 6:45; Romans
2:5-11)
So, those who reject
the words of God which conflict with their sinful lifestyles and with how they
want to live, and which are written down for our instruction in the Scriptures,
and as warnings, too, they will also reject those who are spreading the truth
of what the Scriptures teach. And their rejection may turn to hate, to
bitterness, to anger, and to the mistreatment of Christ’s followers who they
want to silence, and who they want to discredit and to try to prove them wrong,
because they don’t want to hear the truth.
Now, again, many who
profess faith in Jesus Christ are still living to please the flesh, and so they
prefer the lies over the truth, because the lies do not confront them in their
sins, and the lies do not call them to repentance and to walks of obedience to
the Lord. So, although they know the truth, they ignore it, and so they follow
in the ways of the lazy who choose the ways of self-indulgence over the way of
righteousness. So they are those who neglect and despise discipline, because
they want to still please self.
But the upright in
heart seek after the Lord to walk in his ways and in his truth, in obedience to
God. They are those who seek after knowledge and understanding, in truth, and
in righteousness, and according to the Scriptures, and not according to human
flesh. They are also those who listen to and who obey life-giving reproof, and so
they dwell among the wise. For they are those who walk in the fear (honor,
respect, reverence) of the Lord, who take God and his word to heart, and who
obey the Lord, in practice.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John
6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32;
Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2;
1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
Seek the Lord
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Musical Instrumentation by Mark
Bradley
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you
who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and
eat what’s good today,
And your soul will
delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and
you will live.
I have made an
eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of
the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while
He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked
forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the
Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons
him.
“For My thoughts are
not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My
ways,”
declares the Lord,
our God.
“My word that goes
out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return
to Me unfulfilled.
My word will
accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal
I intend.
You will go in joy
and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will
burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees
clap their hands.”
The Path of The Upright
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