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| WISDOM |
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Down through the ages, men have been searching for wisdom. Mankind has gained a lot of knowledge, but not the wisdom to use it. Knowledge without wisdom can be very hurtful and destructive. Oh, that men would go to the greatest source of wisdom, the Bible. Here I have gathered a few words of wisdom from that source. My hope is that these examples will stir a desire in someone’s heart to dig out for himself the precious gold of wisdom found in this book. Proverbs 1:3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4 To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: How do we handle being confronted by an angry person? The wise answer is, even as they are yelling in your face, speak kind words with a gentle voice. One day at work, a man became very angry with me over something I had done. I answered him kindly with a moderated voice. I can not say that it was easy, but it worked. He must have felt embarrassed, because he calmed right down. If I had shown anger and yelled back at him, it probably would have caused quite a fight. Not long ago, I was shopping in a local store. The check-out line I was standing in was getting long. A clerk at the other counter was sorting through boxes of merchandise. She noticed how long our line was, so she opened her register. The first person to approach her was a man who began to take the boxes off her counter and to pile them on the floor. The clerk asked him not to do that. Well, the man blew up in anger and yelled at the clerk. She tried to calm him down, but he just hollered the more. The clerk also began to get angry; she yelled back at him. It ended up with her calling the police and the man hurrying out of the store. The man’s wife followed close behind him; she seemed so embarrassed. I pitied her because of what she had gone through. Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. What does a person do when they are with a group of people and some (or all) of the crowd start to do something wrong? Our feelings urge us not to be different. Many times we think that people won’t like us if we don’t go along with the crowd. No one likes to be called a “party pooper”. But true wisdom says, “Get away from them, ... far away! We taught our daughter from the time she was very young ( that’s the time to do it) to step away from any group of children who were doing wrong. One day she came home from the Christian school that she was attending and told us that a group of children she was with on the playground had started throwing snowballs at the school bus, a forbidden action. Remembering what we had taught her, she left the group and went to the swing sets on the other end of the playground. The principal came out and caught the kids snowballing the bus. The whole group got into trouble, but our daughter was spared because she had separated herself from the wrongdoers. Here is a case where one small girl found out that true wisdom really does work. It may have been hard for her to walk away from her friends, but it worked out for her best in the long run. Proverbs 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Below is some more “wisdom from the book”. Why not read about it and put it into practice in your own life? I feel sure that it will make a difference, for the good! It may not be the easy way, but it is the best way, God’s way! All these references are from the book of Proverbs in the Bible. 1:10,15 1:32 3:7 3:25 3:27 3:30 3:33 5:18,19 6:20 10:1 6:16-19 6:24,25 9:8,9 10:18,19 4:25,27 |