Walk a Straight Path

This week we’ve seen that no matter what our age, it’s not too late to renew your youth through the Bible Proverbs. We’ve looked at the heart, the eyes, the mouth and today the feet as areas for renewal. We’ve seen that “though outwardly we’re wasting away, yet inwardly we’re being renewed day by day.” We can regain our youth. We can live like we’ve never lived before.

Here’s today’s Proverb. (4:26 & 27) “Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” 

Each of us has a story of how we got ourselves into the deep muck of sin. We had to cry out to God for Him to come and pull us out. Maybe it was lust that got us there or selfishness, anger or pride. Oh, how we’d love to rewrite our story and eliminate that experience. However, now that we know what that experience was like and we never want to repeat it, we’ll watch more carefully where our feet lead us.

Ponder the path ahead of you. Think it through carefully before you take it. Consider well what path it is, whether right or wrong, good or bad and where it will ultimately lead you. But like my pastor says, it’s not enough to receive the wisdom of God; you have to do something with it. You have to live it.

In our youth we did things rashly. Now we know more and it’s time to act with steadiness, caution, and consistency. Join me in saying that no more will we be swayed by temptations or by what others do or by what the world offers or by the deceptive pathway. Can you imagine the freedom you and I will feel as we walk God’s path; as we end the old bad habits and, as the Proverbs teach us, let God walk us down a straight path? It is He that will show you the way and it is He that will empower you to succeed and it is He that will renew your youth. Follow Him in the Proverbs and enjoy your new life!

Look Straight Ahead
Proverbs 4:25

What are you looking at? What habits have your eyes developed over the years? What do you focus on? What do you see? It’s time to redirect our eyes. Let God renew your youth through the eye-gate.

Proverbs 4: 25 reads this way. “Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.”

Proverbs 4:23  says, “Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust.” (The Message) We can get so distracted by what others have, by the greener grass in our neighbor’s life or by what the Joneses have. 

Here’s Hebrews 12:1&2. “Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Fix your eyes on Jesus.”

Since you’re not 16 years old, you actually have an advantage. You’ve already looked at all the trappings and glitter that life offers and all the get-rich-quick schemes and you know, along with Solomon, the vanity of all of that. Now it’s time to spend the rest of your life focused on Jesus. It’s time to focus on Him for your directions in life, like the quarterback who looks to the sidelines for the next play.
What might you see? You’ll begin to see less of what you think you need and more of what God sees. Here are some examples.

Proverbs 28:7 - “Be generous to the poor—you'll never go hungry; shut your eyes to their needs, and run a gauntlet of curses.” Start looking for the poor in your world and see how the “coach” would have you help them.

Proverbs 25:21 - If you see your enemy hungry, go buy him lunch; if he's thirsty, bring him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness, and God will look after you.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.”
Have you been stumbling through life trying to make those youthful dreams happen? Open your eyes to wisdom and renew your youth today.

Renew Your Mouth

Proverbs 4:24

Following the wisdom of God in the Bible Proverbs will change your life no matter what age you are. It’s never too late to get a fresh start on your life.

Once you start this process of seeking wisdom from God it won’t take long before He begins to focus on your biggest problems. For some Christ-followers “the mouth” is on the top of the list. Proverbs 4:24 says, “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk from your lips.” If we’re going to renew our youth we need to re-learn how to talk. Certain words may need to be bleached out of our vocabulary. Negativism in our conversations needs to be replaced. Criticism and cutting remarks have no place anymore. Off-colored humor and crude references must disappear. Gossip must go. Where did all these come from anyway? How did we ever drift so far to talk the way we do? It’s time to change. It’s time to renew or maybe redo our mouth. One simple technique that we should have learned many years ago is to simply keep silent. Do you remember the old saying? “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” I used to roll my eyes at that when I was young. Now I see the wisdom in it.

King Solomon wrote of that wisdom in Proverbs 17:28.  He said, “Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.” It always helps to not display your ignorance. Keep it to yourself and people will think you’re wise. While you’re being silent you’ll have time to rethink what you were going to say and let the wisdom of God’s Word and His Spirit teach you what you should say, if anything. Search a concordance for verses from the Bible Proverbs on the tongue or the mouth or speaking, or simply do a “Google” search for what the Bible says about the tongue. Take notes. Ask God to teach you and to renew your youth. Listen to God and live again! 

Proverbs 4:23
Guard Your Heart

I remember an old TV public service ad that warned, “It’s 11 o’clock, where are your children?” In the spirit of that ad, let me ask you, It’s getting late in life, where is your heart?

Proverbs 4:23 cautions, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” The heart is the depository of all wisdom and the source of whatever affects life and character.  (See Matthew 12:35; 15:19.) What you are today is a result of what you put in your heart over the years. What have you allowed it to do and where have you allowed it to go? Maybe you’d like to go back and change a few things. Well, you can’t go back, but you can get a fresh start no matter where you are in life because of God’s grace. You still have the rest of your life. Make it the best part.

Yesterday we talked about being young again – about being renewed in the inner man – by going back to the voice of wisdom in the Bible Proverbs and really listening. It’s like having your youth back. Read the Proverbs and ask God to help you understand and apply them. Write down what God shows you. Pray over it. Let it renew your life.

Don’t say “I’m too old for that.” Psalm 103:3 says “He forgives all your sins and renews your youth.” Take Him up on that. Start by guarding your heart. What are you setting it on? Where are you letting it wander? Give it to the Lord God and ask Him to take it for Himself. Seek Him today. He is wisdom. You’ll be pleasantly amazed at what happens to you and how others begin to see the changes.

Listen

The Bible book of Proverbs is filled with wise sayings from the very Spirit of God. They are written to guide the young person to a life filled with blessing, and freedom from the sorrow brought on by sinful mistakes. I loved the Proverbs when I was a teenager.

Sometimes I wish I was young again. If only I could re-ignite my wild spirit and the energy and enthusiasm to go with it. I would make those wise Proverbs my daily diet to experience the joy and freedom that wisdom brings.

But I’ve had my youth, and although I found Christ early in my teens and enjoyed a measure of God’s wisdom, I also had many plans and ideas of my own. I knew too much to always listen to the voice of wisdom like I wish I would have. Youth has a hard time listening, doesn’t it?

 My problem was ignoring advice, and not submitting to the discipline of older and wiser people. It wasn’t that I did bad things. I just had a hard time learning to stick with something when it got a little tough. As I look back, I can see now that others tried to help me, but I chose not to be helped. I think I missed a lot of good mentoring by not paying attention.

Proverbs 4:20 says, “my son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Don’t let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.”

Is it too late to listen? Maybe it’s not and maybe it’s not too late to be young again. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “Though outwardly we’re wasting away, yet inwardly we’re being renewed day by day.”  Do you think it’s possible to be young again? Why not? The Bible says that although the joints are stiff and the bones creak, the inner man – the “you” that will go on forever – can be young again.  I’m going to try it and I invite you to join me this week as we look again at the Proverbs in the Bible. And this time, maybe I’ll listen more closely. I encourage you to start reading the Proverbs today. Ask God to show you what you missed the first time around.