Good Behavior
"Good behavior owes itself to lack of opportunity". I love this quote passed on to me from one of the ladies in my Community Bible Study core group.
How true it is! If I don't have the opportunity to misbehave, I won't misbehave. Like dieting. If I don't have chocolate in my home, I won't eat it because I can't eat it.
If I think about those things that are honorable, just, pure, lovely and commendable (Philippians 4:8), I will not be thinking about things that lead me into temptation, that lead me to opportunities to misbehave.
The first two verses of Psalm 1 say it another way:
No opportunities to misbehave when delighting in the law of the Lord, when meditating on it day and night.
Admittedly, we do not want to believe that we would ever walk in the counsel of the wicked; but do we? What books do we read? What television shows or movies do we watch? With what are we filling our minds? What are they teaching us? Do they tell us to condone homosexuality even though God's Word tells us just the opposite? That divorce is better than unhappiness? That killing the unborn is not murder because that little life is just a mass of tissue? That sex outside of marriage is okay, even desirable?
Who do we choose for our close friends? Granted, this is especially problematic for children and teens who are forming their values, but it is a problem for adults, too. Where do I find those close friends? Am I swayed by the opinions of others? Do I go along with an activity or a line of thinking because I don't want to be rejected? Who do I long to please—man or God?
Paul wrote that "anyone [who] teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, ...is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing" (1Timothy 6:3-4). He's referring to the counsel of the wicked, to sinners and scoffers.
Some examples of today's' false teachings: "If it feels good, do it"; "You deserve a break today"; prosperity equals success; "Watch out for Number One"; etc. There are many other subtle teachings that sound so good, ideologies that are so appealing.
But if we delight in the Word of God, meditating on it day and night, we will not be pulled away in our thinking. What is sound? What is true? What never fails? God's Word. God Himself. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. May we learn to judge all teachings in light of the Bible, the inspired Word of God!
How true it is! If I don't have the opportunity to misbehave, I won't misbehave. Like dieting. If I don't have chocolate in my home, I won't eat it because I can't eat it.
If I think about those things that are honorable, just, pure, lovely and commendable (Philippians 4:8), I will not be thinking about things that lead me into temptation, that lead me to opportunities to misbehave.
The first two verses of Psalm 1 say it another way:
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
No opportunities to misbehave when delighting in the law of the Lord, when meditating on it day and night.
Admittedly, we do not want to believe that we would ever walk in the counsel of the wicked; but do we? What books do we read? What television shows or movies do we watch? With what are we filling our minds? What are they teaching us? Do they tell us to condone homosexuality even though God's Word tells us just the opposite? That divorce is better than unhappiness? That killing the unborn is not murder because that little life is just a mass of tissue? That sex outside of marriage is okay, even desirable?
Who do we choose for our close friends? Granted, this is especially problematic for children and teens who are forming their values, but it is a problem for adults, too. Where do I find those close friends? Am I swayed by the opinions of others? Do I go along with an activity or a line of thinking because I don't want to be rejected? Who do I long to please—man or God?
Paul wrote that "anyone [who] teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, ...is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing" (1Timothy 6:3-4). He's referring to the counsel of the wicked, to sinners and scoffers.
Some examples of today's' false teachings: "If it feels good, do it"; "You deserve a break today"; prosperity equals success; "Watch out for Number One"; etc. There are many other subtle teachings that sound so good, ideologies that are so appealing.
But if we delight in the Word of God, meditating on it day and night, we will not be pulled away in our thinking. What is sound? What is true? What never fails? God's Word. God Himself. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. May we learn to judge all teachings in light of the Bible, the inspired Word of God!
Quotations in the post are from the English Standard Version
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