“Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings” (Proverbs 31:3).
TEXT — Proverbs 31:1-9
Message
Strong winds can bring down mighty and ancient trees when rot and termites have eaten them on the inside. Outwardly, the trees may appear strong and firmly rooted, but they are a disaster waiting to happen. This is a picture of persons given to self-indulgent habits that cut short their lives in time and send their careless souls to eternal perdition.
In our passage, a wise mother counselled her son against two everyday indulgent acts of sinful people: wine and women. Judges who get drunk are prone to making bad judgments. Drunken people casually gamble away their life savings. By the time they recover from their drunken stupor, they have lost everything and exposed themselves to avoidable poverty.
Many people have lost their lives or caused the death of others through drunk driving or the influence of hard drugs. In the same vein, men and women who defile themselves through sexual immorality debase their bodies, defame themselves before society, and damn their souls before God.
Grief, disappointment, poverty, or discouragement cannot justify or excuse sinful indulgence. You should recognise that your body does not belong to you but to God and that you will account for how you used or abused His precious gift that should glorify Him. The solution is to repent and turn away completely from all evil conduct. You should also present yourself as a living sacrifice to God and live to please Him in transparent holiness.
Thought for the day
Winning over self-indulgence is the most fundamental victory.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
