Key Text: Proverbs 3:1-12 & 34
BIND MERCY & TRUTH AROUND YOUR NECK, v3Mercy & Truth are virtues which are like keys, you don’t want to be without, keep them on your body to use at all times. They can also be compared to a soldiers I.D. tags around his neck, so that he can be identified anytime, anywhere. Jesus reminded religious people to never forget mercy as a weightier matter that they cannot afford to lose, Mt. 23:23. He grew in Mercy & Truth, before He could bring these qualities of perfection to the world, Lk. 2:52. The boy Jesus knew what it was like to learn about them, put them on, EVERYDAY, so that he grew in wisdom. God never expects us to do something He wasn’t first willing to do Himself. How do you wear Mercy & Truth? If you don’t wear them all the time, you can fall out of favor with God and lose a good reputation with your neighbors. This is one of the first steps in becoming a real disciple.
TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, v5When we hear the truth from the words of Jesus, we should put our trust in Him and not trust our own version of the ‘truth’. God’s opinion is far better to trust than our own in any subject, Eph. 1:12-13. In order to win God’s approval and look good in His sight, we need to prayerfully study God’s word so that we can correctly understand the word of truth in the right context, 2nd Timothy 2:15. When we deliberately do something that we know God says is wrong, we have immediately placed our trust in our self, instead of Him. This is discipleship in action. Faith without deeds is dead, Jas. 2:17. Our heart is a tablet God can write upon, 2nd Cor. 3:3, will we submit it and let Him write?
DO NOT DESPISE THE CHASTENING OF THE LORD, v11The New Covenant of Jesus only records this act of God once in the entire New Testament, which proves that chastening is not a priority of God, but rather a necessity. A little of the Lord’s disciple if taken in the right way by ourselves, can go along way, and have great affect. Hebrews 12:5-6, is a divine commentary on this proverb. God disciplines us because He loves us, and since He is full of justice and practices righteousness, His discipline is always perfect, Jer. 9:23-24. Never forget the truth of Prv. 17:10, when enduring the pain of any event which you feel is the Lord’s chastening, the truth sets us free and embellishes the God’s lessons of life on our heart. The fruit of holiness is worth the price of the pain.
HE SCORNS THE SCORNFUL, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE, v 34
James 4:6-10, Any exhaltation is pure grace, because none of us deserves to be exhalted by our Omnipotent Creator, God the Father, please read 1st Peter 5:5-6. If we believe that He exhalts so highly so as to keep our name written in the Lamb’s book of life, and that He truly cares for us personally, then there is no enemy evil enough to make us fall, not even the roaring lion himself, 1st Peter 5:8-9. However, the Lord’s view of people who mock Christianity is dim, see Psalm 138:6. We need always to consider how near or far we are in God’s sight. He is Omniscient, but His personal recognition of sinners, is dim towards people who won’t get personal with Him. Associating with the humble, will help us remember our place before God, Romans 12:16.
Epaggelia 
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