Tiny Devotional for Monday, 09-18-2023

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, Vanessa is back home!

Before destruction the heart of man is haughty,
But humility goes before honor.
Proverbs 18:12, NASB

Prescriptive, or descriptive? Correlation, or causation?

If it’s prescriptive, we conclude that the haughty heart PRODUCES destruction, and humility PRODUCES honor. That’s causation.

If it’s descriptive, then this verse sheds no light on the relationship between attitudes and end states, just that they are both seen together. That’s correlation.

Some people don’t seem to believe in causation. I once heard a man boast of the amount of alcohol, drugs, and violence in his life, and then say that his family was cursed. As far as he was concerned, his family’s outlaw behavior was just correlated (he didn’t use that word) with the graveyard and prisons. He seemed to think that bad stuff was going to happen to him anyway, so he might as well get drunk and stab his cousin. He saw himself as a helpless victim of bad luck.

When I was a new believer, I ascribed just about EVERYTHING to a direct act of God; I guess I thought that was what we were supposed to do. Not everybody was as extreme as I was in those early days; I couldn’t just say “I’m not going to church, because I overslept;” instead, I’d say “I think God wants me to stay here this morning.”

Note: eventually, I DID learn that I shouldn’t tell lies.

Here’s what I think is the wonderful promise in this verse: 
There are things that you and I can do that will have earthly and heavenly benefits.
Thank You, Lord, for that privilege.

Peace be on your household.

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