Voted Wicked, Counted Upright

I have a friend who is much older than me and very wise. She told me the other day that one of the things that she has always struggled with is trying to talk "her point" to death. (This is sooooo me!) She did it with her kids, her husband, her employees, her friends. I was not terribly surprised that she had faults, but I was surprised that she still struggles with them. Truthfully, I would not have thought that she struggled with anything!

This morning I was reading Proverbs Chapter 10, and I paused at verse 22. It says, "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise." True story. Perhaps someone should write a technologically advanced translation that would say "When there are many typed words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his fingers is wise." HA!

Proverbs 10-18 NINE CHAPTERS is a contrast of the upright and the wicked. God devoted 9 chapters of writing IN A ROW to contrast the upright and the wicked. Just in case you or I should read one chapter and vote ourselves upright, the Lord gives us 8 more chapters to understand that we, no matter how hard we try, will eventually find ourselves in the wicked column. At some point, we will read a scenario that helps us see that we, too, are wicked. But thank God for the blood of Christ that covers our wickedness and allows us to walk blameless before Him.

All that to say, I vote myself wicked, but am counted among the upright by the One who counts the votes. Thank you Jesus.