Proverbs 31 Man

There is a question that often comes up when I first see someone

How are you doing?

That’s a pretty simple question it might seem, alright … ok.. good …

But in reality it is huge ...

mix up my answers, Do I think about this or that

The answer depends on the standard that I judge my life by

Dave Chappel in his most recent comedy special

This problem of

Regret - the belief that you should have , did, or reached something or some goal or not have, did, or received something or label.

Coveting - the desire to have something you do not have

We have a man who is living life @ footlocker, and a man who is on the top of the entertainment world and the one kills himself.

There is a deep desire to have a good life

Be Happy, Be in Love, Be Nice, Be Healthy

Our standard of living is at its heighest, we can love whomever we want, we have cured so much and have pills for so much, but suicide is still at a high rate and it wouldn’t take me but a second to find depressed angry people, and

So how then are we supposed to live? Who will tell us

I want to look at the advise of a mom to a son. Because it is women’s retreat weekend ....

Proverbs 31:1 CSB

1 The words of King Lemuel, a pronouncement that his mother taught him:

We have no idea who King Lemuel is and it doesn’t matter.

You may not be a king but you can still get the advice of a king.

Proverbs 3:2–3 CSB

2 for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being. 3 Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 31:2–3 CSB

2 What should I say, my son? What, son of my womb? What, son of my vows? 3 Don’t spend your energy on women or your efforts on those who destroy kings.

How can a woman destroy a king? Kings are born and they don’t lose their kingship

Our sexuality takes a lot of energy, and spend our energy in the chaos of relationships

the facebook life of relationships

Surprise, surprise the church would tell you not to run after sexual fulfillment

But the question here isn’t so much about sexuality as energy

e church would tell you not to run after sexual fulfillment

A king has all kinds of resources, everyone basically had to do what the king said and the king was free to do what he wants

He can give all the energy he has to trying to find someone that can make him happy

Think about that job description, you are to make me happy

You had all the power of a kingdom in your hand, and spent it on trying to make another happy?

Another friend has chosen one of the sexual initials of our day because they do not find the traditional relationships to bring them personal fulfillment.

I concur but I also state that I have never found any relationship to reach personal fulfillment in me.

In fact, I have a different goal in life other than personal fulfillment,

Its not about sexual morality as much as it is about energy. At the end of the day, a king has all the freedom with all that they have.

You too started out and still do have all the freedom with the resources that you have.

What will you do with your ability to think, move, love, enoucrage, make money, have a home, the ability to travel, what will you do.

The words to the king didn’t stop with just a warning about chasing women, it went to what else we spend our time doing:

Proverbs 31:4-

Proverbs 31:4–7 CSB

4 It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire beer. 5 Otherwise, he will drink, forget what is decreed, and pervert justice for all the oppressed. 6 Give beer to one who is dying and wine to one whose life is bitter. 7 Let him drink so that he can forget his poverty and remember his trouble no more.

Surprise, surprise, don’t chase after women, and don’t get drunk. Who would have thought that you would hear about that at church.

Everyone.

Alcohol is very old as we learned quickly that bacteria in a food or water is bad until it reaches a point when it is actually ok to eat or drink. Thus fermented food like cheese and yogurt, kim chi, and in liquid, wine, beer, etc.

You might be more surprised that wine is encouraged to be drank in one verse in the Bible as a piece of advice from a mentor to a mentee

1 Timothy 5:23 CSB

23 Don’t continue drinking only water, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

You also see that in the proverbs verses alcohol is encouraged as a way to care for the dying.

I learned a few years back that doctors, good doctors still use cocaine as a medicine. Jennifer Berni gets it ready for patients in her job

I immediately asked her, but aren’t the patients going to get addicted. Oh yeah but they will be dead.

Cocaine is Godly as it is helping the dying but is no help at all to anyone else.

Alcohol has so many benefits but its not for a king.

It will make you forget and relax, great if you need medical treatment and nothing will do it better. Horrible if people are depending on you.

Alcohol, It will make you, wait, stop right in that phrase.

It will make you

That’s true isn’t it, whatever alcohol does to you, relaxes, releases, helps me forget, takes away my worry, allows me to talk to people, allows me to dance, to party. ...

That’s alcohol controlling you

A king controls themselves.

A life of importance can be one full of joy and then the next second, one full of important vital decisions, and then one full of responsibility, and then rest.

Alcohol doesn’t allow for that.

Today, we no longer need it for care for our stomachs and we have great ways to help ease the pain for they dying.

I’m a sober person as it comes to drugs sticking mostly to low doses of caffeine

Here’s why:

I want to live like a king.

When I go into a stressful situation, I want to discover what God says when he tells us

Matthew 28:20 CSB

20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I want to know the Lord’s presence when the hard times hit, I want to know that Christ has my back

2 Thessalonians 3:16 CSB

16 May the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

I want to know that when the celebration hits my joy is real, it comes from Christ.

I have noticed that the ability to be completely silly and care free is something learned

I make enough bad decisions on my own, I do not need alcohol to help.

A king has to have the strength to rise above their own insecurities and

A king has to have the strength to rise above their own insecurities and their own desires.

But why?

Even the Bible points to people who should be able to use alcohol to wallow

Proverbs 31:7 CSB

7 Let him drink so that he can forget his poverty and remember his trouble no more.

Right there, right?

Jesus told us when answering about divorce that their are things permitted but not because it is right or the best.

Matthew 19:7–8 CSB

7 “Why then,” they asked him, “did Moses command us to give divorce papers and to send her away?” 8 He told them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts, but it was not like that from the beginning.

The advice for allowing the poor to drink was to tell the king not to prevent people who choose to wallow and quit to wallow and quit but a king doesn’t live like this.

Jesus called us into royalty

Revelation 1:5–6 CSB

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 2:9 CSB

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

A proverbs 31 man or woman is not to live as a king who takes all the power, all the resources, all the freedom and wastes them on themselves.

This is what a king is to live for

Proverbs 31:8–9 CSB

8 Speak up for those who have no voice, for the justice of all who are dispossessed. 9 Speak up, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.