God's principles for our relationships

February 2 - 8, 2025 | Always Peachy Devotionals | God's Principles Week 1

If you’ve ever had a rough week, you know where I am today.

It’s complicated. More complicated than I can really explain in one go, but I can tell you that there has been a lot of work and a lot of emotions, and I woke up this morning sick. I’m currently running a fever of 101+.

I had plans. I had scheduled things so carefully at the end of 2024. I always do, and something always goes off kilter. I end up behind the ball, scrambling to catch up. I’m sure there’s a lesson there, but my fever brain is too fuzzy to grasp it.

All of that to say, this isn’t going to be the beautiful introduction to February’s theme that I thought it would be. But in the end, I doubt you guys are interested in beautiful prose and more interested in practical truth you can use. Am I right?

So this is going to be short and sweet. And the rest of the week’s devos probably will be too.

February is going to be our month on Proverbs. It’s ironic because I set this theme back in October before I knew that my church would be focusing on Proverbs through January (if you’re interested, they’re pretty cool … and how often do you see a pastor in a football jersey? Lol). But I don’t think I’m using any of the same Proverbs they did. There may be some overlap but not much, which is one reason why I love the Scriptures so much. God personalizes everything.

For the next four weeks, we are going to look at 20 Proverbs out of the Bible that focus on very specific areas of our lives: Our relationships, our daily choices, our walk with God, and how choosing wisdom will change your life.

I’m excited to dig into these, because I have personally found that God’s principles are true. They are different than a promise. That’s an important distinction to make.

A principle is a concept that gives general guidance on how to live. Some principles in Proverbs seem to contradict each other (we’ll chat about the tricky few verses about bribery), but that’s because they were meant to be read and applied separately.

A promise is an absolute, something God has given to us, and it will come to pass in His timing. That’s the difference, and that’s one reason I thought it might be good to follow up our January study of God’s promises with a February dive into God’s principles for living.

So are you ready? Here’s what’s on tap this week as we study God’s principles for our relationships:

• Monday - Family (Proverbs 1:8-9)

• Tuesday - Good friends (Proverbs 18:19)

• Wednesday - Bad friends (Proverbs 13:20)

• Thursday - Our jobs (Proverbs 22:29)

• Friday - Our spouses (Proverbs 31:30)

I’m sure there are other relationships that all of these Proverbs can apply to. We’ll discuss that on the individual days, but God speaks to every kind of relationship you might ever have in His Word.

Knowing the Proverbs, knowing God’s Word, will give you insight and wisdom into areas of life that you haven’t experienced yet. That’s the gift of wisdom. You already know how things will work out even if you haven’t lived those things yet. But the Proverbs aren’t a cure all. You can’t just memorize them and expect that they will make any difference in your life. You have to live them.

That’s why I grabbed Proverbs 19:2 for our memory verse this week.

It’s such a good thing to be excited about what God is doing in our lives. It’s wonderful to be eager and optimistic about how God works. But if we just take His Word and run off without making space to truly understand what He is saying, we’re going to fall on our faces.

Don’t just read the Word. Don’t just memorize it. Don’t just listen to it. Do it. Understand it. Let it infuse every area of your life, not just how you treat people or how you speak or what music you listen to. Let it change the way you think. Let it revolutionize your perspective on politics and science and history. Don’t try to make Scripture fit your version of life; let Scripture explain itself and alter your life to match.

So? Who’s ready to get wise?

Hugs!

Amy

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