The Word To Live By: 10-4-25
Phil Waggoner
Do not let kindness and truth (integrity) leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:3,4
The Word to live by: I want to camp on this scripture for a little bit because I really feel it’s a missing ingredient in a lot of Christians’ daily routine. There is an incalculable benefit of making integrity and kindness a part of your life. The book of Proverbs contains conditional promises. A conditional promise is a promise that says if you do this, this will happen. Some of them are negative and some are positive. In the case of Proverbs 3:3, 4, if you do verse 3, then verse 4 will happen. The benefit of favor and good understanding with God and man is incalculable because the word “favor” there means cherished approval and preferential treatment. Long story short - I took my bike into the shop for some tune-up and repairs. I was alone with the manager and mechanic who is the age of my son, married with two kids. We got into a discussion about life’s priorities and marriage. I shared that his #1 priority needed to be a relationship with Jesus Christ and how to do that. When I came back to get my bike, which was going to cost over $100 including parts, he comped it to me. When I told him it wasn’t necessary and I wasn’t expecting it, his words, not mine, “I appreciate your truthfulness with me the other day; that was kind of you.” Sometimes when you are honest with people, they don’t view it as you being hard on them but instead an act of kindness. The money-saving part was calculable, but the eternal value of that conversation is incalculable. That story happened over five years ago. I ran into that guy on a bike trail earlier last week and he asked me if I remembered that day. I told him I did. (Actually, I remembered the comp, which led to remembering the conversation.) He said that conversation probably saved his marriage and his relationship with his children. He said he was a member of a local church now and a grandpa. Here’s a free WTLB. The Word of God will not return to Him empty, but will accomplish what He sends it to do and prosper everywhere He sends it.
Read through the Bible in a year: Revelation 4; Nehemiah 5:1-7:4; Psalms 99;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 4, Luke 4:23-44, 1 Thessalonians 3
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160