Solomon's mother advised him not to give his strength unto women. He ignored this advice and his wives turned away his heart after other gods.
Most people view sin as a private or earthy matter. Yet, every sin is against the Lord. In truth, men can sin against the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Some believers err on the side of laziness while other believers err on the side of taking no rest. Both can be life threatening in one’s walk with God.
Interestingly, the Lord actually commands His people to be angry! This may surprise or concern some believers who fail to study the entirety of scripture within context, but the Lord admonished believers at Ephesus to be angry. No doubt this was a call for a righteous anger with a cause, but nonetheless it was a call for anger. Why? The Bible points out that a godly anger can put a stop to sin. According to Proverbs 25:23, “The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.” This directly correlates to the context of Ephesians 4:26 as the surrounding passages speak of ceasing from sin. Simultaneous to the Lord admonishing believers to be angry, He also cautioned them not to let their righteous anger turn into sin.
Stewardship requires one predominant trait, that being faithfulness. People are gifted with many assorted skill sets requiring varying degrees of expertise. Yet, stewardship demands only a single element—faithfulness. The master of the house can teach his steward how to think ahead or how to deal with problems and even problem people, but the master cannot teach faithfulness. A wise master knows that his greatest need in a steward is faithfulness (Luke 12:42). In like manner, believers, as stewards of God, may be inadequately qualified for every needed task, but the importance of faithfulness must never be underestimated. No man can be a good steward if he lacks faithfulness.
No believer should knowingly marry an unbeliever (2 Corinthians 6:14). Additionally, the unmarried should look for other strengths and weaknesses in a prospective spouse before agreeing to marriage. Oftentimes, these strengths and weaknesses can be seen by interaction with the other’s parents. Isaac lied about Rebekah (Genesis 26:6-7) just as his father Abraham lied about Sarah (Genesis 12:10-13; Genesis 20:1-2). Solomon’s weakness for women (1 Kings 11:1) was first witnessed in his father David (2 Samuel 11:1-4). Rachel learned deception (Genesis 31:32-35) by watching her father act deceptively (Genesis 29:25). A careful observation of parents can reveal prospective problems in a future spouse.
Thoughts do not have to be wicked in order to be troublesome. Any thought contrary to faith will eventually cause a man to stumble. In Genesis 20:11, Abraham’s thoughts hindered his faith. He perceived that the fear of God was not in Gerar and decided to lie about the identity of his wife in order to insure his personal well-being. Rather than trusting God, he trusted his thoughts. Another example is Naaman. He refused to wash in the Jordan River because he thought that the prophet should have recovered his leprosy by coming out, calling upon the name of the Lord, and striking his hand over the place of leprosy (2 Kings 5:11). When a man trusts in his own thoughts over the words of God, that man shows a complete disregard for truth.
We should not assume that our contentions for the truth will always be directed toward those who know not the Lord. Unfortunately, our stand for truth will often be opposed by the very ones who claim to know the Lord as Saviour. Nehemiah serves as a great example of someone who stood for the Lord against severe opposition from his brethren. In the thirteenth chapter of the book that bears his name, the Bible records his stand against those who were set apart by the Lord. He contended with them for the house of the Lord (Nehemiah 13:11), the law of the Lord (Nehemiah 13:15-22), and the purity of their homes (Nehemiah 13:23-26). Just as Nehemiah contended with those who knew the Lord, God may call upon us to do the very same thing.
The Lord blessed the throne of David and desired to do the same for his posterity. Because the Lord wanted to establish Solomon’s rule, He provided some guidelines for Solomon. One prominent issue involved Solomon following in his father’s footsteps by living with integrity of heart. Integrity is very much a matter of the heart. In fact, four times in scripture integrity is associated with the heart. Twice the Bible refers to the integrity of Abimelech’s heart (Genesis 20:5-6) and another two times it refers to the integrity of David’s heart (1 Kings 9:4; Psalm 78:72). Though these men had little else in common, both understood that integrity involved a matter of the heart. A lack of integrity is first and foremost a heart issue.
Men used to be commended for their level of integrity and one's handshake was considered a man’s bond. As societies continue to crumble from the pollution of immorality, men of integrity are quickly disappearing. Unfortunately, churches seem far from immune to this moral decline. What is integrity? In a narrow sense, integrity as used in scripture can be difficult to pinpoint. The word integrity occurs sixteen times in scripture. By considering each occurrence, one can discover clues that provide insight as to its meaning. Integrity is contrasted with the words like perverse (Proverbs 19:1) and perverseness (Proverbs 11:3). Conversely, integrity is used in conjunction with words like upright (Job 2:3; Proverbs 11:3) and uprightness (1 Kings 9:4; Psalm 25:21). In our passage, the word integrity is used alongside the word innocency (Genesis 20:5). These facts would lead the believer to realize that integrity speaks of a moral purity and moral correctness.
