Being Uplifted - Proverbs 20:23

Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America

Proverbs 20:23 NIV: "The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him." It is without a doubt, one of the most difficult things to do and that is to be dishonest; you see, not only do you have to fool everybody, but you also have to live with yourself? Think about how sad it is for the evil people in life, they not only have to cheat themselves, and lie to themselves about how grand they are, and how grand their life is, as they cheat their way through it- but at the end of all that, they have to face God who is without partiality?

The "ultimate and final truth, no you weren't fair, yes you could have been, no you didn't treat them fairly, yes you could have, no you didn't need that new car, yes you could have helped a person with that money, you chose not to- no you didn't need that additional home for a vacation home, you just wanted it, you didn't need it, you just wanted it, and yes, as a result of your lack of paying attention to what really counts, thousands of children died of hunger; and yes, you could have made a difference but you chose to act like you didn't need to, and yes you were right about one thing, you had to take time and energy to deny Me, because as you can see now, I am real."

Next time Christian that you are feeling a little down about how the people who haven't got it straight about God are treating you, just consider the plight they are really in, they need your love, desperately, so desperately that they are too ignorant to know it, and too self absorbed to understand it. Praying for them is the smartest thing that you can do, because as you pray for them you will begin to realize- if you don't say something to them, if you continue to let them make the rules, make the statements to the press, be the aggressor against your God, then what will happen is they will die without ever knowing Christ- as a result of your lack of involvement, and that comes from a lack of prayer for them- don't let yourself get to that point- continue to care, always.

Be uplifted by the fact that you know the ones who aren't living as they should, you know your own shortcomings, but be uplifted by this fact of God in Proverbs, He keeps equal scales- you have chosen to trust Christ- the one who claims they have, but really hasn't, wow are they ever in for it.  Think about it and be uplifted, God treats you and them with a totally impartial law- only because Jesus died in sacrificial place of you and I, we don't get judged by that law, we are under protection from the strictest sanctions of it- as those who in their ultimate ignorance, have denied Jesus, are not. 

Be uplifted as you realize that you make a tough choice every day you pray, just be sure to pray for your own witness and your own forgiving of those who pretend they love you, for the real enemy of the Body of Christ is not the heathen's of this world- they are unfortunate, for judgment from an impartial God awaits them- no the real enemy of the Body of Christ are the ones within that body who lie about being in love with the church, when really what they are in love with is, their own concerns, not the concerns of others, or the concerns of Christ.  The ultimately beautiful and uplifting thing about Proverbs 20:23 is that it isn't even actually about this time and this place, it's written about wisdom, and we haven't seen that yet- only glimpses of it; you see this is an eternal Word, God's eternal Word, was with God in the Beginning, Will be with God forever without end.
So as you pray about Proverbs 20:23 and what equal weights means, pray you will be able to honor the one who made those weights even!