Putting the I into WISDOM
The Christians who have most influenced me for good have had a fully functional familiarity with the book of Proverbs. They were (and are) able to take their considerable knowledge and apply it to their lives, providing both godly examples and godly advice. Join with me as each of us endeavors to put the I into WISDOM. Let us seek to exemplify God’s wisdom in our daily lives. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Words are strong, for good or for bad, impacting us emotionally, physically, and attitudinally. Not surprisingly, then, words affect us in our beliefs, in our core convictions. Since we think by using language, it is obvious that our use of language will influence what and how we think. We previously considered Proverbs 10:21, which says, “The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.” A righteous man is one who worships God; a fool is not mentally deficient but rather morally destitute and spiritually insensitive. Compare this verse to Proverbs 11:9: “An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.” The Hebrew word for “just” is the same as “righteous” in Proverbs 10:21. The word “hypocrite” is literally “a godless person.” At the very center of being, then, our employment of words is either godly or godless. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus put it this way: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” May the wisdom of God dwell in us such that our words make it abundantly clear that we are His people.