[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]
Today: Proverbs 5:1-14; Mark 2:18-28; Mark 3:1-30; Exodus 21-22
Proverbs 5
“For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood. Sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold of Sheol.” Proverbs 5:3-5
There are many different kinds of adulteresses… not just sexual. The world is a sly seductress. Her way can seem so appealing but it leads to death. I embraced the world for many years and it left me depressed, strung out on alcohol and prescription drugs, almost homeless. This passage perfectly describes me back then. I did not ponder the path of life. My way was unstable but I didn’t know it. My flesh and my body were consumed with misery and death. How I hated instruction! And my heart disdainfully rejected rebuke. I did not listen to the voice of my teachers. I was almost in total ruin…
That is not me anymore. Praise God for His healing power and grace!
Mark 2
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27
The Pharisees had turned it all upside down. They were more concerned about the rules than about relationship with God. When rules replace God, there is no relationship. This is legalism and Jesus hated it. Legalism goes by different names: judgmentalism, narrow-mindedness. Today it is called political correctness. The name keeps changing but the spirit is the same. It is the great eye blinder and soul killer.
The Pharisees were blinded to all the good things Jesus was accomplishing. Instead of celebrating that a man’s withered hand was healed, they trip over infractions. They never cared about the actual people. They only cared about adherence to their arbitrary rules. It was all about their power.
