Proverbs 17:17-20 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 17:17-20, which read,

v.17 - A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

There is a distinction between a friend and a brother in this proverb.  The friend loves at all times.  So the friend is there when things are going good and when things are going bad.  The brother is a blood relationship but is there in this proverb only when adversity is upon you, the bad times.  The brother could be there at all times but then the brother would also be a friend.  Sometimes we have friends that are closer than our kin relationships who only show up when things are going bad.

Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for those kin brothers who do show up when at the bottom of the barrel but I sure need those friends who show up every day.  You are not always on the mountain top and you are not always in the depths of despair as Anne Shirley said in Anne of Green Gables.  You reside most of the time in the middle ground of life and where real decisions are lived out and friends keep you grounded to handle the highs and the lows.  Let's be very thankful for those kind of friends or better yet, let's make a new definition of friend to be exclusively to those who love at all times.  They give a love that is in our best interest even when it goes against our desires that are destructive at times.  Let's look at a few in the following proverbs.

v.18 - A man lacking in sense pledges and becomes a guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.

This proverb includes some banking terms.  To pledge is to loan to another usually with interest and a guarantor is someone who signs the loan as a co-signer.  The proverb says that a man who pledges or becomes a guarantor is lacking in sense.  He is putting himself in a place to be bound to another and other proverbs bear out how is it better to give to a need rather than loan to it.  It is better to not be signing for the loan of another and be responsible for something they should be responsible for.  

You can easily be enabling the one in debt to continue a lifestyle of not taking responsibility because you are taking it for them.  You are extending where they should not go and a lesson to be learned is being kept from them.  We think we are helping but really it is just allowing them to not change.  It is not that we should not help in this situation because we should but it should come a different way otherwise they become co-dependent upon us.  

v.19 - He who loves transgression loves strife; He who raises his door seeks destruction.

To transgress or to trespass is to cross the line provided that has a sign not to do so.  God puts up a sign called the Bible and we trespass when we cross over where it says to stop.  There are consequences for crossing that line and one is strife or contention.  True unity doesn't come from crossing the line because the only unity achieved is not with the Lord but with others who are doing the same thing and also not following after God.  

The man who raises his door is showing others out of pride what he has in his garage or house.  "Look at me and all that I have.  I am something special because of what I possess."  This is a far cry from being humble to say anything I have is because of God and it is not what I possess but who possesses me.  

v.20 - He who has a crooked mind finds no good, and he who is perverted in his language falls into evil.

In the New Testament we are told to set our minds on things above and to think on what is good and right, pure and lovely.  When we have crooked minds then we will look for more crooked things.  It leads in progression to go from what is going into the mind to what comes out of the mouth and so a crooked mind brings about crooked talk.  Neither of these actions brings about glory to God, the chief goal of man.

What is going into your mind?  What are you feeding it?  The mind needs to be guarded in the world that we live in.  When you were a child, maybe your parents put up some safeguards to protect your mind.  They put some restrictions on what you could watch that kept you from language they did not want you to hear.  They did this because they wanted you to experience what was good for your mind so that your words would reflect it.  That action of your parents doesn't end when you are out from under their roof.  I need to guard my mind and what goes into it.  I need to realize that it will have an effect on what I say and how I act.  It is not just idle or passive entertainment but active in a stealth way to come out in the future.  Don't let up just because you are older from what your parents did for you when you were younger.  Let's listen to that friend who loves us at all times.   Let's pray.

"Lord may you have my heart and my mind and my lips and my actions.  You have them when I fill myself up with You.  May I see how important it is to realize that You are my true friend who even points out when I am lacking sense and raising my door of pride and filling my mind with crooked things.  You tell me when I am being foolish and I need to thank You for that.  Amen."

Pastor Adam