November 26
PROVERBS 20
6 Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?
7 The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!
8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes.
9 Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?
10 Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.
– Proverbs 20:6-10
PROVERBS 20 ON BOASTING OF PURITY FROM SIN
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
Who can claim that one has cleansed himself of sinfulness?
Can any human being completely detach itself from wickedness?
When we boast that we can totally be without evil
We are actually lying to ourselves since we are limited beings
Only God can purify and cleanse us from our nature
If we confess and repent, we will be washed from it
There is no point in boasting that we have anything to do with it
It is only the Spirit of the Lord who is able to purify our hearts.
In 1 John 1:8 it says that “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” No human being living on earth can truly say he is sinless. The bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20 that 20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
Morgan comments that “This is the eternal challenge which has but one answer. When a man recognizes this, he begins to inquire for a Savior.”
Bridges also comments that “Only vain people can boast that they have pure hearts. But the boast, far from showing their goodness, demonstrates their blindness. Man is so depraved that he cannot understand his own depravity.”
Many false religions claim that they can cleanse themselves from rituals and works of the flesh, but only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can purify us from sins since he is the only one who is sinless. No human can do it without believing in him.
REFLECTION
• What is in our hearts when we boast that we are sinless?
