Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people.

Proverbs 3:3-4

For Meditation  

There is a commentary about the Savior’s teenage years that intrigues me. It closes the story of Jesus with His parents in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover and the drama that ensued on their return trip back to Nazareth (Lk. 2:41-54). Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, and His parents later found Him in the temple in a question and answer session with the scribes. In answer to Mary and Joseph’s rebuke, Jesus reminded them that He must be in His Father’s house (45-47). However, Jesus returned with His parents to Nazareth and submitted to them (Lk. 2:51).

The Holy Spirit sums up Jesus’s life from that time up to the beginning of His public ministry in these words: “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and all the people” (Lk. 2:52). It is such a large space of time in His life that is not revealed in detail for our example. How did He do it, and how can we emulate Him?

I find insightful, the teaching of Solomon in Proverbs 3:3-4. The teacher instructs his son to adorn himself with love and faithfulness. He tells him to let those two qualities become the fragrance of his heart that always fills every space around him. The reward, Solomon says, is “favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man” (4 NKJV). We, too, will be wise by training ourselves in the same way.

Nobody runs away from the beauty and freshness of love and faithfulness, for they are invigorating. People always gravitate toward them with favor and reputation to reciprocate. Those who live this way glorify God. As a result, He bestows grace and recognition upon them.

So, how sincere, and loyal are you to what you commit to before God and others? How dependable are you in the service of God and people?

Shalom.