June 17th – Proverbs 17: Wise Servant or Disgraceful Son?

“A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son, and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.” – Proverb 17:2

There is much talk in the body today about our sonship in Jesus Christ. This is a good thing and a deep truth. Many teachers had come before Jesus, but Jesus was the only one to call Himself a son and claim that God was His Father. We ARE called to be sons of God in Christ Jesus, walking in the same power and authority of our older brother:

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” – John 1:12,13

We are also called to serve God. One revelation does not destroy another! Jesus was the ultimate example of an empowered son who serves:

“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." – Matthew 20:26-28

Yet many believers flaunt their new-found sonship with a sense of pride and air of superiority over those poor peasant Christians who are still working for Jesus as servants. Even worse, many are using their “sonship” as a cover up for a fleshly, carnal lifestyle. Whenever they are called to account for their unspiritual behavior, out comes the “I’m a King’s Kid” excuse. This Proverb shows us that it would be better to maintain the role and mentality of a faithful servant than pervert the reality of sonship. Now, I don’t think that because many have perverted the truth we need to overreact and walk away from the revelation that we are in fact Sons and Daughters of the King! But what we do need to understand is that it would have been better to faithfully serve as a servant than to claim sonship in disgrace. In fact, the wise servant walks in greater authority than a disgraceful son.

If we are to err, it would be better to err on the side of faithful servant hood than it would disgraceful sonship. This is because a son is the pride of His Father, He carries the family name and represents His Father to the world. In the same way we are called to carry the family name and carry on the Father’s business of reconciling the world to the Father.

LIFE LESSON:

Lots of disgraceful sons look down their noses at faithful servants, not knowing that this mere “servant” just took their inheritance!