Proverbs 18:9b (AMP)

This verse has been impacting me in a major way for weeks now.  I just can’t shake it and I think about it daily.  I even shared it in my message last Sunday.

Lord, please help me to use my endeavors in such a way that I’m not slowly killing myself.  Instead, help me to do whatever I do in ways to bring health to me and those around me.

Those that wait upon the Lord will not and cannot ever be ashamed.  He will come through.  He will act.  He will deliver.  He is trustworthy and He can be counted on to do that which He has promised.

Wait passionately for GOD, don’t leave the path. He’ll give you your place in the sun.  Psalm 37:34a (MSG)

We live in a world that esteems the quick comeback and the snarky remark.  We tend to prize great zingers and cutting putdowns and, yet, we are told in the verse above that, as Christians, we are to make an effort to have the “right response for everyone.”  Specifically, we are told to make sure that our conversations with others are “attractive” and filled with grace.

Something absolutely amazing happens when we start trying to speak to others in this way.  When we choose to speak with grace to or about others, instead of sarcasm, harsh criticism or judgment, God moves in our own hearts and starts to change us.  Not only does our speech start to become more attractive but we start to become more attractive people.

Just as people push beyond their own thoughts and own way of thinking by praying for, and working towards having, “the mind of Christ”, we can also push beyond our own words and ways of speech and ask Christ to give us His words for others.

Of course, this isn’t something that comes to us naturally at first.  It takes some effort to retrain ourselves in this regard but the benefits are potentially life-changing for ourselves and our hearers.

There are two ways to be unteachable.  The first is to be presented with some sort of teaching and to reject it or harden your heart towards it in some fashion.  The second is to avoid putting yourself in positions where you hear new teaching or are challenged at all.

If you’re going to be unteachable (which is not advisable) the first way is actually better.  It’s better because something might eventually connect with you or inspire you, either now or down the road.  You might reject something at first only to turn around and agree with it later.  At some point, it might just take root in you and start to bear fruit.

The second way, however, is very dangerous.  It’s a more subtle form of pride with disastrous results because you’re never actually exposed to anything to begin with.  On the surface this keeps everything nice and polite because you don’t seem to be rejecting anything but the truth is that it’s worse because you’re rejecting things before you’ve even heard them.  You’re unteachable from a distance.  You’re not just refusing the teaching.  You’re doing something far worse.  You’re refusing to hear.

Are you avoiding new ideas or new challenges that God wants to bring into your life?  Are you teachable?

Sarah laughed when the Lord told her that she would have a son.  She thought she was far too old to have a baby.  The Lord replied with a question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

For the believer, that question is a familiar one.  God seems to ask it a lot to those that follow Him.

He not only asks this question but He answers it too.  In fact, He doesn’t even give Abraham time to respond.  He tells him that in a year she’ll have a son.

Never underestimate what God can do in year, or a month, or a day…or a night.

Never laugh when He that routinely does the impossible tells you He plans to do the incredible in your life.

No matter how late God may seem to you or how hopeless the situation may look, God can do anything and He can be counted on to do what He has promised to do.