Faith & Faithfulness

The Proverbs are full of so many amazing nuggets (and floods!) of wisdom. And yesterday, my study in self-control took me to this incredible gold mind of knowledge.

Though it's a short verse, Proverbs 11:6 sure packs a punch!
"The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires."
There are two questions we can ask here - What makes makes a person righteous that they are delivered when temptation strikes? And why are the unfaithful trapped?

Ultimately, as a Christian, my salvation and righteousness comes from Christ and Him alone. But my mind also goes to the verses that talk about Abraham and His righteousness before God. I love what James chapter two says about this great man of faith:
"Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone." ~ James 2:21-24
There's also a big chunk in the "Faith Chapter" (Hebrews 11) about Abraham and how his faith was manifested through his righteous deeds.

So, in examining Abraham's life, we see that he had Faith in God, and that he was Faithful to act according to his belief. As Christians, faith should lead us to faithfulness! That faithfulness does not determine our salvation, and yet, it should be an indicator, or fruit, of our salvation. And as we see in Proverbs 11:6, unfaithfulness leads us to being trapped by evil desires and temptations.

APPLICATION - In studying this verse yesterday, here is the application I wrote down for my own life:
Let's not be like this dude!
If I grow in righteousness by feeding my mind a good, clean diet and by "exercising" and building my spiritual strength through time spent with God and studying His Word, then when temptation hits, it will be far easier to be delivered because of all the good things I've filled my heart and head with! 
But if I don't act in faith, and am unfaithful in my spiritual exercise and diet, then when temptation hits, I'm far more likely to fall to fleshly and evil desires because I'm not strong! Nor am I being faithful to the one who makes me strong!
Just like I can't feed myself junk food and sit on the couch all day and expect to be ripped, neither can I ignore my spiritual body and expect to withstand the chords of temptation - sneaky yet surprisingly strong.

Lord, increase my faith...and my faithfulness!

~~~
Love in Christ,
Ellie

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