Spiritual Health

Reading for Today: Proverb Chapter 26

Gold Nugget

Verse 24: “He who hates, disguises it with his lips, and lays up deceit within himself;”

Commentary

There are many spiritual diseases that we should be very careful not to contract as Christians. A spiritual disease we often learn about early on in our walks is the infection of unforgiveness that starts out small, but spreads throughout us causing spiritual weakness. It can spread to other people also who suffer its side effects as well. Another very similar infection is hatred. A close relative to unforgiveness, hatred is not of God and can spread quickly through our spiritual body reeking havoc. One of the reasons sickness causes so much damage is because of how it goes undetected for extended periods of time. Catching an infection early is the key to a quick recovery. How does it go undetected for so long? Consider today’s “gold nugget”, “He who hates, disguises it with his lips, and lays up deceit within himself;” It goes undetected because it is disguised. It is denied and concealed. It isn't just the efforts we go through to conceal it from others, but how we deny it to ourselves as well. There are many reasons that we may be holding hatred in our heart, but one of the reasons we keep it lingering around is because of how we feel justified in holding it. Although we have all been wronged by someone at some time, we are all responsible for letting go of it. Like forgiveness, we find our own healing in getting it out of our heart. Let us consider how much God has forgiven us and allow that to be the bar in which we forgive others and in doing so, put hatred away from us. We will find spiritual healing and good spiritual health enables us to be the strong Christians we really desire to be.

Prayer

Lord, there are people that have hurt me and it is tempting to hold onto the hurt. That un-forgiveness will lead to hate that will cause spiritual destruction within me. Help me to forgive and be spiritually healthy. Amen

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