My dear readers,

Troubles in Life Reveal Who We are!

Proverbs 13:17: “A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health.”

No one escapes troubles in life. If a sinner lives in a perfect world, troubles will await him because of his sin. If the man is perfect, but lives in a world of thorns and thistles, troubles abound. How much more when a sinful man lives in a troubled world!

Since we cannot avoid troubles in life, can we determine the kinds of trouble that come our way? The answer is a resounding yes. For example, a sinner can choose to not go to prison all his life. He avoids criminals and criminal activities to ensure that even if troubles find him, they are not the troubles that will land him in prison! Not ending up in prison for wrongdoing is not a problem for us as believers.

But finding ourselves in compromising sins that ruin the holy witness for Christ is a problem. On the other hand, some troubles may be good, for they reveal the actual state of our salvation, that we are righteous in Christ. The latter is needful because of the last days' deception within Christianity. The former must be avoided at all costs, for ruining the holy witness of Christ in our lives is too costly a price to pay.

Proverbs 13:17 teaches us that the troubles we experience in life reveal whether we are in Christ or not in Christ.

Falling into mischief – A wicked messenger falls into mischief, i.e. evil. He is a wicked messenger because he is an unbeliever. The word “wicked” describes a person who is morally bad within. God used this same word in Abraham’s prayer when he pleaded with God to not slay the righteous with the wicked in Genesis 18:23-25, referring to Lot who was righteous and the Sodomites who were wicked. A born-again believer cannot be wicked. The Holy Spirit dwells in him, making him holy in Christ. He may make mistakes, but he will repent very soon. The wicked messenger refers to a professing believer since God gave the Book of Proverbs for Israel’s spiritual well-being. He first falls into mischief from within his heart before executing it to hurt others. His heart is evil, for his motive is self-serving, even using God’s Word and work to secure and further his evil desires and agenda. Evil committed by professing believers in the name of Christ and using God's Word to execute it is the worst evil. The name of Christ will be hated by those who are hurt by the evil. The result is that the Word of Christ will be rejected, and the work of Christ will also be despised. The devil’s desire is thus fulfilled by these evil messengers.

They are called wicked messengers because they pose as messengers of God through their theological training and Christian honorific titles. Naïve followers with little or no discernment will follow these wicked messengers like lap dogs following their masters, waiting patiently for them to throw a bone of praise. Their blind acceptance of their masters renders them spiritually paralysed, unable to check their teaching against God’s Word like the Berean Christians in Acts 17:11. They are mesmerised by their masters’ “spiritual personality” as if they can do no wrong! They have fallen in mischief (i.e. evil) with their wicked masters into the deep hole of misplaced blind loyalty, mutually hurting one another and repeatedly destroying the witness of Christ in their wicked lives.

Another way to fall into mischief is through their messages from God’s Word. They do not need to be consistently wrong in their teaching, for that would be foolishness. Even a child would see through them if they are wrong most of the time. They need to be right most of the time to successfully seduce their victims into eating from the palm of their hands whatever “spiritual food” they cook for them. The devil knows that this is the most effective method of deception whereby ninety plus percent of the teaching is biblical except for the less than one per cent that is deliberately taught wrongly that will destroy a holy witness or deceive a sinner into thinking he is saved when in reality he is still bound for hell.

Another wicked method used by the wicked messenger is to damage God’s work by stumbling the lives of naïve believers, rendering them so discouraged that they would refuse to serve God any more. Gossip here and slander there of key persons in the leadership can quickly kill the relationship between God’s people and the under-shepherd whom God has placed under their care. When the wicked messenger successfully sows seeds of discord into the minds and hearts of his victims, they will leave the sanctuary of that sound biblical church that has helped them grow spiritually through sweet Christian fellowships and sound biblical teaching for the spiritual wilderness out in the world. Their spiritual lives will be ruined and decline into carnality. If the victims are families with young children, their children will suffer the most significant spiritual fallout, perhaps finding themselves being cast into hell at Christ’s return.

These are the spiritual troubles believers must avoid. The ones who have fallen into these kinds of spiritual troubles must take heed to wake up from their spiritual stupor before any more time is wasted, and the night falls on them and they can repent no more.

They bring spiritual health -- In contrast, a faithful ambassador (i.e. an errand doer) is health, i.e. he brings spiritual health. All believers are to be faithful ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will not add or subtract from what God’s Word teaches them on how to bear a holy witness for 

Christ so that by their good works, people will see Christ in them and glorify God, their heavenly Father. The health that their works and words bring will be all spiritual. Believers are all spiritual people when they are born again in Christ. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their lives make them spiritual people. Serving God in the devil's domain will bring troubles in their lives just as it did to their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who was persecuted and crucified for telling the truth and bringing salvation to them. The same will hold true for all faithful ambassadors of Christ. Troubles will find them because of their faithful witness.

As spiritual people, all faithful believers are to impact the lives of everyone spiritually, including those who persecute them. The instruments they use to bring spiritual blessing are God’s Word and their holy testimony.

• Teaching or preaching God’s Word – When the Word of God is shared accurately, God is speaking. The Holy Spirit can, if He desires, bring conviction and conversion. If the sinner is in need of salvation, the faithful ambassador will give the gospel to help him enter the kingdom of heaven. If he is sharing God’s Word to saints, he is an ambassador bringing spiritual meat to build up the faith of fellow believers. Beware of the sin of hypocrisy in preachers and teachers who do not walk the talk.

• Living out God’s Word in their lives – When faithful ambassadors live out God’s Word, they will shine forth the light of Christ. They will point people to the reality of the kingdom of heaven, God’s love in Christ, the continual potency of the salvific work of Christ at Calvary, and the blessed hope of eternal life that are available to all who believe. They possess the mind of Christ, helping them to think and behave like Christ according to the Holy Scriptures. They are not easily discouraged because of thanklessness from man because they serve Christ sacrificially, constrained by the love of Christ. They desire not to be noticed by all as they serve Christ faithfully and invisibly. Christ alone shines through their life of unconditional service to Him.

All believers bring spiritual health everywhere they go. They promote Christ as the salt and light to a spiritually dark, decaying world. They bring blessings and spiritual health to everyone wherever they go. Conversely, professing believers are wicked messengers whose biblical words and teaching mask the façade of hypocrisy, their sowing seeds of discord, doing deeds of shame, and stumbling all who come into contact with them. They bring trouble to themselves and others through their wicked words and lives.

What kind of trouble are you facing now?