Proverbs 16:6  
Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin. 
By fearing the Lord, people avoid evil. (NLT)

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A proverb a day keeps Stupid away. 

Someone suggested when I was in college that I read a chapter of Proverbs each day. There are thirty-one chapters in this book which fairly neatly aligns with the number of days in a month. This became a good habit.

A few years later, someone gave me a copy of the One-Year Bible which has 365 daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. This also became a good habit. 

I no longer read a chapter of Proverbs each day, and I change Bible reading plans each year. I am considering picking up Eugene Peterson’s The Message of Proverbs and adding it to my evening reading plan I call Evensong. Verses like the one above keep my mind focused. Each reading adds more clarity. There are words of wisdom that reward those who are regularly reminded of them. 

For the first time on reading this proverb, something became clear. “Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin.” I have been highlighting this pair of attributes as I read through the Bible this year. Over and over, especially in Psalms, we see Our Father in Heaven described in these words. His love is unfailing. His faithfulness endures forever.

Here, these attributes are applied to ordinary people like us. When we reflect God’s unfailing love and faithfulness, when these character qualities shape our lives, we not only avoid sin and its consequences, we also take corrective actions for the sins we have committed in the past. We receive God’s forgiveness when we acknowledge and repent of our sins. We follow the pathway of reconciliation with those we’ve wounded along the way.

Seeking the heart of God leads us to live with a heart like his. A heart like his is one of unfailing love and faithfulness. Two simple prayers that can be prayed in a breath help us here. First, “Please give me a pure heart and clean hands.” Second, “Make my heart like yours.”

Learning to pray what we choose to live with the purpose of honoring God and serving others leads to more answered prayers than anything else I can think of at this moment. 

Read God’s Word. Pray God’s Word, which is praying God’s will. Receive God’s strength. Live God’s character. 

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I will seek God’s wisdom morning by morning, and evening by evening, and learn to live the truths God speaks to my heart. 

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Our Father, make my heart more like yours. Make me a man of unfailing love and faithfulness. I want to reflect your character. I want to take the right lead measures to avoid sin and its consequences. I want to clean up the messes I’ve made along the way. Amen.