"...is like the roar of a lion;
he who angers him forfeits his life."
Proverbs 20 poses a good question:
Can a man be righteous and yet still have sin?
I believe the answer to be "Yes."
Verse 7 (among hundreds of others in Scripture) talks about the "righteous man." It says he "leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him."
Verse 9 poses the question: "Who can say, 'I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?' The unspoken answer is surely "no one." But the righteous man described by Scripture follows the Lord's ways. He spends time in His Word, he contemplates the things of God. He loves others. He acts justly. When he falls or falters (not if), he quickly repents and receives the Lord's forgiveness and is "cleansed." The Bible clearly speaks of times of cleansing. There must be times when it is possible for God to say of us, "he or she is pure and clean." No one is perfect, we all sin, but we are free will moral agents, too. We can choose to do the right thing. We can walk in "righteousness." This way is the blessed way. There is joy in it. It is not always easy. Sometimes it means confronting others; sometimes it means giving something up; sometimes it means harder work rather than easy; and sometimes it means we admit we were wrong to the ones we have offended. Those things aren't necessarily comfortable, but doing them in obedience can bring great comfort to the soul.
I like the verse:
"Many a man claims to have unfailing love,
but a faithful man who can find?"
It's easy to talk the talk; but who will walk the walk?
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at June 14, 2005 09:26 AMYou're walking the walk -- 1 Cor 16:13
Bless you.