The truths proclaimed in the proverbs often can be found in other scriptures, sometimes worded perhaps a little differently, but with the same meaning. That’s the thing about truth – it is consistently true. What a blessing it is that we can depend on God’s word to always be so consistent for the same reasons! Consider verse 21 of this chapter in the Book of Proverbs:

Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness
will find life, righteousness, and honor

Church of the Beatitudes, located on one traditional site where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount.

Sound familiar? It should. Jesus said it again a bit differently in what we call the Beatitudes – Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Like the Beatitudes, The Book of Proverbs gives us wonderful truths and great instructions for how to navigate through life in a fallen world.

Notice that the verse above includes kindness with righteousness. Jesus spoke of both, but he made it clear that each of them of a necessity includes the other. We were brought into this world to serve – to serve God and to serve each other. There are many such passages that tell us so. One of them is found in Galatians 5:13: “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” We are blessed in so many ways, only one of which is that we have a God – a God who knows what is best for us, and what will bring us true happiness.

When we direct our lives about the business of sowing righteousness and kindness, we will reap exactly those things. Honor comes by itself as a gift without seeking it – a further blessing for simply doing the right thing in all that we do.

Read or listen to audio of ESV version of this selection from this link.

/Bob’s boy

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please note: I did not design the reading plan that I am following in my blog.  All of my comments in this blog, however, are solely my responsibility.  When reading ANY commentary, you should ALWAYS refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word. Reading schedules, as well as a link to the site where you can get the reading plan that I’m currently following for yourself can be found on the “Bible Reading Schedules” page of my website at http://graceofourlord.com.  For questions and help, please see the “FAQ” and “Summaries” pages there.