Saturday 2 September 2023

"Whoever sins against me wrongs his soul." Proverbs 8. 36 Darby Version

Attitudes without profit

Christians are urged to behave differently from the world in our way of thinking, reacting or planning. Suddenly, it happens to us to be in “overhang”, we feel a feeling of embarrassment and we have the temptation to conform to the world. Faced with this, the desire to obey the Lord and to please him must be our deep motivation, in fear of the consequences of sin in us. The following verses, which speak to us of attitudes without profit, are likely to challenge us :

- Lack of love

"If I distributed in food, all my goods, and if I delivered my body to be burned, but I have no love, it is of no profit to me" (1 Corinthians 13. 3).

“The treasures of wickedness profit nothing” (Proverbs 10:2).

- Meeting in church with dubious motives

"In commanding you this, I do not praise you : you come together, not for your profit, but to your detriment" because "when you come together in assembly, there are divisions among you" (1 Corinthians 11:17, 18).

- Replace a duty of love with a rite devoid of value

"It is I, Paul, who say to you : if you are circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing" (Galatians 5.2; see Acts 15.24).

“What profit is there, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, and has no works ? (James 2:14).

- Talking about what does not edify

"Let there be no quarreling over words, which is to no profit, but to the ruin of the hearers" (2 Timothy 2:14).

"Behold, you trust in words of lies, which do not profit" (Jeremiah 7.8).

What a pity to indulge in such behavior! On the contrary, let us be submitted to God who says to us : "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your profit, who directs you in the way in which you must walk" (Isaiah 48:17) and which reminds us that "wisdom is profitable to bring success" (Ecclesiastes 10. 10). What encouragement to build our life with the Lord, because he tells us : "If you know things, you are blessed if you do them" (John 13:17).

Source (Pleasing the Lord)