December 7, 2022 -- Proverbs 7:1-5 & Luke 7:36-39 -- Journey to Christmas through Proverbs and Luke
/People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!
My son, keep my words
and treasure up my commandments with you;
2 keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
3 bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and call insight your intimate friend,
5 to keep you from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words.
Proverbs 7:1-5 ESV
36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
Luke 7:36-39 ESV
How is your journey to Christmas through reading the Proverbs and Luke going? Are you reading a chapter from each book every day? Notice the interesting parallel here between the two books here at chapter 7? The Proverbs warn against the adulteress. The contrast is between the wisdom of God and the adultery of the world. The believer is to be devoted to the Living God and seek Him only, that is the way of one who treasures up God’s commandments. The wicked are called adulteresses, they have exchanged wisdom for prostituting themselves out to other gods and other treasures.
When Jesus ate at the home of a Pharisee, a woman who had been sinner and wicked adulteress, repented, showing herself captured by wisdom. She anointed Jesus’ feet. She gave Him a great treasure, worshiping Him and declaring her devotion to Him, Jesus, Wisdom from on high. The Pharisee, who to the untrained eye was a wise man, showed himself to be an adulterer, even in the presence of Jesus Who should have been his intimate friend. This Pharisee shows his devotion to money, to worldly ways of thinking and to ignoring the commandments of God.
Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50 EV). How do you define faith? I listened to a sermon given by Richard Owen Roberts who noted faith is:
F -ocused on the future. An eternity with God because of Jesus Christ.
A - ctive obedience. Not mere words, but a live lived, poured out in service to Jesus.
I - ntimacy with God. The realization that through the Spirit one is near to God. Such intimacy is granted through the continual study of the Word of God and His works and prayer.
T - enacity (great determination in the face of opposition) to show one’s confidence in Jesus
H - ope that is anchored in the accomplished work of Jesus Christ, sustained by the presence of the Spirit in the believer and continually given as a gift by the Father.
Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, may Your Kingdom come and Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Forgive us for the many times we have been wayward in our faith and neglecting wisdom. Like the Penitent Woman of Luke 7, may we return to the presence of Jesus, weeping over our sinfulness and crying with joy at the knowledge of His powerful forgiveness. Help us to lay down all the things we formerly treasured and give our lives, our possessions, our skills and our minds over to Jesus as an on-going sacrifice of praise. Glorious Father may Your teaching be the apple of our eye—something well-guarded and sensitive to any intrusion. Spirit of the Living God, increase our intimacy with the Word of God, the commands of God and this through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, Who is for us, wisdom from on high. Amen.
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