LOVE & FAITHFULNESS
Today is Proverbs Chapter 3. This chapter speaks to the importance of wisdom to our overall wellbeing. As I read through Chapter 3, many verses jumped out at me but none as much as verse 3.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Let love and faithfulness never leave you. As I sit here and write today’s post, I hit a block. Looking for inspiration I googled the word faithfulness. What I was looking for was the answer to what it means to be faithful in the eyes of God. The definition didn’t really help me but several words synonymous with the word faithfulness did.
Here they are:
| Synonyms: | fidelity, loyalty, constancy, devotion, trueness, true-heartedness, dedication, commitment, allegiance, adherence |
The words that really stood out to me were loyalty, constancy, and commitment. When I looked at these words I gained a new understanding of what it is that God wants from me. To “live” this verse means that I must be loyal to God and his teachings. I must commit not only my heart but my work to serving him. And finally, constancy means that it can’t be a sometimes thing, it has to become a part of me, constantly looking for ways to serve and honor him.
That brings me to the word LOVE. Love is a very interesting word. Many times, I feel as though it is severely overused and at other times, not used enough. What’s most perplexing to me is that LOVE is what many of us desire most. We want it from our parents, our spouse, significant other, friends and children. Yet, when we have it, do we even appreciate it or recognize it?
Love is so much more than a word spoken. It is more than a feeling. Hearing the words “I love you” can certainly make a person feel great. However, if those words are spoken and backed with nothing more, how long do you continue to FEEL love?
So if LOVE is more than a word or a feeling, what is it that God wants us to understand in this verse? Let LOVE and faithfulness never leave you. As I sit here and think about the answer, what comes to me is that never allowing love to LEAVE you, means that ALL your thoughts, and ALL your actions must come from a place of LOVE. They must come from a place of serving others and treating them as God would.
In his book, “The 5 Love Languages”, Gary Chapman has helped couples throughout the world better understand what it means for their significant other to feel loved. In the book he breaks expressing LOVE down into 5 different categories, or as he calls them, languages.
They are:
Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time and Physical Touch
Whenever this book has been called to my attention or I have heard it referenced, it has always been in regards to love in a romantic relationship. It’s been a tool to help couples reconnect or connect on a deeper level.
Today, after considering this verse I contemplated how using these 5 love languages, not only with the person I am romantically involved with but with everyone, including strangers, would allow me to “live” this verse.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Being a person who showers love on everyone through the use of the 5 love languages, would allow me to live in LOVE. For through offering love, be it opening a door for a stranger (act of service), complimenting a waitress (words of affirmation), paying the tab for table next to you (receiving gifts), having a conversation with a homeless person (quality time) or offering a hug to someone in despair (physical touch), you would be showing God that you are indeed, faithful.
How about you? What verse in Chapter 3 are you going to “live” today?
Have a great day!
Kevin
Proverbs Chapter 3
Wisdom Bestows Well-Being
1My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.[a]
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.[b]
13 Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed.
19 By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place;
20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,
and the clouds let drop the dew.
21 My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
preserve sound judgment and discretion;
22 they will be life for you,
an ornament to grace your neck.
23 Then you will go on your way in safety,
and your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
26 for the Lord will be at your side
and will keep your foot from being snared.
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
when you already have it with you.
29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
who lives trustfully near you.
30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
when they have done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the violent
or choose any of their ways.
32 For the Lord detests the perverse
but takes the upright into his confidence.
33 The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34 He mocks proud mockers
but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
35 The wise inherit honor,
but fools get only shame.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 3:6 Or will direct your paths
- Proverbs 3:12 Hebrew; Septuagint loves, / and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child
Defeating Mediocrity 