Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light, or so he tells us. Anything else in the world will enslave you. Have you willingly enslaved yourself to something other than Jesus?
Prayer: Lord, I am weary, and I blame how hard I’m working, but it is more of an inward, spiritual condition. I am working to prove myself, to win approval, to make a name for myself. I am ready to lay down that burden and receive the deep rest that comes from the gospel. Help me to do that. Amen.
December 19
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15–17)
THE TRUE KING. A department will be in disarray and unproductive until a good executive is appointed. Then, under her management, everything “holds together” and people thrive and are productive. The same happens to a sports franchise under a good coach or to a government under a great elected leader. We all know that leadership heals what is broken by uniting what was fragmented.
In Jesus, the true wisdom through whom the world was created, things hold together. When the world was created and fully under the divine lordship, all was paradise. Because of the rebellion of sin, the order of creation is disrupted and we now have disorder and death. Jesus defeated sin and death on the cross and someday will return to heal the world completely. Outside of Jesus is chaos and disorder. To choose that instead of choosing to be under the lordship of the one who created you and all things is folly. To the degree you are under Jesus’ lordship, you will grow in wisdom and see your life being healed.
Inside each of our sinful hearts is a desire for no rules, no master. Thank Jesus that we have not found what we were looking for.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, there is a part of my heart that desires a king to guide and protect me, and another part that fears and resents such authority over me. But you are the true King my soul desires, one altogether trustworthy and lovely because of your sacrifice for me. I kneel to you. Command my heart. Amen.
December 20
My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2–3)
TREASURE CHEST. Jesus is not like other teachers, whose principles we simply memorize and try to live by. Rather, infinite treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him. The wisdom of Christ comes as much through communing with him in our hearts as through studying him with our minds.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 we are told that to “contemplate [his] glory” actually makes us like him. Proverbs tells the wise to have courage and forgive others. But courage is best developed as we, in love and wonder, reflect on Jesus’ courage in going to the cross for us, and a forgiving spirit is best produced in us truly as we joyfully think of Jesus forgiving us on the cross. So true wisdom is not a set of principles but a supernatural person. And we receive this wisdom not simply through acts of the will but through the transformation of our heart and desires by worshipping him.
Proverbs constantly insists that wisdom takes time to develop, and this makes sense if wisdom is a person and we have to learn how he thinks, what his attitudes are, and what actions would please him. Will you make the time to know Jesus in his Word and become wise?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I have so little idea of what it really means to “contemplate [your] glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18), but I now ask you to teach me. I will try to do it, but I feel like a child learning to speak his first words. I pray Moses’s prayer: “Show me your glory.” Amen.
December 21
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. . . . Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:18,22–25)
CHRIST’S FOOLISHNESS: PART 1. This passage is an extended reflection on an important truth, namely, that Christ’s wisdom is not the world’s common sense. To the world the gospel seems unrealistic, the very opposite of wisdom. Salvation by the cross is the gospel, but the default mode of the human heart is to want to earn our own salvation. Proverbs, taken out of the context of the whole Bible, could be read as a way to do that.
But the cross shows the upside-down nature of divine wisdom. The way up is down. The way to lead is to serve. The way to get happiness is to seek happiness not for yourself but for others. The way to be truly rich is to give wealth away. To the world all these practices seem foolish, but the cross shows them to be ultimate reality. When applied to daily life, they are consummate wisdom. And of course, divine wisdom begins with giving yourself completely to Jesus as he has given himself to you. To the world that looks like a kind of suicide, but it is the way to life.
Where have you seen “the foolishness of Christ” turn out to be great wisdom?
Prayer: Lord, how wise you were in your creation of the world. But, if possible, the wisdom of your redemption is even more stunning, as the cross made it possible for you to be perfectly holy yet love us—to be both just and justifier of those who believe (Romans 3:26). Who can praise your wisdom enough? Amen.
December 22
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:26–29)
CHRIST’S FOOLISHNESS: PART 2. Great people are wise and influential, wealthy and accomplished by human standards. But God deliberately chooses people the world dismisses to show how his salvation works. The “Gideon principle” (Judges 6:15) is that God chooses the weakest and least likely to succeed, so that all glory is clearly his and does not come through the agency of men and women.
This is also a biblical “Peter principle.” Of the eleven surviving disciples, Peter failed most egregiously during Jesus’ arrest and execution. Yet in John 21 Jesus forgives him and makes him the leader. It is as if Jesus said, “Because you have been the biggest failure, you have the potential to be the greatest leader. Plunge your failures into my grace and it will make you both astonishingly bold and profoundly humble at the same time—and so profoundly wise.” The Christian’s identity is rooted in God’s grace and regard rather than in any worldly factors. And that brings an enormous freedom.
Are you weak enough for God to use? Will you let him use your weakness to make you wise?
Prayer: Father, the sight of your Son dying because of me, for me, is both convicting and wonderful, and that changes me at the core of my being. “With pleasing grief, and mournful joy, my spirit now is fill’d; That I should such a life destroy, yet live by Him I kill’d!”236 Amen.
December 23
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31)
CHRIST’S FOOLISHNESS: PART 3. Here Paul ties true wisdom tightly to a strong grasp of how Jesus is our advocate and substitute. We are in Christ Jesus. And we do not get there by accumulating our own righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Rather, Jesus becomes for us these things. Wh
en the Father sees us, he loves us as if we had done everything Jesus had done. He loves us “even as” he loves his Son (John 17:23).
Do you know that Jesus lived a perfect, righteous, and wise life for you, so God embraces and accepts you fully and loves you infinitely for Jesus’ sake? That gives you what you need to become wise yourself. You don’t have to constantly prove yourself to others as the fools and mockers do. You can’t be wise in your own eyes because you know you are a sinner saved by grace. And you won’t try to find your heart’s rest in riches, or in your work, or in sexual, romantic love—because in Christ you have the ultimate riches and love. The requirements for wisdom are found through faith in the gospel.
Do you feel rich? (In Christ, you are.)
Prayer: Lord, I am spiritually rich but I live poor in fears and resentments. Your gospel “is like a deep, deep mine; and jewels rich and rare are hidden in its mighty depths for every searcher there.”237 Help me to use its riches in my everyday life. Amen.
December 24
A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother. (Proverbs 10:1) He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:11–12)
CHRIST’S FAMILY. Proverbs constantly tells the wise to honor parents, but family relations are often difficult. We may be overly dependent on our parents’ approval, or we may be too angry at and bitter toward our parents for failing us. Or we may have destructively foolish parents who are difficult to love.
For each case, we have seen (October 13) we need the assurance of God’s perfect parental love. That frees us from being either overly dependent on or overly angry at our parents. How do we get this? Because Jesus experienced the loss of the love of his Father—on the cross—we can be adopted into God’s family (John 1:12–13). When his mother and brothers came to see him (and take him home, because he was embarrassing them), Jesus said that his mother and brothers and sisters were those who did the will of the Father (Mark 3:31–35). That was not a metaphor. Hebrews says he is not ashamed to call us his brothers (Hebrews 2:11), for we are all children of God (Galatians 3:26). Your family of origin may be great, or not so great, but the family you have been adopted into, with God as your Father and Jesus as your older brother, is the greatest.
How has knowing God is your Father been of practical benefit for you?
Prayer: Father, I praise you that the one who made the whole universe and upholds it by a Word of your power—would be my Father. Your infinite majesty and might are all now in service of your gentle, fatherly love. Give me the endless rest and joy that should come from knowing this. Amen.
December 25
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20: 2–3) Folly is an unruly woman. . . . But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead. (9:13,18)
KEEP YOURSELF FROM IDOLS. Tremper Longman makes the case that if Woman Wisdom in Proverbs 1–9 ultimately points to Jesus, then Woman Folly represent idols and idolatry.238 The first of the Ten Commandments is “I am the Lord your God. . . . You shall have no other gods before me.” Either you worship God or you will be worshipping something else—there is not the alternative of not worshipping. Either you will be looking to God for your significance and security or you will be looking to something else (even if it is your own abilities).
From a New Testament perspective, everyone looks to something to justify him- or herself. Either we let Jesus be our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption—and are saved by faith in him—or we look to something else to be that, and we are saved by works. So true wisdom is to accept salvation by grace, and the heart of folly is to try to save yourself. The gospel is the consummate wisdom.
Oh, the riches of wisdom available to us! Praise the one who came as a baby and who will come again in strength and power.
Prayer: Father, “The dearest idol I have known, whate’er that idol be—help me to tear it from thy throne, and worship only thee. Then shall my walk be close with thee, and calm shall be my frame; So purer light shall mark the road that leads me to the Lamb.”239 Amen.
December 26
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. (Proverbs 19:17) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
CHRIST’S POVERTY. Proverbs constantly shows us that God identifies with the poor (December 9). To disdain the poor is to disdain the Lord (14:31), and to lend to the poor is to lend to the Lord (19:17). But it is only in the New Testament that we see how much God identified with the poor. In Jesus Christ he literally became a poor man. He was born in an animals’ feed trough, he grew up without money, he had his last supper in a borrowed room, and he was buried in a borrowed grave. His only possession was his garment. He was also the victim of injustice.
Why did he do it? Jesus became poor, taking our punishment, so that we could get the eternal spiritual riches. Jesus took the condemnation we deserved so we could get vindication. Proverbs tells us we must care for the poor—and that is wise. But we will never embrace the poor with love and respect for them until we see that we were spiritually poor and we live only by God’s grace.
How will you remember and care for the poor in the name of the one who was born in a manger for you?
Prayer: Lord, I live in a society that loudly proclaims its concern for the poor and oppressed, but few of us become personally involved with their plight or give much more than a token of time and money. Give me the grace to be different, in light of your love for those who do not have the world’s goods. Amen.
December 27
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
GENEROSITY. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) is a reissuing of the book of Proverbs. Like Proverbs, Jesus is taking the principles of the Ten Commandments and applying them to the practical matters of daily life (Matthew 5:17). Proverbs was assembled by and for Solomon, who could only urge us to follow his rules. But in Jesus, the true Solomon, we have one who has fulfilled the rules of wisdom for us, and now, knowing that, and through faith in him, we can live into the wisdom of God.
This is seen in the opening verses of the sermon—the Beatitudes. Each of them calls us to something, yet we can answer the call only because Jesus has already fulfilled each of them for us. Begin with the first. We are called to be poor in spirit—both spiritually humble ourselves, and committed to the poor of the world. If we do that, we will be truly rich—for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. But Christians know that we will be rich as kings only because Jesus became poor, spiritually and utterly poor, for us. Knowing that humbles us into being truly poor in spirit and generous to all in need.
No one is a believer unless you’re poor in spirit. How has God brought this condition into your life?
Prayer: Lord, “But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe; Here Lord, I give myself away: ’Tis all that I can do.”240 Amen.
December 28
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)
ADVERSITY. The wisdom literature calls the wise to be patient in suffering. And the second Beatitude tells us that if we mourn, God will comfort us. But this is not just a promise for some generic spiritual strength to be communicated to us from heaven. It is through God’s salvation we are promised “peace . . . like a river” and that “as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted” (Isaiah 66:12–13).
But why can you and I be so assured of
such infallible comfort? In ourselves we don’t deserve it. It is only because Jesus mourned, because he was a “man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3), because he wept inconsolably and died in the dark for us, that we can be comforted. The tears of Jesus are the deepest consolation possible. See him weeping at the tomb of his friend Lazarus (John 11:35), even though he knows he is about to raise him from the dead. And so, even though he will eventually raise us up, he is still moved by our suffering in this life. Proverbs calls us to be strong in adversity, but the gospel gives us what we need to do so.
Recall a time in which God comforted you when you were mourning.
Prayer: Lord, I don’t want suffering in my life, and I know you don’t want me to have its pain either. Yet the various comforts you give me in my trials change me in ways I would never want to lose. I don’t thank you for the evils that have hurt me, but I praise you with the ways you make me more happy and holy through them. Amen.
December 29
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
INHERIT THE EARTH. Proverbs says that right living will bring blessedness—shalom and flourishing. It says that the righteous will never be uprooted (10:30 cf. Psalm 37:29). But we know that we can’t be as righteous as we ought to be. Even here we are told that the meek—the humble and lowly—will inherit the earth. But none of us is perfectly like that either. Nevertheless we can be blessed and inherit the earth. How is that possible? It is because Jesus became meek. He says that he is “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29 KJV).
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