My dear readers,

Are Our Ways Really Clean?

Proverbs 16:2: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.”

Doing what is right in our own eyes and feeling good about it has been the way of all men. Our conscience decides. In some cases it has led to evil and wicked deeds like stealing, robbing, cheating, murders and serial killings. I have even heard of someone proudly boasting that he would not cheat a person but he has no qualms about cheating companies, organizations or governments. His reasoning was that the former is a person and the latter is a thing. He does not believe in heaven and hell. He believes that he has experienced God and when he dies he will become positive energy if he has done enough good works to cancel out his bad. If not then he becomes negative energy. Such a notion is subjective and completely baseless. It is a figment of his own imagination. The sad truth is that he is not alone in this. Millions throughout the ages live the same way.

Why would man take such risks? Everything he does pertaining to the things of this life, he will count the costs before he takes his first step. He will evaluate a school carefully before he enrols his child. He does his homework on a company before he applies for the job. He considers carefully before he invests in his first home. In all these things, he is very diligent in ensuring he gets the best in life. But when it comes to his eternity after death, why would he choose to not do his due diligence? Proverbs 16:2 calls all believers to ensure that their ways are really clean!

All Ways are Clean? – It is a difficult thing to tell parents that their way of bringing up their children is wrong. There was a family who left the church because the parents could not accept the biblical teaching to use the rod of correction to discipline their children. This was after the message was preached with biblical evidence. Proverbs 23:13 says, “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.” The parents believed that their way was right and God’s way was wrong! It is an observable truth that teenagers and young adults do not listen to parents well. They find it troublesome (sometimes even offensive) when parents continue to tell them what to do or make a suggestion on what they ought to do. The reason is that with new found freedom in thinking and in their adult-like mind they believe that they know better. Any other comments, especially from parents, are an affront to their independence and perhaps even their pride. Adults and the elderly are not much different. If they have been independent all their lives, they do not like it when someone tells them that their life is plagued with many errors. The dictum that applies to them is that “one cannot teach old dogs new tricks”!

The fact of the matter is that the warning in Proverbs 16:2a, “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes,” is very apt for all man, regardless of age. He lives his life based upon his five senses. He thinks that based upon the same five senses he can continue to live his life after death! But this is foolish reasoning. His assumption that the world after this life is the same is manifestly wrong. He is paying a very high price for this grave mistake! He fails to acknowledge that his ways are wrong (not clean). His pride stands in his way. When told that “all who die in their sin will find themselves in the Lake of Fire” is the gospel truth, he finds it repulsive, and he angrily rejects it. He does not know that: “The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble” (Prov 4:19). Why must sinful man continue to live in sin all their lives as if there is no accountability on the other side of life after death?! This foolishness has to stop! The one true living God awaits you on the other side of life. He desires to receive you as a child of God, and not an enemy.

The Final Evaluation – The Evaluator is the holy and almighty God. He gave us life. He is also the taker of life. No man came into existence without God’s determined will. Just as the sun will not shine without His permission, man cannot breathe or live without His permission. This is a bitter pill for man to swallow. But it is the truth of life and death. If man refuses to accept His sovereign control over him, he will continue to do what is right in his own eyes to his own destruction and condemnation. All who live in sin must heed this fearful warning. God will judge the ones outside and inside the church according to their works, without exception. The ones in church can no longer hide behind facades of spirituality. The judgment of God is perfect. He cares not for our confessions and signed statements of faith, but our living testimonies. If they are not for Christ then they will all be burned into ashes like dry leaves in a forest fire.

If our lives are not lived in holiness, can we say that we are truly born again in Christ? For God says, “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1John 3:6-9). God knows and will reveal all in the last day. It is best that all of us do not hide from God. When we stand before Him on judgment day, it will be too late.

God wants all man to know that when He weighs their works, He weighs the spirits. He will weigh the inside and outside of every man. Man’s motives behind every action are just as important as his actions. If the motive is not glorifying to God who saved us, it will be a sin. And if our actions are not done in faith it is also a sin, even if the motive is right. Everything will be evaluated according to Holy Scriptures. He weighs the truthfulness of every action. This applies to all without exception, including His children. The difference is that in the case of His children who are born again in Christ, it must be fruits of salvation such as the new man possessing the mind of Christ and the love of God which is his new motive in Christ. All his works will be judged whether they are done according to Holy Scriptures. Those that are will be remembered by God forever. He will be rewarded accordingly. Let us take heed of what we do, for “the LORD weigheth the spirits”!

Food for Thought -- Proverbs 4:18: “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”