Proverbs 11:9-11 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 11:9-11, which read,

v.9 - With his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.

We are back to the mouth and the tongue of the fool, the wicked, and in this verse the godless man.  This is another way to describe who the fool is following afterwards and it is not God.  His mouth is evidence of this and his actions play it out by not loving his neighbor but rather destroying him.  "I'm not hurting anyone else" is the cry of those who want to participate in sin but think it doesn't have an effect others but the Scripture says it does.  

The opposite is also true.  When the righteous lives after God and His knowledge and wisdom, it will also have an effect on others.  Not only will it deliver the righteous from destruction but it will also have an impact on whole cities as we will learn in the next couple of verses.  The wise will be delivered from the destruction of the fool by staying true to following in the steps of Christ.  The wise may feel the consequences of the fool's sins but they will not be destroyed by them.

v.10, 11 - When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there is joyful shouting.  By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down. 

Whole cities are impacted by the actions of the righteous.  The city rejoices and the city is exalted when holy people live holy lives. The 10 commandments followed by the wise make a great atmosphere for a city to be the place to live and raise a family.  

The city shouts joyfully when the wicked perish.  The city is rid of being torn down by the mouth of the wicked.  The wicked make the city a place that is undesirable.  Too many modern day examples of this are seen in our day as people seek to escape those dangerous places because of the wicked ruling with their sin.  There is also a push to take back what was taken away when it was a city that following the moral code of God.  We want what it once was when our elderly people could walk in the streets without fear of being hit and our children could play in the streets without fear of abduction or being shot but we don't want to adopt the principles that were in play during those times.  We want the safety but we don't want to follow fully behind the Savior who gave us the righteousness to follow after.

Do you want a better city?  Do you want a better school?  Do you want a better home?  Do you want a better country?  The answer lies in our own personal holiness that is given to us by God through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.  As we are wise in following after Him and also dispensing this wisdom to others as Solomon is to his sons then we will see the effects of someone who is wise in the Lord making an impact on his or her surroundings.  You living a righteous life, a life of wisdom which is the fear of the Lord, will make an impact on your immediate surroundings.  Our schools, our city, our community, our country, our families, our friends, our church needs Christians who are seriously obeying God's words of wisdom given to us out of love.  Let's impact our city for good because we are following the only One who is and can be called good.  Let's pray.

"Lord the impact of following after You is large.  It is bigger than what we can see.  When we are tempted to follow after Satan's schemes and lures may we see beyond our personal gratifications and satisfactions to the bigger picture of how this affects others.  You have placed us here to make a difference and that difference is obtained by us following hard after You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam