Posts Tagged with "Wisdom"

We all travel in groups (even isolation is fellowship with the isolated). The issue is the path and the companions. Each is based on the other. When educating his sons on the matter, Solomon scorns evil mobs, "For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence" (Proverbs 4:17). Immorality brings them together around a common table, in service to a common ...

Servants born in the home are not sons born into the family. Employees are not successors. Wisdom keeps appropriate emotional distance, because "Whoever pampers his servant from childhood will in the end find him his heir" (Proverbs 29:21). A wise man knows where to draw the line...

Flattery is attention without criticism. Rebuke is the currency we trade in truly profitable relationships. This is why "Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue" (Proverbs 28:23). Only a real friend corrects you to make you better. Only a loving mentor insists that you are actually moving, and ready to be guided, before he ...

Long before the trendy use of fragrant oils (essential or otherwise), was the necessity of oils. Without them you would quite literally dry out in the arid climates of the east. The writer says in Proverbs 27:9 "Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his counsel", and that should get our attention. Give and receive the deep gladness o...

The only thing worse than forced isolation is voluntary isolation. One makes the heart yearn for fellowship, the other reveals a heart yearning for a place to hide. Proverbs 18:1 picks up on both the risk and rebellion of isolation, "Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgement." If we withdraw from honest people who love us enou...

Evil people come into your life a reason. They always serve a purpose. On the one hand they make you stronger, wiser, and more skilled and spotting such folks in the future. But more importantly, they exist because God brings them along to demonstrate his justice. Proverbs 16:4 says, "Yahwehhas made everything for His purposeeven the wicked for the day of disaster."Instead...

We hate ourselves, when we reject the Word, and those who faithfully give it to us. Proverbs 15:32 couldn't be more clear,"Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence."To ignore the wisdom of the Word is to run full speed in a dark room filled with sharp objects. Love yourself enough to walk in the light, and enjoy the pea...

It's always a pain dealing with wicked people, especially liars. But worse still are the gullible ones who believe them. The Bible considers this a moral failing equal to the sin of the slanderer. Proverbs 17:4 says, "A wicked man listens to evil lips;a liar gives ear to a destructive tongue." Essentially it takes one to believe one. Liars believe liars, and destructive pe...