Good Good Godliness || Proverbs 14:34 || Manna for the Mind #76

Welcome to Day 76 of the “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series is about taking scripture passages (typically 1-3 verses) and building our understanding of their teachings through their context and connecting scripture. I believe that doing this helps us understand how to be the type of human that God created us to be.

Today’s passage is Proverbs 14:34. We will learn about the differences between godliness and sin.

Proverbs 14:34

34          Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

Let’s define those two terms to understand what the author of Proverbs is saying here. Godliness, in the NLT translation, is the word ‘righteousness’, which is the Hebrew word tsedaqah (tsed-aw-kaw’). This word is commonly found in Proverbs (11 times) and is defined as being ethically right. Using the morals and ethics that God teaches us and creating our foundation to live a God-led and God-first life leads to a great nation. This doesn’t mean we should force God’s teachings into our laws and justice system today. Instead, it’s about each of us, individually and collectively, taking responsibility for our actions and decisions. It’s about loving others as Jesus loves us, and creating laws, justice systems, resources, and more that allow us to take care of our neighbor. Let’s remove the gatekeeping effects plaguing our systems and allow all to access the resources. Let’s create a fair and just system that allows those in need to live comfortable lives. This is how we, as a nation, can be great.

Sin is the Hebrew word chatta’ah (khat-taw-aw’). It’s an accusative sin that goes against God. It comes from the Hebrew word chata (khaw-taw), which means to miss or go wrong. It’s owning what we’ve done that misses the idea of what God wants us to do and who he wants us to be. It’s recognizing the areas that we’ve missed being Christlike to our neighbors, repenting (turning away from how we’ve missed), and changing our ways to become more like his Son, in whom we were created to reflect.

Jesus talks about this in Matthew 24:45. I’ll also talk about the context around it because it may feel out-of-place or meaningless on its own.

Matthew 24:45

45          “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them

All of Matthew 24 is about Jesus talking about the future. The disciples are asking when the end of the world happen and what will signal it. Here’s my synopsis of what Jesus said from verses 4 through 44. Many will come claiming that they are Jesus. There will be wars and threats of wars. Christians will be arrested, persecuted, killed, and hated worldwide. Many will leave their relationship with Jesus and betray and other others. False prophets will show up. Sin will be highly active, and there will be no love. The Gospel will be shared worldwide, and then the end will happen. (vs. 4-14)

There will be a day when a sacrilegious object that causes desecration will stand in the Holy Place. When this happens, the people in Judea (modern-day Israel) should run. There will be much anguish during this time, but it will never get worse than that point. (vs. 15-21) Again, pay attention to the false teachers when they come out because we should not believe in them. After the anguish mentioned in verse 21, the sign that Jesus returns will show in the sky. There will be much grief among the people. Jesus will return on clouds of heaven. Angels will blast their trumpets. The chosen ones will gather. (vs. 22-31)

The nations won’t pass away until everything takes place. No one knows when it will happen except God. The second coming will be like the days of Noah. Everyone should be ready for that day (vs. 32-44).

(AUTHOR’S NOTE: I think this passage alone will be a series later this year, so be ready. There are many conspiracies out there about the “end times,” but not many people use Jesus’s words to talk about them. It will be good to go into this passage in detail and see what’s going on. Back to the story.)

Jesus explains this in a parable for the last passage of Matthew 24, starting with our focus verse. One who’s faithful and sensible (wise) can receive the responsibility of caring for those around him. If done well, there will be blessings. However, if the servant is evil, there will be dire consequences. Now, let’s connect this last passage with our focus for today. It circles back to how godliness makes a nation great. Let’s take the commandments Jesus taught us (love God with all of who we are and love our neighbor as Jesus loved us) and responsibly follow them in the world. We are not just strengthening our community, but also the kingdom of God at large. When we don’t, intentionally or not, we will face the consequences of our actions. This is not a matter to be taken lightly, but a call to action for each of us to be responsible and faithful in our actions.

Dear Father God, we come before you in gratitude for the goodness you have done for us in the past, present, and future. We pause now to share our gratitude for the good in our lives. Your goodness exists forever, even when we might not feel it. Teach us, guide us, and extend your goodness through us to represent your glory and to take care of our community. Show us the direction of those people who need our help. Let us be your hands and feet, working together as a community to spread your love and care. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.