Probing Proverbs 10:17-18 People who accept discipline are
on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray. Hiding
hatred makes you a liar; slandering others makes you a fool.
There was a man convinced that he was dead. His family tried everything to prove
that was a lie, but he refused to see. They called the family doctor. The doctor couldn't convince him that
he wasn't dead either. Finally,
the doctor asked, "Do you believe that dead men can bleed?" The man chuckled. "Of course not! Everybody knows that dead men can't
bleed." The doctor poked his finger with needle. As the blood bubbled out, the man looked at his finger in
shock and exclaimed, "How about that, dead men do bleed after all."
If we choose to remain in darkness, we will refuse to see the
light even when it is there! This Proverb is full of proactive steps that place
an individual on one path or the other!
Notice…people that accept –
that is a volitional choice! When we are honest enough to accept discipline,
which is a very difficult thing to do because no one wants to admit they are
wrong…but
when we do that we place ourselves on the path that leads to life!
The opposite path also is made of volitional choices – ignore, hiding and slandering. Theses three actions place a person on a
path that is off course from the
truth, exposes their lack of integrity and their lack of common sense!
Choosing to live in the Light is a life that embraces Truth…even
when uncomfortable. The benefits are the dynamo of growth and maturity! It also
frees that person from image protecting. We are what we are, warts and all. We
have gotten over ourselves!
Transparency is a liberating experience, but it
will cost your flesh its life! The
flesh is most comfortable in the shadows, where it can live the way it desires.
It can put on a front long enough to appear in the light for a short while…but
only a short while. The intensity of the light will drive the flesh back into
its normal environment…darkness!
John communicates a tremendous Truth about the darkness in his
gospel:
John 1:4–5 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of
men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The word translated “comprehend” is important to understand.
καταλαμβάνω katalambánō
(I) To lay hold of, seize, apprehend, attain, obtain, find.with eagerness, suddenness.
(II) In allusion to the public games, to obtain the prize
with the idea of eager and strenuous exertion, to grasp, seize upon (Rom. 9:30;
1 Cor. 9:24; Phil. 3:12, 13, “for which very end I also have been taken
hold of by Christ” [a.t.], v. 12).
(III) Figuratively, to seize with the mind, to
comprehend (John 1:5, the darkness did not admit or receive the light [cf. John
1:10–12; 3:19]). The darkness is here presented as being so thick that the light could
not penetrate it.
When an individual chooses to remain in the thick fog of
darkness, the light will not get to him! Be careful here, the Scripture is not
claiming the light cannot get to him. God could convert every person by force,
for He is sovereign! However, the norm of Scriptures testifies that God leaves
that as a volitional choice for human beings. Allowing us to be a creation that
chooses to be in relationship with its Creator, not one that is forced to. So
if a person remains in darkness, what does the light do to it? Exposes the
truth concerning that individual. They do not have light because they refuse to
come to it and live in a lie.
John 3:20–21 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light,
and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes
to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in
God.”
1 John 1:6–7 If we say that we have fellowship with Him
and yet walk in the darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself
is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus
His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Which path are you choosing? Transparency is painful, but leads
to the truth and life! Lurking in the shadows builds a life that is not founded
in reality and the outcome is disaster! Ask yourself a few questions: Do I want
to see the truth about myself or believe an image I have created? What is
really most important to me…knowing where I really am with my Creator,
or believing that I am fine, because to believe anything else might cost me something?
When Truth shows you that you are wrong, how do you deal with that?
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