THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever learned a lesson from being punished?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 19:29. Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and beating for the backs of fools.
Yikes! There is some strong language here. But Solomon is telling us that sin deserves to be punished. And this is not the kind of punishment that you’ve probably gotten at home or at school. Those punishments seek to teach you a lesson so that you will learn, and grow, and do better the next time.
But Solomon is describing punishments that won’t make the scoffer or the fool better, the scoffer and the fool don’t learn their lesson or try harder to be good. If they did, then they wouldn’t be the scoffer and the fool. No, the scoffer and the fool are beyond hope it seems. They are condemned (found guilty), and they deserve a beating. In other proverbs it says that you shouldn’t try to fix a scoffer, all you can do is kick them out.
Are you a scoffer? Are you a fool?
Sadly, we all are. In fact, the Bible says that everyone is born to be a scoffer and a fool. It says that everyone has sinned, and that the penalty for sin is death, not just a beating. Why? Because scoffing and foolishness in the Bible are forms of rebellion against God. To scoff is to mock God. To be a fool is to reject God’s love. These people (all people) deserve condemnation (death), and beatings.
Is there any hope for us? Yes, Jesus is our hope. How? Because he took our condemnation and our beating on the cross. Now, when we trust in him we are no longer fools, condemned for our sin, we are God’s beloved children. Any punishment we receive from God is now that of a parent toward a child that can learn, and grow, and do better. Not a foo that is beyond hope.
Because of Jesus we are no longer beyond hope.
With Jesus any punishment we receive from God is meant to help us, not condemn us.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Sing How Marvelous together (the Austin Stone version is nice).
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you weren’t a scoffer or a fool, but you took my condemnation on the cross. That’s the wisest, most loving thing anyone has done for me. Thank you. Amen.
TLICfamily 