A God-shaped life
Proverbs 11 is another collection of 31 proverbs with two sections entitled in the Message Bible – ‘Without good direction, people lose their way’ and ‘A God-shaped life’. Let’s see what stands out here, shall we?
God hates cheating in the marketplace;
he loves it when business is aboveboard. v1
Of course, we’re seeing this on a massive scale with the whole Panama scandal right now, but the temptation to cheat – to get away with paying less than we should for example – is always there.
The stuck-up fall flat on their faces,
but down-to-earth people stand firm. v2
Sounds a lot like ‘Pride before a fall’, doesn’t it? And we know from what we see all around us how true this is. The higher the pedestal we or others put us on, the further there is to fall.
The integrity of the honest keeps them on track;
the deviousness of crooks brings them to ruin. v3
Integrity matters. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Integrity matters.
A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart,
but a principled life can stand up to the worst. v4
The most important things in life cannot be bought. Health. Happiness. Fulfilment. Friendship. Love. Peace. A good night’s sleep. These things and many others are priceless.
When it goes well for good people, the whole town cheers;
when it goes badly for bad people, the town celebrates. v10
Harsh but true. We all want good things to happen to good people and bad things to happen to bad people. That feels like the right order of things. We know that isn’t always the case and when bad things happen to good people, it can shake our world. And the hope of avoiding bad things is certainly not the best motivation for being good. But in fact, in the long run, good will always triumph. Love will always win. That is our hope, our firm foundation.
A gadabout gossip can’t be trusted with a secret,
but someone of integrity won’t violate a confidence. v13
Yes, we all know how important it is to pick carefully who we share our secrets with. We’ve all learnt that the hard way!
Without good direction, people lose their way;
the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances. v14
Life isn’t about just setting off in the right direction and assuming all will be well. We are human. We are easily distracted. We are easily tempted. We are easily led astray. It’s a journey with many crossroads and slip roads and roundabouts along the way. Occasionally a dead end. We need to seek good direction and advice every single day.
When you’re kind to others, you help yourself;
when you’re cruel to others, you hurt yourself. v17
This is so important. When we dehumanise someone else by our words and actions, it actually affects us too. It actually dehumanises us too. How you act towards other people affects you as much as it affects them. It changes your life as much as it changes theirs.
God can’t stand deceivers,
but oh how he relishes integrity. v20
You see. Integrity matters.
Count on this: The wicked won’t get off scot-free,
and God’s loyal people will triumph. v21
You see. Love wins.
Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout
is a beautiful face on an empty head. v22
Sorry. Couldn’t resist. But this sums up why I struggle so much with the world ‘beautiful’.
The desires of good people lead straight to the best,
but wicked ambition ends in angry frustration. v23
You see, when it talks about God giving you the desires of your heart, we can get fooled into thinking we can have whatever we want. Well, that is kind of true, except what we want will have changed. Because there’s always a first part to that sentence which goes something like ‘Seek first the kingdom of God’. Because when you do that, you are changed. Your desires are changed. Your will becomes more in line with God’s will. What you want most is for God’s will to be done. You will want the best and that best will be in line with what God thinks is best. See what I’m getting at?
The world of the generous gets larger and larger;
the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. v24
I love a generous spirit. One who is open to other people, open-hearted, who lives with an open door and an open invitation. One whose world is all-encompassing, all inclusive.
Curses on those who drive a hard bargain!
Blessings on all who play fair and square! v26
We are all accountable for how we treat others, how we work with others, how we buy from others. This makes me think of the fair trade movement and how bad most of us are about taking that seriously and truly getting behind it.
A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump;
a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree. v28
I love this. It’s my favourite proverb of this chapter. I want to be a flourishing tree.
Exploit or abuse your family, and end up with a fistful of air;
common sense tells you it’s a stupid way to live. v29
We know first hand how destructive exploitation and abuse within a family can be. It’s the last place you want to face it, within your own home and family. The place where you should feel safe and nurtured. We need to do all we can to support those in this situation.
And so we leave it there for today. Plenty of food for thought.
