Rhapsody of Realities 10 September 2024: Don’t Seek to Please Godless Men
Scripture: Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them (Proverbs 24:1 RSV)
Sometimes, you find Christians who envy godless individuals and wish to be in their company. Some get really excited to identify with some “big names.” If, for some reason, they get invited to be in the company of certain well-known people, they consider it a big deal. But that’s not how God sees it. He doesn’t want you to envy Godless men and women.
Remember what He said in Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” You’re blessed for not hanging out with the wicked who despise the way of the Lord and the life of the Kingdom. Don’t envy or seek to please them. Even if they’re rich and influential, don’t be enticed by their wealth.
I came across our opening verse when I was still very young and it gave me good instruction about human relationships: what’s good for me and what’s not good for me. So, right from a very young age, I’ve never been inspired by people who weren’t living for Christ, irrespective of who they were or what they had.
Read Yesterday’s Rhapsody of Realities Here
The next verse to our opening scripture shows why you shouldn’t envy them or enjoy being in their company: “For they spend their days plotting violence and cheating” (Proverbs 24:2 TLB). They have a nature of darkness, but you are a child of light; in fact, you’re light (Ephesians 5:8). Do you see why you should never seek to please them?
The only person you should want to please is the Lord Jesus. That’s important because those who truly love Jesus Christ will be pleased with the things you do. But if those who don’t love Jesus are pleased with the things you do, then there’s a problem and you should be concerned. In Galatians 1:10 CEV, Paul said, “I am not trying to please people. I want to please God. Do you think I am trying to please people? If I were doing that, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
PRAYER: I don’t envy Godless men or desire to be in their company. I walk as a child of light, for I am light in the Lord. My delight is in pleasing the Lord Jesus, and I seek to honour Him always. I’m guided by the Spirit of God who lives in me and guides me in the path of righteousness, to produce fruits and works of righteousness, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY
Proverbs 24:1
Upon the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of the reign of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet. Zechariah said,
8 I saw in the night [vision] and behold, a Man riding upon a red horse, and He stood among the myrtle trees that were in a low valley or bottom, and behind Him there were horses, red, bay or flame-colored, and white.
9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel who talked with me said, I will show you what these are.
10 And the Man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro through the earth and patrol it.
11 And the men on the horses answered the Angel of the Lord Who stood among the myrtle trees and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth [patrolling it] and behold, all the earth sits at rest [in peaceful security].
12 Then the Angel of the Lord said, O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy and lovingkindness for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which You have had indignation these seventy years [of the Babylonian captivity]?
13 And the Lord answered the angel who talked with me with gracious and comforting words.
14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
15 And I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was but a little displeased, they helped forward the affliction and disaster.
16 Therefore thus says the Lord: I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion (lovingkindness and mercy). My house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem [with a view to rebuilding its walls].
17 Cry yet again, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall yet again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
Ephesians 5:8
Now Jesus was driving out a demon that was dumb; and it occurred that when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke. And the crowds marveled.
15 But some of them said, He drives out demons [because He is in league with and] by Beelzebub, the prince of demons,
16 While others, to try and test and tempt Him, demanded a sign of Him from heaven.
17 But He, [well] aware of their intent and purpose, said to them, Every kingdom split up against itself is doomed and brought to desolation, and so house falls upon house. [The disunited household will collapse.]
18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom last? For you say that I expel demons with the help of and by Beelzebub.
19 Now if I expel demons with the help of and by Beelzebub, with whose help and by whom do your sons drive them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
20 But if I drive out the demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has [already] come upon you.
Galatians 1:10
For [simply] consider your own call, brethren; not many [of you were considered to be] wise according to human estimates and standards, not many influential and powerful, not many of high and noble birth.
27 [No] for God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame.
28 And God also selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are,
29 So that no mortal man should [have pretense for glorying and] boast in the presence of God.
30 But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin].
31 So then, as it is written, Let him who boasts and proudly rejoices and glories, boast and proudly rejoice and glory in the Lord.
1 – YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 2 Corinthians 10:1-18 & Proverbs 27-28
2-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-10 & Jeremiah 28
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Rhapsody of Realities 10 September 2024
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