The Treacherous Path

"Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard." - Proverbs 13:15 KJV

This is so true.

All the modern translations of this verse seem to take away what this verse says in the Hebrew. In the Hebrew it says that the path of the transgressor is washed out like a strong river washing out a road during a storm making it 'hard' or treacherous to pass.

Passion that runs outside it's channel ruins the path.

Good understanding opens the path of favor.

"Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." - 2 Timothy 2:21-26 ESV

Yes. Here we are back at this passage.

Wisdom does not quench our passion. Discouragement can do that. Shame can direct our passions in unhealthy ways but knowledge of the truth harnesses passion so that it is useful. Grace tames the savage beast by restoring the equipment that was lost at the fall. Adam died spiritually but Jesus is the second Adam.

"Thus it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven." - 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 ESV

Our spirit is quickened by God's Spirit and made alive in a new economy of Grace.

As P Schaller said this weekend in Baltimore. This new man has 'likability' and favor with God. His path is a grace path.

Is your path hard because your passions are not under control. You are not alone and it doesn't have to be that way. Damming up the river doesn't have to be the answer. It also doesn't have to ruin your life in cycles. God has a way for your river to flow that won't make your way treacherous.

It is called grace and it can only be found in Jesus Christ.

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