A life with
attachments and devotion to "things" is a life wasted
Psalm 40:4 Blessed
is the one who trusts in the LORD, who does not look to the proud, to those who
turn aside to false gods.
Jeremiah 17:7 "But
blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary: 17:5-11 He who puts confidence in man, shall be
like the heath in a desert, a naked tree, a sorry shrub, the product of barren
ground, useless and worthless. Those who trust to their own righteousness and
strength, and think they can do without Christ, make flesh their arm, and their
souls cannot prosper in graces or comforts. Those who make God their Hope,
shall flourish like a tree always green, whose leaf does not wither. They shall
be fixed in peace and satisfaction of mind; they shall not be anxious in a year
of drought. Those who make God their Hope, have enough in him to make up the
want of all creature-comforts. They shall not cease from yielding fruit in
holiness and good works. The heart, the conscience of man, in his corrupt and
fallen state, is deceitful above all things. It calls evil good, and good evil;
and cries peace to those to whom it does not belong. Herein the heart is
desperately wicked; it is deadly, it is desperate. The case is bad indeed, if
the conscience, which should set right the errors of other faculties, is a
leader in the delusion. We cannot know our own hearts, nor what they will do in
an hour of temptation. Who can understand his errors? Much less can we know the
hearts of others, or depend upon them. He that believes God's testimony in this
matter, and learns to watch his own heart, will find this is a correct, though
a sad picture, and learns many lessons to direct his conduct. But much in our
own hearts and in the hearts of others, will remain unknown. Yet whatever
wickedness there is in the heart, God sees it. Men may be imposed upon, but God
cannot be deceived. He that gets riches, and not by right, though he may make
them his hope, never shall have joy of them. This shows what vexation it is to
a worldly man at death, that he must leave his riches behind; but though the
wealth will not follow to another world, guilt will, and everlasting torment.
The rich man takes pains to get an estate, and sits brooding upon it, but never
has any satisfaction in it; by sinful courses it comes to nothing. Let us be
wise in time; what we get, let us get it honestly; and what we have, use it
charitably, that we may be wise for eternity.
No comments:
Post a Comment