Integrity is to Walk Straight In the Lord’s Path – (Proverbs 19:1-3)
Daily Proverbs
Daily Bible Study
One of the worst side effects of mankind having both a brain to think things through and a heart to desire things, is more often than not the desires of our heart will win out over reasoning. Why? Because of our sin-nature. Because of sin, we will use our intellect to justify our rebellion against God. And in most cases, our desires will win out regardless of whether our intent was good or bad. Not only do our desires take control, but more often than not, people who desire to sin will twist their thought process in order to justify what they know in their hearts is wrong. Their brain will engage their tongue to justify to themselves and others why the sin they desire to commit is really "ok." All the while ignoring God is not fooled. They willfully become ignorant of the fact God looks not just at our actions, but also the desires and motivations behind our actions. When God looks at us, He does so with eternity in mind.
This means God not only looks at our actions, but He pays more attention into the true desires, thoughts and motivations behind those actions. In other words, God looks at our hearts, and not what we tell others. How many times have we seen God's gift of reasoning used to deny the very God who gave us a mind and a heart which we reason with? And this is the heart of the message of these passages. God is speaking against those who use the foolishness and wisdom of men to coerce others into sin, by what the Bible calls foolish and perverse lips. We have to remember, there is no debating God. When we come before the Lord, He is not going to listen to our reasoning on why we thought it was ok to sin. We are either in Christ and forgiven or without excuse and guilty before God. There is no middle ground. Because of our pride, our arrogance and our rebellion toward God, we become angry and refuse to acknowledge that our opinions are irrelevant before a Holy God. Moreover, we refuse to understand that God is not a man and that He will not debate with us, nor is there any other final judgment, but His.