This is Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee, Senior Pastor of Manmin Central Church in Seoul, Korea. I wish for your life to be filled with God’s love and blessing. I want to share God’s grace with you through this message titled “To Become a Friend of a King.”
Our God is the Light in whom there is no darkness at all. He is blameless and spotless. He is holy and perfect. Anyone who loves purity of heart struggles against and throws away sins to the point of shedding blood, and gets rid of every form of evil.
Proverbs 22:11 says, “He who loves purity of heart And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.” The secret to becoming a friend of the king of a country is introduced in this verse. Loving the purity of heart and making one’s speech gracious are the keys.
One can be deemed to be “Gracious” when he embraces and encourages people with meekness coming from the heart. Such an individual does not cause others to stumble, he does not notice the spot on others, nor does he judge or condemn. Instead, he understands and accepts others so that he is able to lead as many people in the way of the truth.
Likewise, a truly gracious person cultivates all goodness and righteousness and truthfulness in the heart and bears the fruit of the Light in deeds and words.
As a result, he is found to be trustworthy and favored by everybody and wherever he goes, he gives birth to life. In other words, he presents solutions that are in accordance with the Word of God to those who are troubled with various problems and trials. Furthermore, he performs the duty of man, cultivates faithfulness, and constantly dwells in the Word of God, so that his truthful words and deeds can be a good example and joy to others.
Just as God says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification,” He wants His children to be holy. He who loves the purity of heart keeps the truth in all circumstances and says only the words that are good for edification and give grace to those who listen.
Joseph, son of Jacob, had this gracious heart, so when he was sold into slavery to Egypt, he could be trusted and favored by his master. Even in jail he was recognized by the jailers and made a manager over all other prisoners. Finally, the Pharaoh was moved by his wisdom and gracious words, and appointed him as the ruler over the land of Egypt second only to the Pharaoh.
May each of you purify your heart and say only gracious words so that you can please our God and lead a blessed and glorious life, in the name of our Lord I pray!
