Puffed Up or Built Up?

...knowledge... puffs up...; but love builds up.
-- From 1 Corinthians 8:1 (GNT)

Love Never Fails,
Grateful

Proverbs 1:7 & Matthew 5:3

When Jesus spoke Matthew 5:3 (KJV) -- Blessed are the poor in spirit, it seems quite synonymous with the truth found in Proverbs 1:7 (NLT) -- Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.

I love the The New Living Translation rendering of Matthew 5:3: God blesses those who realize their need for Him.

Don't you think it's easy to connect the dots between these two passages?

My personal paraphrase of Matthew 5:3 might be: You're blessed when you obey God's will wholeheartedly and acknowledge that everything praiseworthy comes from Him alone.

My own amplified wording for Proverbs 1:7 might be: With reverent trembling in your eternal soul, willingly obey and respect the Lord, now you can declare that you have chosen the God who has chosen you, you now can begin to know the God Who wants to know you, as you can, too, commence to really love the God Who has already proven He loves you. As you claim Him as Your Everything in this life and in the Life to come, you will be surely BLESSED beginning now.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Only Fools

Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline. -- Proverbs 1:7 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

The Losers Win? Yes We Do.

In Luke 17:33 (MSG) Jesus said, If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.

Galatians 2:20 (MSG) helps us to know more clearly what it means "to lose our lives": Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

And in Philippians 3:7-11 (NLT) the Apostle Paul applied the lose-your-life words of Jesus to his own life with these words: (7) But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. (8) Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (11) if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

So is it correct to say that "The Losers Win" in the Kingdom of God? Yes, in fact losing is a core value of Christlike winners. Think about it. On Crucifixion Friday Jesus looked like the #1 Loser of all losers, but on Resurrection Sunday He proved to be the #1 Winner of all winners! Indeed, Jesus turned His loss on Friday's Cross into our gain outside Sunday's Tomb. Let's exhale. The Losers Win? Yes, We Do!

ALL JOY!
Grateful

Wisdom Speaking

In Proverbs 8:30 (NIV), Wisdom speaks these words: I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in His (The Lord God's) presence...

My Lord God... I want to delight day after day, rejoicing always in the ministry of Your Holy Presence over the misery of my human performance. Yes, I desire Your unlimited Wisdom over my limited knowledge. In Jesus' name. Amen.

James 1:5 (NIV) -- If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

ALL JOY!
Grateful