3/23/2025
Turn with me to Proverbs 19:5-7. These are our verses to study and memorize this week.
Proverbs 19:5-7 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape. 6 Many will seek the favor of a generous man, And every man is a friend to him who gives gifts. 7 All the brothers of a poor man hate him; How much more do his friends abandon him! He pursues them with words, but they are gone.
Introduction
In these verses we are continuing our look at wisdom for life’s relationships. After looking at marriage in Proverbs 18:22 we began looking more closely at true friendships. We are being given wisdom for “finding good” in our relationships as Proverbs 18:22 and 19:8 talk about. In these verses we are learning about a number of issues that prevent us from having good friendships. By contrast and consideration we are also learning how to help build our relationships into what God designed them to be.
Have you ever had someone lie about you and get you in trouble? Maybe someone told an inaccurate story about you to your boss and you had to defend and justify yourself to them? Maybe you were falsely accused of speeding or a traffic infraction and you had to go to court to try to let the actual truth be known. Maybe one of your siblings was mad at you or trying to protect themselves and they accused you before your parents of doing something which you did not do. Verse 5 focuses on this kind of thing in relationships and gives comfort to the falsely accused, as well as warning to those who engage in this lying behavior. It shows us that speaking the truth is an essential element to finding good in our relationships.
Verses 6 and 7 then return to ways that wealth, poverty, generosity, and stinginess can affect relationships. Have you ever had friends abandon you just when you had need of them the most? Or have you ever found yourself flush with more friends than you realized you had simply because you were being generous to people, sharing with them, or helping them? Perhaps you have experienced the opposite of these situations. Maybe you have had a friend who always seemed to need something and it got to the point where it made you not really want to be around them. Or maybe you have found yourself becoming someone’s friend just because they were always giving things away and being generous with their possessions. Truly, friendships have many dynamics. They can be greatly affected by money, the lack thereof, and the ways that we treat each other over money issues. Proverbs 19:6-7 helps us to recognize these issues so that we live wisely in relation to friends and build friendships on the right foundations.
With that overview, let’s take a closer look at Proverbs 19:5-7 as we continue studying true friendship and true wealth.
5 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape.
Those who try to destroy other people with lies will not get away with their deceit. This proverb emphasizes that liars will not get away with their wickedness.
As we read Proverbs 19 something curious can be seen. Verse 5 and verse 9 are almost identical. The only difference is in the endings. Verse 9 adds that liars “will perish.” That difference, however, is a significant expansion on “not escaping.” When we get there we will discuss that more. However, what this repetition also does is help tie all of these verses in the larger section together. Verse 8 will begin a new sub-section that expands the focus on relationships out beyond friendships to one’s broader relationships in life. However, as it does this verse 8 repeats the theme which was begun in Proverbs 18:22 with its mention of finding good. Quite intricately, Solomon has used the repetition of these different elements to tie the different subsections together while also subtly shifting his focus to expand on the wisdom that he is giving to us. He starts and ends with the family in 18:22 and 19:13-14. In between that he primarily focuses on friendship relationships in 18:23-19:7. Then he moves to broader relationships in 19:8-12.
Coming back to verse 5, though, we are being given a foundational truth that is important for our relationships to our friends. Do not stab them in the back. Do not tell lies about them. Do not use our words in ways which will hurt them. Do not take advantage of them. Do not push them down to try to push ourselves ahead. If we want to find good in our relationships we must base our relationships on the truth. This proverb reminds us that if we do not hold to the truth, we will reap the consequences. We will receive punishment ourselves and will not escape with our lying ways.
In Exodus 20:16, 23:1, and Deuteronomy 5:20 being a false witness against someone else is directly forbidden by God in the law. It is one of the ten commandments: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Put positively, we are to speak the truth with and about other people. We are to be honest in our law courts about situations that have happened. We are to be honest in all our friendships and relationships with people.
Deuteronomy 19:18-21 warns about the consequence of being a false witness. When the situation was investigated and the lies were confirmed then the liar was to receive the exact same consequence of whatever would have happened to the originally accused person if they had been convicted of the crime they were accused of. There was to be no pity, even if it meant the liar’s maiming or death. It was to be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, etc. God instituted this strong penalty to be a strong deterrent against bearing false witness. God takes lying and trying to hurt other people with our words seriously. To have relationships that produce good there is no room for lies in them.
Scriptural Example: In Scripture we see an example of this proverb in Jeremiah 29. The first three quarters of the chapter records a letter and prophecy of Jeremiah to the captives in Babylon. In it he told them to settle down, build houses, and work for the good of the place they were exiled to. They were not to believe false prophets who promised their soon return to Israel. Instead, after 70 years God would visit them and fulfill His word to bring them back to Israel. Thus they were to wait for God’s time and trust in His future good plan for them.
In response to this letter and prophesy a man named Shemaiah the Nehelamite sent a letter back to the priests and people still in Jerusalem. In it he contradicted Jeremiah, prophesied against him, and urged his imprisonment. Thus he bore false witness against Jeremiah and falsely spoke for God. Jeremiah 29:24-32 records this situation in God’s response.
Jeremiah 29:24-32 To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 “The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the overseer in the house of the LORD over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and in the iron collar, 27 now then, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who prophesies to you? 28 “For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be long; build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce.’”’” 29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then came the word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying, 31 “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,” 32 therefore thus says the LORD,
“Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,” declares the LORD, “because he has preached rebellion against the LORD.”’”
Shemaiah was a false witness, and God did not let him go unpunished. He did not get away with his lies. God publicly exposed him and prophesied that he would be cut off from Israel. Neither he nor his descendents would experience the good God was going to do for Israel with their restoration. The famous prophecy of Jeremiah 29:11 that God knew the plans that He had for them, “plans for prosperity and not for disaster” to give them “a future and a hope” were not for the lying Shemaiah and his descendents.
Proverb in Comparison: When we compare this proverb with the rest of Scripture we see that God’s standards for His people have not changed. In the three places the gospels record Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler, not bearing false witness is specifically mentioned as an essential commandments for following God and having eternal life (Matthew 19:18, Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20).
Similarly, in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus taught that the food that we eat does not morally defile us, nor does eating with unwashed hands. Instead, it is the evil things which come out of our hearts, mouths, and lives that defile us. Then Jesus gave some examples. Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, and slanders are all evil behaviors coming out of us which make us truly unclean and sinful.
In Colossian 3:9-10 Paul reiterates that lying has no place among God’s redeemed people.
Colossians 3:9-10 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—
Lying, slandering, and bearing false witness about people are all evil behaviors which do not match who we are as born again believers in Jesus. God did not create us for lies, manipulations, and bearing false witness about others. Lies ruin relationships. They ruin relationships with friends, family, and acquaintances. They destroy one’s relationship with God, and earn His punishment. How can they not? Lies are incompatible with God. When we lie we connect ourselves with Satan, who is called the father of lies in John 8:44. Jesus on the other hand declares this about Himself in John 14:6—
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Jesus is the truth, and He is the only way to the Father—to God, to eternal life, to righteousness, to forgiveness, and to redemption from sin. Without Him, we are condemned in our sin and on our way to the eternal judgment of God as John 3:18 and 36 says. “He who does not believe has been judged already” and “he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” God is sovereign and holy. He will not let lies go unpunished. In this life sometimes people may seem to get away with their lying conniving ways. But no one will escape God’s ultimate justice (Hebrews 9:27, Revelation 20:15, 22:15).
Truth in Connection: As we connect this with our lives, the reality is plain. Lying is not good for our relationships with people or God. If we want to find good in our relationships, we must walk in the truth. To do this we need Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Without Him we will only end up bending truth to what we want in the moment and living like our father, Satan. In him we are enslaved to sin and lies. Our only hope is to acknowledge the truth of our sin, our inability to be righteousness or become righteous on our own. Then we must turn to Jesus with what He did on the cross in our place taking our punishment. We must trust Him as our Lord and Savior and cast ourselves on Him to transform us, give us His Holy Spirit, and enable us to walk in truth and righteousness. As we become children of God by faith we become children of a new Father—in whom is no lies, and in whom is all truth and wisdom. If you have not trusted Him as Lord and Savior, trust Him now. Let Him transform you and lead you into the truth.
If we have trusted in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we need to continue to walk by faith. That will lead us to always walk in the truth. This is not easy, but it is the only foundation for real relationships with people or God. Do not let yourself be deceived by your old remaining fleshly desires. Do not let yourself be deceived by the world or the devil any longer. Immerse yourself in the truth of God’s Word and let it guide you in every relationship and situation.
Do you have any situations in your life where you have been lying to or about someone? Let God’s Spirit convict you and turn from those lies. Speak and live by the truth. Deal with those situations openly and honestly. Then commit to walking in complete integrity and honesty before God. He will not allow liars into heaven as Revelation 22:15 declares, and He will not leave them unpunished as our proverb here says. May we be people of the truth faithfully following Jesus as “the truth.”
Our next two proverbs repeat and add to what Proverbs 19:4 dealt with on wealth and friendship.
6 Many will seek the favor of a generous man, And every man is a friend to him who gives gifts.
People pursue help from the generous and everyone likes being around a gift-giver. This proverb emphasizes the appreciation that people have for generosity and gifts.
Proverbs 19:4 laid the foundation. It told us that:
Proverbs 19:4 Wealth adds many friends, But a poor man is separated from his friend.
Our current proverb expands on the first part of that verse, and then Proverbs 19:7 will expand on the second part of that verse. All three of these proverbs are frank and honest descriptions of the way things actually operate in this world. People like those who are generous to them and give gifts. Everyone likes and appreciates a giver. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It is actually quite natural. People like those who help and benefit them. The problem comes with our sin nature inside of us. It pushes us to be selfish and causes us to seek the gift rather than the giver. It causes us to want things from people and to take gifts while pushing us to not also freely give and help others ourselves. It makes people fake friends who are only there for what they can get out of others.
All sides of this truth are important realities to know in our relationships. On the positive side, being generous givers helps build our relationships. When we live like this we become good friends who care for and help others. This is a very good thing and the way that friendships ought to be. A natural outcome of that generosity and genuine friendship to people leads to many others seeking our favor and help. That can be good or bad depending on how we handle the realities of our finite time and resources. Beyond the good aspects, giving gifts will lead to everyone being our friend—in appearance. Yet, the reality is that if everyone is our friend simply because of the gifts we give they are not really our friend. They simply want what we give. We must not be naïve about the sinful, selfish realities of people’s sin natures. Just because someone is there wanting what we can give does not mean they are really our friends who will help us when we need it. To find good in our relationships with people we need to be generous, and we need to honestly understand other people with their motivations and how money can affect relationships.
Scriptural Example: In Scripture we see a perfect example of this proverb in Jesus. He is the ultimate gift giver, and the one we ought to have as our closest friend. Salvation is a gift that none of us deserve. Our spiritual gifts, the Holy Spirit, God’s Word, the church, and family are all gifts of our good, loving God. Indeed, everything good that we experience in life is a gift from God as James 1:17 declares.
Sadly, many people just want the gift, and not the giver. They are more than willing to accept the good, enjoyable gifts of God in life and even eternal life—as long as they can still have their sin and be the god of their lives. They do not want any responsibility or to acknowledge His righteous sovereignty and authority. They do not want to love or serve Him. They just want His blessing and help in their sinful, idolatrous pursuits. We see this pictured in Romans 1:20-25.
Romans 1:20-25 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
This is the result of sin within people. They corrupt, abuse, and misuse God’s good gifts for sinful purposes. They exchange God’s good, wise purposes for things for foolish, destructive, selfish, sinful purposes. This is how people who are not walking in God’s redeemed way of living will live and treat people. They will try to take advantage of them. That is what our sinful natures do.
Proverb in Comparison: Yet, as we compare this proverb with the rest of Scriptures, we see that Jesus came and gave His life on our behalf anyway. Romans 5:6 says:
Romans 5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5:8 adds this:
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:10 goes even further and says that “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” Acts 20:35 boils things down and helps us understand God’s perspective on all this through the words of Jesus. He said:
Acts 20:35 “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
This is the perspective of true friendship and love that we are to have toward people as Christians. Since Jesus commanded us in the great commission to observe all that He commanded, we are to follow Him in this.
Truth in Connection: As we apply it to our lives, God gives us Himself as a perfect example of how to live in light of this truth. How does He give? He provides both His good gifts and the truth to people. Some gifts He gives universally to all people—sinners and redeemed alike. Food, rain, the sun, life, friends, family, marriage, etc. Other gifts He only gives to those that He redeems and is transforming. As He gives His gifts, He reaches out with what we truly need. He does what is best for people. Yet, through it all He is not naïve to what people do and how they abuse His good gifts—whether believers or unbelievers. In His Word, and by His Spirit He does not ignore those abuses. He points out the sinful, foolish idolatry of people. Ultimately He will bring true and complete justice when He judges this world.
We, of course, are not to take vengeance into our own hands over sin, but we can and should follow the rest of His example. We should be generous, gift-giving people. Some things we should be doing for all people regardless of response. We should be pointing people to God’s ultimate good gift of salvation in Jesus Christ with the earthly transformed life that He gives as well as with the eternal life He provides. For others, that we have a greater responsibility and opportunity with, we should be pouring out our lives even more so to help. Like Jesus we should reach out to meet people’s true needs and do what is best for them. With all of that, we should likewise not be naïve about the selfishness, sin, and perversions of people who seek to take advantage of our generosity and gifts. That understanding of human nature will give us discernment about what is best in different situations. We will need to point out and deal with sin, but none of that should not stop us from being givers of what is good. It did not stop Jesus from giving His life for us. (cf. Galatians 6:10, 1 Timothy 6:18, Hebrews 13:16, 1 Peter 3:11, 3 John 1:11)
Giving like this will not be easy. Sometimes people will take advantage of us and we will miss their exploitations in our naïveté. Sometimes people will hurt us with the way that they treat us. But it is what we are called to do as ambassadors for Jesus who are having our own lives transformed by His gifts of love to us. It is what we are called to do in faithfully making disciples of Jesus. The question before us is, will we be true, generous, giving friends who continue to do what is best for those in our lives? For each one of us the real question is not what others are doing for us, but what are we doing and giving to help others? If we get our eyes on what others are not doing for us, we will quickly grow sour in giving. The only way we can keep giving like this is if we keep looking to Jesus and His love. Only with His love pouring into us will be able to keep from running out of love to give to others when their selfish, sin natures rear their ugly heads. The deeper we know and experience God’s love, the more we will be able to give His good gifts and repay evil with good (Rom 12:14-21). May this be how we live our lives.
Our next proverb expands on the second part of verse 4 with how people normally treat the poor.
7 All the brothers of a poor man hate him; How much more do his friends abandon him! He pursues them with words, but they are gone.
The needy are despised by their own family. Those without such family ties disappear beyond contact. This proverb emphasizes the disgust that people have for the needy.
This is the other side of verse 6. If people like being around those who give them things, they conversely do not like being around those who always need things from them. This too is a description of the way things are in relationships. Generally no one likes and appreciates a beggar. They do not want to continually be asked for assistance. Because of sin, people are selfish and want what benefits themselves. They do not want to have to give of what they have to others. They do not want to make sacrifices of themselves. Even family members can begin to dread seeing such people heading their way. Those who were their friends do not have those inescapable family ties. So they make themselves scarce when the needs and pleas become too burdensome.
These are important realities to know in our relationships which can help us in being a good and true friend. On the one hand, this verse can teach us that always being a needy beggar does not help us build relationships. Instead, it usually leads to people avoiding us and ignoring us. On the other hand, if being legitimately needy leads to losing friends and alienating family then those people are not really our friends. They simply wanted what they could get out of the relationship.
When we are on the needy side of this equation we can learn from this how our requests may be coming across and the struggle that people may have in helping us. With this proverb’s understanding we can pause to make sure that our needs are truly needs and that we are doing everything that we can and should be doing to meet those needs ourselves before repeatedly going to others for help. Otherwise, unnecessarily burdening others may alienate us from them.
If it is truly an essential need and it is a Christian that we are asking help of, this proverb also helps us to understand that even with those realities they may have to fight through their own natural, sinful, selfish reactions to do what is right when our needs keep re-occurring. Alternatively, they may be working to carefully discern situations to rightly use their own limited resources or time with their different responsibilities. Given all that, if we need to repeatedly seek the help of others for our needs we can try to be patient with them. We can make sure we are doing our best. We can be forthright and honest with them so that the real, unselfish needs are apparent. If this is our situation, then we have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. The truth of Proverbs 19:1 is our situation: it is better to be a poor man who walks in his integrity, than to be perverse in speech and a fool. In this kind of case where we are walking in integrity we can have peace as we share our needs and ask for help. We can then trust God and rejoice in His provisions for us through family, the church, and the other ways that He chooses to provide. Likewise we can rejoice through whatever He chooses to take us through if relief is not His answer.
On the other side of things, if we are the one being entreated continually for help, Proverbs 14:21 gives us an important challenge as well as a helpful encouragement.
Proverbs 14:21 He who despises his neighbor sins, But happy is he who is gracious to the poor.
God’s design, as we talked about in Proverbs 19:6, is for us to be givers and helpers to the true needs of others like Jesus does. In the end, being gracious to others like God has been gracious to us leads to true joy and happiness. Truly, it is better to give than to receive.
Scriptural Example: In Scripture we see a hard example of Proverbs 19:7 in the life of Job. He records how he was treated by people in his time of need in Job 19:13-19.
Job 19:13-19 “He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. 14 “My relatives have failed, And my intimate friends have forgotten me. 15 “Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight. 16 “I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth. 17 “My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers. 18 “Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me. 19 “All my associates abhor me, And those I love have turned against me.
In his time of extreme loss and desperate need Job was forgotten by his intimate friends. His relatives failed him. He was loathsome to his own brothers. Even his wife was offended by him. This is not the way things ought to be, but with the reality of sinfulness within people it all too often is what occurs.
From Job 42:11 we know the end of the story changed. Eventually all of his brothers and sisters and friends did come around to physically help and comfort him. Nonetheless, for a time he was treated this way. That is a sad testament to the natural bent of people’s sin nature to turn away from the needy.
Proverb in Comparison: When we compare this proverb with the rest of Scripture we are reminded of the encouraging truth in Proverbs 18:24 that “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Often there are some true friends in this life who will stick by us no matter what happens. The love of God has transformed their lives so that they love us even when we are unlovable and have more needs than they can meet. They stick with us through thick and thin. This is what God designed marriage to be like, and what He designed true friendships to be like. In Christ, God can transform our hearts to move past our natural, sinful, selfishness to truly care for other people like He cares for us. He can enable us to truly love our neighbors as we love ourselves. This is the kind of friends that we should be striving to be with one another as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus put it this way in John 13:34-35
John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This is not easy. Sometimes our breath metaphorically stinks. Sometimes we make ourselves odious to each other. Yet, Christ’s command remains the same. How many times have we ourselves been odious to God through our sin, stubbornness, and foolishness? Yet He came and died for us. While we were yet sinners, while we were His enemies, God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whosever believed in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Jesus is the example we are to follow.
Sometimes we may have to face situations like Job where even our families and friends forsake us for a time. We may face times like Paul describes in 2 Timothy 4:16 where everyone deserted him. We may face times like Jesus when He was on the cross. In those moments, we need to remember that because Jesus was forsaken by the Father and bore our full judgment upon Himself we will never be forsaken by Him. If we have trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior His love for us is eternal. As David proclaimed in Psalm 27:10 “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.”
Before He died Jesus made sure to teach this truth when He made the promises of John 14:16-18.
John 14:16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
At the very end of the great commission, as the very last words of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus intentionally reiterated this promise. He wanted us to get the point:
Matthew 28:20b …lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
With all of this, He is the one that we ought to go to first and foremost in our time of need. Praying to Him should not be our last resort after we have tried asking everyone else for help. It should be what we do right away with our needs. He alone is the One who is sovereign over all things. He alone is the One to whom we can always cast all of our cares, because He perfectly and always cares for us (cf. 1 Peter 5:7).
While God has designed for us to have true, loving friends within one another our ultimate friend who sticks closer than a brother is Jesus. No one can carry our burdens like God. If we go to Him first both for help and for wisdom on how to handle our needs it will help keep us from relying on others in any wrong way. We must not put people, money, doctors, medicine, or things in our hearts and minds in the place where He alone should occupy. We must go to Him first and make Him the one that we trust in. If we do it will also sustain us if others fail, are slow in coming to our aid, or are unable to help.
Truth in Connection: As we connect all this to our lives it should radically affect how we view our relationships. We should be going to God first and foremost for our needs. We should work to not rely on people in the ways that we ought to be relying on God. We can and should be at peace when we are walking in our integrity and still have needs. We should recognize the ways that the sin nature affects how people relate to others with continual needs. We should recognize how Christ transforms and changes that. We should be gracious with others as they struggle against their natural fleshly tendencies and encourage them in their growth in loving in difficult situations. We should recognize our own sinful tendencies and make sure that we are not fair weather friends. We should be generous, giving people, like Jesus has been generous and giving to us. We are to be real friends to people, showing Christ’s love to one another as He has loved us first. Are we? Are you?
When we live these ways in our relationships with one another and with God, we will find good.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if these pictures of friendship with sacrificial giving, relying on God, and serving one another seems alien or impossible to you, then you need to start by learning of Jesus’ true friendship to you. You need to truly see His love as it really is—beyond just a mental acknowledgement that He died on the cross to pay the price for your sins and bring you forgiveness. You need to know the depths of your sins and wickedness against God and the eternal judgment in the lake of fire that you deserve for them. You need to come to an end of your pride and self-reliance. You need to see the humbling reality of what Jesus did for you personally when He came to this earth, lived perfectly, and died to pay the penalty for your sins. You need to surrender your life, your way, your sin, your everything to Him and trust Him as your Lord and Savior. You need to receive His totally undeserved love and amazing, merciful grace as being for you, personally. Then, in seeing Him for who He truly is and for what He has truly done, you will begin to be able to learn to love and serve and give yourself to others. You will begin to be able to show them the amazingness of His love. Trust Him as your Lord and Savior.
If you are here as a believer in Jesus and you are struggling to show this kind of love to someone, be refreshed in Jesus and reminded of what He has done for you. Look to Him. Look to His wisdom in His Word about the situation. Determine to do it. Set your mind on things above as Colossians 3:1 says. Daily learn to love like you have been loved. Look for what others truly need and how you are able to point them to Jesus and help them. People’s needs are often much different and deeper than what they think or how they initially appear. Sometimes we are not able to meet all the physical needs. But if we are learning to truly follow Jesus through the wisdom of His Word He will guide is in doing what we can for those that God brings across our paths. May we be true friends to one another and may we be growing in our love for others as we grow in understanding God’s amazing love for us. He loved us while we were still His enemies. What amazing love!
If you have any questions on any of this or want help in coming to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior please come talk with us. We are available. Let’s pray.
© 2025, Kevin A. Dodge, All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
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