The Higher Road

Morally Pure

There are many examples in the Bible of men who displayed Godly character. Now of coarse, none of them were perfect… with the exception of Jesus. But there is one man who stands out from the others. With out a doubt, Job fits the category of a Godly man. Over the next few months, I will be posting a series called Man of God, which will be a snapshot of Job, his character and his attitudes toward life. He is described in Job 1:1 as one who …was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. Even after all the testing that he had to endure, he remained faithful to God.

Job 31:1-4… Job Is Morally Pure

It would appear that Job had not only avoided committing the great sin of adultery… but that he had not even taken the first step toward that sin, by looking at a woman with lust. To be honest with you… my first reaction to this claim is something along the lines of… “Yeah Right! Never looked at a girl longer than he should have? Never thought about the possibilities? Never dreamt about the perfect woman?” Remember when King David was walking out on the roof of the palace, when his eyes suddenly came across the sight of a women bathing? David’s downfall came when he look too long… and then desired to find out more about her.

But not Job. He had determined before hand that if he ever found himself in that situation, that he would look away. Now I don’t think that we can say for sure that Job never sinned… only that as far as God was concerned, he was blameless. For sure Job was tempted, just like you and I are tempted… but Job overcame that temptation and lived a righteous life. How?… Job was a man who knew how to think pure thoughts. Philippians 4:8 encourages us to do the same…

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Job’s motivation for living a life of purity can be seen in verse 4…

Does he not see my ways and count my every step?

It is a sobering thought to remember that God sees everything that we do… right down to the thoughts we have.

Justness and Honesty

Job 31: 5-8… Job Is Characterized by Justness and Honesty in all matters.

Job is a man who understands what God requires of us. The Prophet Micah spoke about this in Micah 6:8…

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

I like the way Job invites God to weigh him in honest scales. Job is not boasting here. He is in fact showing us that he values honesty and justice because he knows that God himself is honest and just. I wonder how many of us could so boldly invite God to weigh us, to see how honest and just we are?

This is big issue today... justness and honesty. For a start… what does it mean to be just? In the technical sense, to be just means to be fair, honest and moral. What it means to be honest speaks for its self. To be an honest person means that you speak the truth all the times. In many ways… justness and honesty go hand in hand. Men of God are men who speak the truth, are fair in all their dealings with people and who conduct themselves in a moral way… all the time… even when no one is looking.

Job was an honest and just man.

Marriage is Sacred

Job 31:9-12…  Job Considered Marriage to be Sacred

To put it simply… Job was a good husband.  He understood God’s high standard for the marriage relationship. 

The author of Hebrews does as well, when he writes… (Heb 13:4)

Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

God has gone to great lengths to provide us with instructions regarding the sanctity of marriage.  Guys, this is important, because the responsibility has been given firmly to us to love our wives and lead our families.  For example… Ephesians 5 talks about how we are to love our wives. Also  1 Peter 3:7… teaches us that we are to dwell with our wives with understanding, at all times being considerate towards her needs and treating her with respect. 

There are many other passages we could turn to… but the point is this… Job was a man who loved and respected his wife. 

Kindness and Mercy

Job31:13-23… Job Is Kind and Merciful

Job is a man who is characterized by the type of love that 1 Cor. 13:4 talks about…

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

I like the way Job puts a God perspective on this issue. In verse 15 he says…

Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

As far as Job is concerned… anyone he comes across is deserving of his love and kindness because they too, like him, are created in the image of the Living God.

This is a very important principal for our day and age… because lets be honest… there are a lot of people out there that need to be shown kindness and mercy… even people who are hard to love. Being kind to others… even strangers… and showing mercy to those who perhaps even offend us, is a fantastic witness for God. After all… has not God shown kindness and mercy to us? That’s what it says in Titus 3:4-5…

But when the kindness and love of God our Savoir appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

But notice again Job’s motivation for wanting to be kind and merciful (vv23). One translation renders it this way…

Let my arm be torn from its socket! That would be better than facing the judgment sent by God. For if the majesty of God opposes me, what hope is there? NLT

You see… Job is a man who understands that even though God is Just… punishing all sin… He is also merciful… forgiving the sinner out of His great Kindness. Likewise, Godly men are men who show kindness and mercy toward others… because they themselves have received God’s kindness and mercy.

Only God

Job 31:24-28… Job Worships only God

Again… this is so very relevant to our time. Notice that job is not saying that money, wealth or riches is a bad thing… only that he will not worship them.

The author of Hebrews picks up on this in Hebrews 13:5…

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Job reminds us that depending on wealth for happiness is in fact idolatry, because it denies God as the giver of true happiness.

David also talks about this in Psalm 62:9-10…

From the greatest to the lowliest—all are nothing in his sight. If you weigh them on the scales, they are lighter than a puff of air. Don’t try to get rich by extortion or robbery. And if your wealth increases, don’t make it the center of your life.

But is not just money and wealth... because Job refuses to bow down to any of the gods of his age. He mentions the false idols of the sun, moon, stars… all of which were commonly worshipped in Job’s day. Think about it for a moment… What are the gods of our age? I’m sure I don’t need to name them because we all know what they are. But just to be certain… anything that takes the place of God in our lives… is an idol. Any time we put something… or someone… or a philosophy above God… we break the 1st and 2nd Commandments.

Job was a man who was single minded in his worship of God. Nothing else mattered… nothing else came first… there was no higher priority in Job’s life than to worship God and honour Him. If we are to be men of God… then we must resolve to do the same.