Proverbs 6:15. therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
You may recall from yesterday’s proverb that Solomon is describing the person who goes around stirring up trouble, sowing discord. Then when their friends, family, and co-workers have had enough, they snap and break off the relationship. Suddenly, the relationship is broken beyond repair. Calamity has come in a moment.
Have you ever been surprised by a broken relationship? A friendship is broken and you can’t seem to understand why. Or your marriage is suffering and it just doesn’t make sense to you. Your young adult child won’t ever come visit. Your co-workers seem aloof. People are distancing themselves from you.
These proverbs are reminding us that normally these things don’t just happen out of nowhere. This “sowing and reaping” principle (we reap what we sow) dominates most of our lives. If we sow apples, we reap apples. If we sow trouble, we reap trouble. If we sow discord, we reap discord. Most of life is cause and effect. Evil brings calamity. If we sin relationally without turning to God for healing, our relationships may be broken beyond healing.
But the good news of our union with Christ is that our relationship with God is never broken beyond healing. Faith in Christ saves us from the ultimate calamity – relational separation from God. In Christ, we have been invited into the Trinitarian community of perfect love and acceptance. Christian, you can rest assured that your relationship with God is always moving forward, always in process, always working for the good, always forming Christ in you.
This is why the person in Christ must never be the one who is creating relational calamity. The more we trust our position in Christ, the less we will feel the need to sow discord and strife. The more we trust who we are in relation to the Father, the more we will be able to sow love and peace into every other relationship we have been blessed with by God. Let’s look at James again:
James 3:13-18. 13Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
James upholds the “you reap what you sow” principle. God’s wisdom of peace, gentleness, reason, mercy, goodness, impartiality, and sincerity will produce a harvest of righteousness. No, this is not a promise that everyone will respond to your Christlikeness with an equal Christlikeness. But it is a promise that ultimately God’s wisdom in us will win. Righteousness will prevail. In this life or the next.
You: Is there a broken relationship in your life? Does it surprise you that it is broken?
You in Christ: Your relationship with God is whole. How does this truth allow you to sow wholeness into every other relationship you have?
Christ in you: Is there a relationship that Jesus wants you to begin repairing today? How can you start to sow God’s heavenly wisdom of peace, gentleness, reason, mercy, goodness, etc.?
Pray: Father, I don’t want my relationships to break down. Thank you that in Christ my relationship with you is secure forever. Amen.
To Live is Christ 