Sunday- Guest Post By Mrs.Oz

Today's reading from One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Proverbs 11-13:25

Scripture:
Proverbs 12:18
"Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing."

Observation:
We Christians carry on our backs everywhere truth, amazing and profound. We can say something to someone absolutely right on but our method of delivery has everything to do with their hearing Christ in us. Wisdom is characterized by humility in the other verses in today's passages and when we deliver it it needs to reflect that quality. We humans are all on level ground before the cross that has no place for cutting remarks to fellow believers or unbelievers. When I see someone deliver truth with this attitude I struggle with great frustration and I feel it when I do it myself. I love what is said about the way Jesus presented the gospel in these verses:
John 1:14
"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."
John 1:17
"For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ."

How often we (and remember when I say, we I include myself) carry one around without the other. The sad thing about this is that we damage the gospel when we don't carry them in harmony as Christ did. Our own sin taints this. Pride that we have truth revealed to us (which should instead be humble joy), and this can lead to us feeling we are more spiritual than others to the point of it blotting out our humility all together. Our humble hearts help us stay at the foot of the cross where we belong. They keep us sensitive to the pain of others, the distance they are from God and their blindness because of it. In the body of Christ, pride makes us develop a superiority complex that comes out in our attitudes of delivery of truth. What we say may very well be true at it's core, but if it's not spoken equally with grace it will not be delivered as Christ would have had it be.
Application:
Wisdom is full of grace and truth because wisdom is the character of Christ. Wisdom does not loose it's power in reforming our sinful hearts because it is humble and full of grace, it actually gains power because of this. Man is proud and even we as believers struggle (and I KNOW I do!) with having a proud reaction even when we grow in Christ! It's a spiritual act of discipline just as important as our exercise of the body, to stay humble as God gives us wisdom. Only then can our delivery be as it ought to be. Truth and wisdom are a double edged sword on their own, they divide soul and spirit and judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. We don't need to let our words take on that role that only God's wisdom can do properly. We need to bring healing to the world of sin carrying the amazing grace AND truth of Jesus through His wisdom and minus our cutting remarks to the fallen whether they be the unsaved world or the brother or sister in the Lord we brush up against.
This is a struggle for me always and I need to remember it.

Prayer:
Lord, THANK YOU, that you are full of grace and truth! Thank you that you grant us wisdom through the power of the Holy Spirit of Christ and not from anything glorious coming from within us. Thank you that you have saved us who were lost and that you opened our blind eyes and healed our hurting hearts. Help us to feel the pain that needs healing from wisdom. Guard our hearts and our mouths from pouring forth harsh cutting words that will taint the pure gospel of your truthful grace and work for us. Forgive us for the many times we fail you in this way. Help us get up and shake of the dust and keep running the joyful race ahead of us.

Tomorrow's reading is Proverbs 14-16:33