Thought for the Day

Verse 22 - Evildoers bring evil on themselves, but the Lord shows loving-kindness to those who are good to others. As we have seen in other lessons, Jesus "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). Good works flow out of our relationship with God. The more we know Him, the more we love Him and allow His Spirit to change us. This enables us to do more good works, followed by more of His mercy and truth, and so on; an endless cycle of blessing!

Verse 23 - The principle of sowing and reaping is easily seen in the area of work. Those who work hard will have a profit for their labor. Those who waste their time will end in poverty. I have known people who talked about certain things they wanted to do, but because they did not invest the time and work needed, they never accomplished their desires. They were talkers, not doers. I hear many Christians talk about increasing their prayer life, but most never seem to actually do it. I have failed in this area myself. I remember a time when I was going through many difficult trials and facing new problems daily. The Lord spoke something to my spirit that I have never forgotten, He said: "If you prayed about your problems as much as you talk about your problems, you would not even have the problems." We must diligently work at maintaining a healthy prayer life; it does not come easily.

Verse 24 - This verse speaks of the wise as wearing a crown of riches. A wise man's wealth is his wisdom. We are rich indeed when we have the wisdom of God. With His wisdom, nothing is impossible to us. We noted in Day 1 that wisdom is the ability to discern the soundest course of action in a situation. This is a true gift, a priceless "crown of riches;" for wise decisions lead to abundant life (John 10:10).

Verse 25 - Those who speak truth can save lives. This can happen in court cases; the charge against an innocent person can be dropped because of the truthful testimony of a witness. A faithful witness is also one who shares the truth about Jesus with others. The Bible itself is a faithful witness of Christ (John 5:39); its truths can save people. A deceitful witness, whether in a courthouse or preaching a false doctrine, endangers others. Spreading lies has destroyed many people. We should not believe everything we hear, but bring all things to God in prayer and measure them against His Word. Jesus Himself is the truth (John 14:6); we can trust Him to let us know what is truth and what is a lie.