Marks

UV 904-10,000 Marks of a Man of God He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; Isaiah 33 v 15 This uni-verse describes the marks of a man who pleases God: he walks in righteousness or in accordance with the laws or Word of God. Each teaching from scripture is a path or a road or a highway of God. We need to walk in these ways alone and not stray or take a detour. We need to speak in uprightness- there needs to be an alignment between the Word, our minds, our mouths and our actions. Ken Blanchard, the author of the One Minute Manager series, teaches about the integrity of the 4 H: heart, head, hands and habits. The one thing he failed to include is the use of our mouths or our tongues or our speech. For indeed as the Lord says, “ Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me and to him who ordered his conversation aright, will I show My salvation.” The other qualities of a person of God is that he or she refuses bribes and hates to gain anything by oppression or exploitation but would aim to do so only by just means. Such a person shows revulsion at violence or the shedding of blood. He is not only non-violent but anti-violence. He or she is a peace lover and a peace maker. He or she takes a vow or covenants with his or her eyes not to look at the opposite gender or for that matter the same gender too with lust. As Jesus said, “ the eyes are the windows of the body, the light of our existence.” We need to keep our eyes from seeing what is evil or vulgar or unworthy. I recently heard about the shocking statistics that a good number of pastors in certain countries are addicted to pornography. Children whose eyes are exposed to pornography have their minds scarred for life. If one of the partners in a marriage is addicted to pornography, it adversely affects his or her relationship with the spouse. The presence of God or our personal relationship with the Lord creates such marks of distinction in people who both love God and fear to break His laws. Such persons will live on high. This implies that when we follow the ways of the Lord, we will have exciting lives. “Our bread will be provided and our waters will be sure.” In other words, we shall have no want or our need will be met in every area of life. We will be secure in the Lord since “ our place of defence shall be the munition of rocks.” In other words, our sense of security will be as if we are living in a mountain fortress. Nothing can shake us. Our eyes will behold the beauty of the Lord and see the glory of Heaven in our lives. Our abode or residence will be peaceful. The stakes of our tents will not be pulled up nor any of its ropes broken. We will be both healed and forgiven. Prateep V Philip