Day 10
Genesis 23:1-24:51; Matthew 8:1-17; Psalm 9:13-20; Proverbs 3:1-6
We Reflect What We Worship
It is a popular saying among motivational speakers nowadays that “we become what we think about.” If we think about positive things, we will become positive people; negative things: negative thoughts and actions. We are reminded of the same spiritually healthy habit by Paul to “think about…whatever is true, honorable, just, pure and lovely” (Philippians 4).
Proverbs is a book full of godly imperatives—calls to think and act with wisdom. But in this passage, the call is not a ‘list’ of how to act, a checklist of “righteous things I must do today,” so much as it is to gaze at God Himself and therefore become like Him. The admonition, for instance, in 3:3 to “let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you” but rather to “bind them around your neck” is not merely a call to adopt the traits of steadfastness and faithfulness, but to gaze at the God who proclaimed to Moses that He Himself is “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6).
We are to bind ourselves to Him, remembering our covenant with God, not forsaking Him. Where motivational speakers might encourage us to develop new “understanding” to lean on, Solomon has told us not to lean on our own understanding, but “in all our ways acknowledge” the One who is before us. As the Apostle John notes, “When we see Him, we will be like Him.” When the eyes of our hearts are steadfastly on God, we will reflect What we worship.
Kent Madison