The right way to live

The right way to live

Bible:Proverbs 3:1-8

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding (V.5).

Reading

My friend is a ‘good’ person. Her goal in life is to live the right way, to be authentic, to do good things, to respect others, and to ultimately live her best life. I admire her. Yet she also believes that God’s existence makes no real difference. As I listen to her, I wonder: How can we know what the right way is on our own? How can we follow our own instincts when we so often think, feel and do bad things? How do we define good without an absolutely correct standard to measure it with? King Solomon, guided by God, gave answers to these questions in the book of Proverbs. His advice was to “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (PROVERBS 3:5). This means we can’t just rely on our own five senses. They will misdirect us sometimes. They don’t lead us down “straight” paths, but off into all sorts of places—some which are no good for us at all! Solomon said we need an objective truth to follow—and that truth is God. He didn’t say, “Trust with a little bit of your heart,” but “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” We need to give everything we are to God and follow Him, no longer just doing whatever makes sense to us. One Bible translation writes Proverbs 3:5 (amp) like this: “Do not let mercy and kindness and truth leave you [instead let these qualities define you].” The only way to have genuine mercy, kindness and truth in our lives is to trust the Giver of these things.

“WHY DO YOU CALL ME GOOD?” JESUS ANSWERED,
“THERE IS NO ONE GOOD EXCEPT GOD ALONE.” MARK 10:18

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