Time Always Tells

So now, my sons, listen to me.  Never stray from what I am about to say: Stay away from her!  Don’t go near the door of her house!  If you do, you will lose your honor and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved.  Strangers will consume your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor.  In the end you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body.  You will say, “How I hated discipline!  If only I had not ignored all the warnings!  Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers?  Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors?  I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.” [Proverbs 5.7-14]

Instruction/teaching is imperative.  We must not forsake the Word of God.  Oh, we may get by a while, even do great things - but the end result is what the Proverbs writer calls "utter ruin" and "public disgrace".

How many times have we seen this in leading religious figures?  No one can deny that their service to God was effective and accurate.  But with deeper investigation, it most always is discovered that their personal devotion to God was suffering.  On the outside they looked fantastic - they were praised for their works.  But on the inside (where God dwells) they were sick and anemic - in need of spiritual 'bed rest' - in need of a time of pure nourishment of God's pure and holy Word.

Time always tells.

Will I wait until I am spiritually 'hospitalized' to make God's Word a REAL priority?  Will I wait until I am spiritually 'disabled' (as many spiritual leaders become through burnout and subsequent sin) to see my need for a daily and healthy diet of God Word?

Father, help me to feed on Your Word!  Help me to see the priority of Your Word as much as the food I eat!  Help me to help others around me to avoid spiritual malnourishment.  Help me to avoid good works at the expense of spiritual health.  Let me be prepared to live Your Word daily - in a sustainable way - in a way that will not end in utter ruin and public disgrace!