My dear readers,

Your Life is a Gift!

Proverbs 13:15: “Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.”

“Your life is a gift” can mean that it is a gift from God to man. Or it can mean that one’s life is a gift to others. Proverbs 13:15 refers to the latter. When others examine or look at our lives, the question that bids a response is: What kind of gift is our life to others?

We cannot say we do not want people to look at our lives. That is an impossibility because all people make judgments. In their judgment of us, they make conclusions. The conclusions impact them mentally, emotionally and physically. The more they see or spend time with us, the more significant the impact. The nature of this impact will change their lives just as the impact of their lives will change ours.

Good Understanding Gift – “Good understanding” in Proverbs and the Bible refers to understanding God’s Word. Unbelievers do not and cannot have “good understanding”. They do not have the ability to understand God’s Word. “Good understanding” does not come from attending Bible Colleges or seminaries or earning theological degrees. Many professing believers with doctoral degrees in theology do not have “good understanding”. They think they have because they studied the Bible in an institution. They spent hundreds of hours memorising the Scriptures, wrote research papers and theses through years of study, they have become pastors, preachers and teachers of God’s Word and might have even written Christian theological books. Because of these Christian “activities” they think they have a “good understanding”. They couldn’t be more wrong.

This way of thinking and reasoning is no different from that of the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ time. They think that since they are the students, teachers, and guardians of the Bible, they must be closer to heaven or are guaranteed to enter the kingdom of heaven because of the “Christian work” they do. Jesus says, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven” (cf. Matt 5:20b). Salvation is by grace alone, not by doing good Christian work, and not by knowing God’s Word without obedience.

To have “good understanding,” one must be a believer who possesses the mind of Christ given to him by God at salvation. He can understand the Bible rightly with Christ's mind and with help from the Holy Spirit who dwells in him. This “good understanding” results in a life lived in light of God’s Word. Based on his holy life, he understands how important God’s Word is in his daily walk with God. God blessed him with discernment when meeting people or facing difficult circumstances in life. He learns to avoid dangerous people and places that lead to sin. He communes with his heavenly Father every morning before he begins his day, asking for wisdom and strength to overcome any challenges he might encounter throughout the day. When he transgresses, he repents as soon as possible to make his relationship with God and others right. Studying God’s Word daily is not a chore but a delight. He studies it for his spiritual well-being because he loves to hear the voice of his loving heavenly Father.

With such a spiritual experience with God, all who interact with him will be blessed. He gives godly counsel when he meets people. He helps others know God better by his life and sharing. The word “favour” in Proverbs 13:15a refers to “grace”. God’s grace means God’s blessings, according to the Holy Scriptures. His godly counsel helps others solve problems in life and builds up their faith. He points others to Christ and God, for their obedience to his counsel is, in reality, obedience to God. Giving God’s grace to others can only occur when the believer is walking in “good understanding”.

Are you walking in “good understanding” and helping others to do the same?

The Transgressors’ Gift – “The way of transgressors” describes their manner of life. When a believer transgresses God’s Word and repents and stops sinning that sin, that sin does not become part of his way of life; he is not the transgressor described in Proverbs 13:15b. The word “way” refers to a well-trodden path. Making a path requires repeated walking on it, like a person creating a path through the jungle on his way to the village. Such is the way of the transgressors. A transgressor is a person who knows God's Word but transgresses it.

Not only does he transgress, he does so covertly and treacherously. He likes to present himself as a holy person. He surrounds himself with his “yes men” to maintain his false aura of holiness. He regards all who oppose him as his enemies. He thumbs down authoritatively the slightest criticism or even a comment on his teaching or behaviour. If he is a pastor, the pulpit becomes his place of justification to frighten all potential opponents. He preaches his own words but masks them cunningly to be God’s Word by quoting the Bible or using it out of context. He writes with impunity, justifying his erroneous views so that his life of sin may remain covert. He cannot repent because his way of being a transgressor has been so well-trodden that he has deceived his own soul into believing that he is right and everyone is wrong. Friends avoid him, but his enemies continue to kiss up to him and smother him with high praise, fueling his blindness and hardness of heart. By this manner of life, his conscience is seared. There is no remorse even though his sins are known to all.

Proverbs 13:15b says that the way of the transgressor is hard. The word “hard” speaks of permanence. The way of transgressors is permanent. They have walked all their lives in this manner, thinking that they are right with God because they surround themselves with many “friends” who give him praises instead of rebuke. They have lulled themselves into a false sense of security, having dug a hole so deep that they can't climb out. To repent and acknowledge that they are wrong and have sinned against God would cost them too much. They might lose their high position and have to forego all their titles of distinction, the honour and praises of men, the financial gain that accompanies the delusion and deception; and worst of all, they cannot afford to “lose face”.

The ability to see sin in oneself and repent before God in Christ is one of the clear evidences of salvation in every believer’s life.

Those who follow the way of transgressors will also end up with the same hardness of heart and mind, resulting in condemnation. They think they are living a righteous life before God and have salvation when, in reality, they remain in bondage to sin.

Both ways are out there in Christendom. Which way are you walking in? Your heart and life will reveal it to you, especially by how you impact the lives of the people around you. Does your life give life or hardness of heart to others?