Mark Procopio
Proverbs 3: 5-12
I called this the formula for Christian living.
1. Trust God with all your heart.
This is an exclusive trust. The idea is that you have nothing else to fall back on, there is no plan B. You haven’t held out a small cavity of your heart for another, whom you also believe to be trustworthy. There’s no room for second-guessing, for reluctance, or doubt. With absolute confidence you moved forward. You stepped out on faith, and entrusted your eternal well-being to God’s finished work at Calvary.
Now, how about the day-to-day living? Does it often display an unwillingness to trust the God who cannot fail?
2. Lean not on your own understanding. (Don’t try figuring out everything on your own.)
How redundant, redundant, to have a business partner who thinks the same as you, and comes to the same conclusions every single time. Who needs them? How wise a business man who chooses someone whose thought process is leaps ahead of his own and whose wisdom and sense are perfect.
Is it not an awesome thought to know that the moment we trusted Christ for eternal salvation we were provided a partner for life? A partner with all the answers to the most difficult thing we’ll ever face-LIFE. This friend of ours knows the end, the beginning, and everything in-between-and is always available when we’re faced with serious decision-making. What’s even more awesome than that, is His availability 24-7, to consult with us in even the most minute detail of our lives, and we never have to say, “Sorry for disturbing you.”
3. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go.
The “still small voice” wants us to weigh in on every detail. I think sometimes we get so caught up in the moment, allowing the chaos to bombard us. All the external voices batter our minds with their thoughts on what we should do and how we should do it. They’re so loud and forceful, and at times so obnoxious, that we give them precedence, listening to all they have to say, and allowing their voice to dictate the path we take. How important it is to pull yourself away from all the noise around you, and quietly listen for that still small voice that’s present within. How He wants to speak to us, and longs that we would hear, but He’ll not attempt to compete with the chaos around, hoping His voice is loud enough to trump the rest. God is asking each of us to make a deliberate choice to separate ourself from all the external influences and diligently seek the voice of God within. He, above all, has your best interest at heart. He sees the path for your life clearly and perfectly. He knows the next step you need to take, and all He wants from you is: listen and obey.
4. Don’t assume you know it all.
He’s the authority in every subject. I remember my Dad’s response to my teenage spouting. “Wow, I’m so thankful I have a son who knows everything, and is free to give his advise. How did I make it these fifty years without him?” Now I’m the old man with children who think they have it all figured out. It’s amazing how you had all this knowledge as a teenager, but as you got older and faced life’s experiences, that knowledge seemed to slip away. Now I’m the one pushing fifty and conscious of how little I know. How comforting to know that my resource for knowledge comes from One who knows it all-is Omniscient.
5. Run to God. Run from evil.
One is the run of the athlete striving to achieve the goal; the other is a desperate, terrifying dash for your life, from danger. I know that we’re given advise on two matters, but what’s so cool about the advice is that one effectively accomplishes the other. How much more positive and encouraging is the advice to constantly run towards God! How happy the Christian who never loses sight of his Savior’s face, and lives each day determined to reach the goal and hear the “well done” of approval.
A person that is consumed with running to God may never even give thought to the fact that he is running away from evil. It’s not possible to run towards God without running from evil.
But, if we lose sight of the Savior’s face, we lose sight of our goal and we are found running away from God. That is a place of danger. It’s not long before we are unable to run fast enough. Trouble is all around us and there is no peace in our heart.
The choice is ours. With all my heart, I long to be found always running towards God and to be looking at my blessed Savior’s face-with His peace in my heart and the pure joy that is His Presence, felt in my life.
I hope that God uses this to help you, just as He has used it to help me.
Speak Your Mind