When Friends Go Astray.

Have you seen any friends go astray? Have any gone off to college and surprised you? Why is that? What keeps some people walking with the Lord, while others go off on foolish, sinful paths of error and evil?

One factor is peers.

1 Corinthians 15:33 warns, “Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good morals.”

When you hang out with bad people, you will become bad—slowly, perhaps, but eventually, you will slide down that slippery slope until you reach their level. That’s why Paul writes “DO NOT BE DECEIVED.” It WILL happen.

The writer of Proverbs says the same thing.

“The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20.

This verse includes both the negative warning of 1 Corinthians 15, but also the positive promise: If you walk with the wise, you will BECOME wise. Isn’t that great? This is one of the things that motivated me to keep my children in a Christian school: every time I was ready to move them elsewhere, God reminded me of the private school’s positive influence. Of course, neither the kids nor the adults were perfect. But overall, the influences at a Christian private school are better than they are in a public school. Sure, there are drinkers, drugs, sex, bullying, whatever—but not to the same degree as in a public school. And sure, public schools have some great Christian kids in them—but not to the same degree as the private school.

The Biblical principle above will always apply to your lives, both in college and beyond. As you choose your friends, choose WISELY. Pray about your friendships.

Ask God to bring you friends who will encourage you to love God and walk with Him faithfully every day. Ask Him to send you WISE friends, so that you can “walk with the wise and become wise.” Ask God also to protect you from becoming the companion of fools—because those who do will suffer harm.

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Choose Your Friends Wisely!

Do you choose wisely? It is SO important. Why? Because no one will influence you as much as your friends. So choose friends wisely—because you will become like them.

“He who walks with wise men will be wise. But the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20.

I know the problem. The problem is, all your peers are knuckleheads and ding dongs. I know. Mine too. So pray. Ask God to send you wise friends who can mentor you and influence you in a good way. Just ask God. He knows the critical importance of wise friends. Pray for wise and godly friends.

“Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’ ” 1 Corinthians 15:33.

PRAY for wise and godly friends.

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Mining Hazards.

Do you know the term “undermine”?  It is often used in reference to authority. For example, if a principal walks into a classroom and tells students “Don’t bother with that assignment your teacher gave you,” the teacher will likely complain the principal has undermined her authority. 

UNDERMINE. 

Think about what that word means. 

It is a mining term meaning to MINE-UNDER something. 

Miners don’t tunnel into the mountain to create some well laid-out office building, with ten floors, an atrium, and an elevator shaft down the middle.  Mining is nothing like that.  There are no right angles or straight lines as much as there is an organic, twisting path up, down, and all through the side of a mountain.  After all, mining does not follow a blue print, it follows the gold, the silver, or the coal.  You find a “vein” and you follow it as it twists through the mountain. 

But if you MINE-UNDER something heavy, it may come crashing down.  Dig too near the surface, the parking lot may cave in on you—or the railroad, or the local gas station.  In 1959, coal miners in Pennsylvania were ordered to dig illegally under the Susquehanna River.  Established protocols required a 35-foot floor beneath a river, but miners from far below tunneled up to within six feet of the water.  Suddenly, the river burst through, killing 12 miners and flooding the many interconnected mine galleries with 10 billion gallons of water!  To “patch” the opening in the riverbed, miners dropped railroad cars into the giant whirlpool that had formed in the river—(a whirlpool large enough to swallow railroad cars!?)

UNDERMINE is a powerful word, painting a terrifying picture.  As you work to build a great life for yourself, beware: sin can UNDERMINE your life and cause everything to collapse into a whirling vortex of debris and devastation! 

“Righteousness guards people of integrity, but wickedness UNDERMINES the sinner” Proverbs 13:6.

All of us are trying to BUILD lives—to develop careers, save money, nurture families.  Don’t let sin UNDERMINE everything great that you are trying to accomplish. 

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Listen to Wise Counsel.

Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, had a question. He got advice from the old men who had served his father, then from the young men who were his childhood friends. Guess who gave the better advice? The old men. Why? Because they had experience. Don’t you realize how valuable that is? Rehoboam took the advice of the young men and it cost him most of his kingdom. Eleven of the twelve tribes deserted the foolish young king. Only the tribe of Judah stuck with him. What a loss!

You and I need to seek good advice. You must learn WHO to listen to. Look for experience, age, and wisdom. Look for people with integrity. Look for lives that bear fruit. Successful people give better advice than the unsuccessful.

Pray. Ask God to send you wise counselors and to make you a wise counselor.

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Proverbs 12:15.

Who are your mentors? Who do you go to for advice?

If you don’t know—find someone!

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Choose Your College.

How do kids choose a college? Location? Beauty? Reputation? Degrees offered? Friends going there? What do parents consider? Price? Safety? Future job prospects? The considerations are enormous—as is the time to be invested.  It is a huge decision, and one for which you must hear from God.

Proverbs 9 uses a picture similar to college as a metaphor for wisdom and folly: there is the WISE QUEEN who lives in an amazing house and offers room and board and an all-expenses-paid education in WISDOM to anyone who needs it. (Now THAT is an amazing college!)  But this experience will require some self-denial: You will not receive instant gratification.

This is a place of LIFE.

But life also presents the MADAM OF FOLLY, a sort-of ‘Queen of the Brothel’ who offers a ratty mattress and half-dressed women to anyone who wants them.  Like a crack house, the promise of instant gratification will lure many to ignore the risks, the vermin, the disease, the filth.  After all, your desires will be INSTANTLY gratified.  But there’s a catch: “the departed spirits are there, and her former guests are now in the Place of the Damned” v.18. 

This is a place of DEATH.

Every day you enroll in one of these colleges.  Whose house do you want to live in? 

“Wisdom has built her house, she has carved out her seven pillars, prepared her meat and wine and set her table…. She calls for the inexperienced to come inside. ‘Come, eat my bread… and pursue understanding’…. By wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life…. 

The Woman of Folly is loud, stupid, and knows nothing. She sits in her door calling out for the inexperienced to come inside. ‘Stolen water is sweet! What is forbidden is that much more of a turn-on!’ But the naïve young man doesn’t know that ghosts are there, that her guests are now in Sheol” 9:1-18.

Whose college do you plan to attend?

P.S. BONUS ROUND–Compare the lyrics of ‘Hotel California’ with the ‘Woman of Folly’ in 9:13-18.

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Rebuke.

Have you ever rebuked anyone? Ever told friend he was wrong? Ever spoken up for what is right?

You can tell a lot about a person by the way he responds to rebuke. Wise people accept it, humble themselves, and listen. Foolish people are not able to accept rebuke; they will be angry and defensive.

“Don’t rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will become wiser still.” Proverbs 9:8-9.

Do you have that kind of wisdom? Can you accept rebuke and grow wiser? Can you be thankful for rebuke? When a teacher, coach, or professor corrects you, can you accept it? When a boss gets on you, can you smile and admit where you may have failed, and try to do better? That is wisdom.

If you are unable to accept correction, you are doomed. Good employees who can’t accept correction lose jobs. Yes, I said “good employees.” Because even the best employees will be corrected, whether they deserve it or not. Some bosses just have to fuss at people periodically, and even perfect employees need to accept that.

But nobody is perfect. You will be corrected sometimes and it will be necessary. Be the wise man in this verse. If you get in trouble on the job, the boss should be able to say about you, “I instructed a wise man and he became even wiser. I rebuked a wise man and it made him love me.”

That’s a tall order. Can you love someone who corrects you? A teacher? Coach? Boss? Mother? Friend? Ask the Lord to give you an attitude that welcomes rebuke.

Pray. Dear Lord, give us hearts willing to learn no matter who You send to teach us. Fill us with humility. May we be kind, polite, and godly in our responses to authority figures, whether we deserve rebuke or not. I pray that after a confrontation, our bosses would go away impressed by our amazing, humble, and godly attitude.

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Wisdom Has Built Her House.

Yesterday I watched a documentary about a talented athlete whose career fell apart because his life was a dumpster fire: parties, booze, drugs, and selfishness. 

This is the life of foolishness.

Even though I published my first book Friday (!), the biggest event of this year will be the work involved in honoring the life of my father.  I drafted an obituary, helped my mom plan a service, delivered a 20-minute eulogy, and collected copies of all the stories he used to tell—and a few I like to tell about him—and published those in a booklet.

Like a biographer, I had the opportunity to reflect on my father’s life and consider its meaning.  I thought about the lifetime he spent reading the Bible and serving the church.  And I thought about his father who did the same before him.  Both men lived to 88 and at both funerals, I was overwhelmed by people telling me what great men they were. 

Their lives were characterized by untiring service to God and others.  They worked long past retirement age.  They worked every day, on weekends and holidays, taking care of their families and offering a positive influence to the world.  God rewarded both with good health, long lives, and loving families around them to the end. 

This is the life of wisdom.

Are you seeking wisdom? Do you understand how it will benefit you?  Are you building good habits? Are you filling your mind, BUILDING YOUR MIND on the word of God? Wisdom is the great hostess throwing the most amazing banquet.  Come to the Bible and feast on her delicacies!

“Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars. She has prepared her meat, mixed her wine, set her table… She calls out, “Whoever is naïve, enter here!” To the one lacking sense, she says, “Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave foolishness behind and you will live. Pursue the way of understanding” Proverbs 9:1-6.

God, give us wisdom! Show us where we lack it so we can gain more.

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Profanity.

George Washington said, “The wicked practice of profane swearing is a vice so low that every person of character despises it.” Do you agree? Many would disagree, yet most only swear in certain situations: they won’t cuss at church, a funeral, on television, in front of children, or during a job interview. They know it’s offensive and can make them look bad.

But does God care? And if so, what about Christians who “talk like pimps and whores”? God forgives us, right? Yes. We walk by grace. But the Bible says do NOT use grace as an excuse for sin. God expects us to do our best. Grace is there when you fail, but you are not supposed to stop trying!

Do you sing “Your praise will ever be on my lips” and then use your lips for cussing?

James writes “from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing—brothers, these things ought not be!” Jesus said “Be holy, even as I am holy.” Are your words holy? Do they honor God? Paul writes, “Let there be no filthiness, or COARSE TALK, or dirty jokes…. Put away obscene talk.” Eph.5:4; Col.3:8

Proverbs 8:13 says “GOD HATES PERVERTED SPEECH.”

I’m not concerned with the speech of the lost. Their words are filthy because their minds are unredeemed. But believers have the HOPE and JOY of salvation. Jesus said your words reflect your heart: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, the evil person produces evil, for out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” We have the light and beauty of God and the hope of heaven. Our speech should reflect the joy and hope and grace that fills our heart. And if your heart is not full of joy and hope and grace and love, you need to fill up on the word! Because whatever is in your heart will come out of your mouth. We are here to share the Good News of Jesus. Our words should be beautiful and refreshing to everyone around us. May God bless our speech.

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What Does God Enjoy?

I once visited a preacher in the hospital, and he sat up in bed and preached to us. He said, “People always talk about ‘God bless me,’ but did you know that YOU can bless GOD?” He was so excited about that. One verse he mentioned was “bless the Lord, o my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name” Psalm 103:1.

Okay, so maybe it is possible to bless God, but is it possible to simply make Him happy? Can I DELIGHT God? What kinds of things bring Him joy? Have you ever thought about that? What do you think that you can do to bring God joy? (Or is it even possible?)

The Bible says it IS possible. God delights in at least FIVE things described in Proverbs. Are you doing any of these things? Do your choices bring God delight?

  1. God delights in wisdom. Proverbs 8:30.
  2. God delights in accurate scales—that is, honesty. He is pleased when you are honest about your hours, about your pay, about money that is owed to you. “Dishonest scales are detestable to the Lord, but an accurate weight is His delight” 11:1.
  3. God delights in blameless conduct. “Those with twisted minds are detestable to the Lord, but those with blameless conduct are His delight” 11:20.
  4. God delights in honest people. “Lying lips are detestable to the Lord, but faithful people are His delight” 12:22.
  5. God delights in the prayer of the upright. “The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight” 15:8.

Which of your habits and choices bring God delight?

Pray. Dear God, make us honest. Give us wisdom. Help us pray honest, real prayers. Help us behave in ways that bring you delight. May we speak, pray, and act in ways that honor you and bring you pleasure. Make us people who please God every day. Help us to love your word more and more every day.

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The Road to Hell.

We talk a lot at church about the road to Heaven, or the “Roman Road,” or following God’s path. But is there a path that leads the other direction? Is there a road to hell? Or, if you have been born again, is there a path that will lead you to the hell of a ruined life? Proverbs 7 tells a great story about a man on that road.

“At the window of my house

I looked out through my lattice,

And I saw among the naive,

And discerned among the youths

A young man lacking sense,

Passing through the street near her corner;

And he takes the way to her house,

In the twilight, in the evening,

In the middle of the night and in the darkness.

And behold, a woman comes to meet him,

Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.

She is boisterous and rebellious,

Her feet do not remain at home;

She is now in the streets, now in the squares,

And lurks by every corner.

So she seizes him and kisses him

And with a brazen face she says to him:

“I was due to offer peace offerings;

Today I have paid my vows.

Therefore I have come out to meet you,

To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.

I have spread my couch with coverings,

With colored linens of Egypt.

I have sprinkled my bed

With myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;

Let us delight ourselves with caresses.

For my husband is not at home,

He has gone on a long journey;

He has taken a bag of money with him,

At the full moon he will come home.”

With her many persuasions she entices him;

With her flattering lips she seduces him.

Suddenly he follows her

As an ox goes to the slaughter,

Or as one in chains about to be whipped for his crimes,

Until an arrow pierces through his liver;

As a bird hastens to the snare,

So he does not know that it will cost him his life.

Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,

And pay attention to the words of my mouth.

Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,

Do not stray into her paths.

For many are the victims she has cast down,

And numerous are all her slain.

Her house is the way to hell,

Descending to the chambers of death.”

Proverbs 7:6-27.

This is an excellent dramatization of a young man stumbling into temptation. But it is more—this is the way any man, woman, or youth lets himself be blindly led along like a bull with a ring in his nose, until he finds himself at the slaughterhouse. We all sin the way this young man sins. When we are tempted, we wander down the path to hell, ignoring the dangers.

What did this young man do when he found himself tempted?

  1. He went out looking for the sin. The young man lacking sense took a walk, and “passing through the street near her corner, … he takes the way to her house.” He made the choice to go looking for the thing that tempted him.
  2. He let himself be seduced by an enemy far more powerful and experienced than he is.
  3. He believes her seductive lies; he believes that there will be no consequences because her husband is allegedly not coming home for days.
  4. Still, he hesitated. He had one last chance to escape. You do too, right? We have all been there. There is a way out. God always provides a way of escape.
  5. Then suddenly, he jumps. He decides to go for it, and ignores all the consequences.

The writer compares the naïve youth—or any of us when surrendering to temptation—to:

  1. An ox being led to the slaughter, and
  2. A prisoner being led to a flogging, and
  3. A game animal being shot with an arrow, and
  4. A bird racing into a snare, or
  5. Any other ignorant person too naïve to realize this sin will COST HIM HIS LIFE.

Solomon concludes: “Son, listen to me. Do not go looking for the thing that tempts you. It will destroy you the way it has destroyed thousands before you. That road is the road to hell.”

Years ago I memorized part of this. It has been a powerful weapon to defend me from many temptations. You should memorize it too:

Suddenly he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool, until an arrow pierces through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare, so he does not know that it will cost him his life. Proverbs 7: 22-23.

Pray with me. Dear God, teach us to love your word. To read it, study it, ask questions about it, and memorize it. Help us to hate evil. Help us to flee lust and to fear consequences. Please change us. Make us take it seriously. Help us realize what’s going on, and who our enemy is. Help us to see that toying with sin and letting it seduce us is the path to hell. Please stop us before we destroy our lives with sin. Don’t let it trap us like an animal in a snare. Protect us and change us. Protect us even from ourselves. We need your help every day. Give us a passionate love for your word and the power it gives us to withstand temptation. We love you.

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