Verse 3: “He that keeps his mouth keeps his life: but he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction.”
Verse 7: “There is (a person) that makes himself rich, yet has nothing: there is (a person) that makes himself poor, yet has great riches.” (I added the parentheses.) Verse 10: “Only by pride comes destruction: but with the well advised is wisdom.” Proverbs is one of the “books of wisdom” in the Bible. For this article I want to use three verses from Proverbs 13 that I think give good advice for the New Year. The beginning of the New Year Is like having a blank sheet of paper before us that we will write upon as the months progress. If we will heed the wisdom of these three verses, the coming year will be better than last year. This is wisdom for the New Year: Verse 3 reminds us that if we keep our mouths shut, we will be better off. In fact, if we “open wide” our mouths we will have “destruction.” Where does one start with this idea? We need to be careful how we speak to people. We need to remember that kind words are always better than unkind words. This doesn’t mean that we should never speak negatively to another person. Sometimes a word of warning is kind. I know that this has been true in my life. At any rate use kind words in your dealings with people. We need to remember that gossip leads to what Solomon called “destruction.” We have all seen the effect of gossip, so we need to be careful that we are not guilty of it ourselves. We need to remember that the world is not waiting with bated breath for our opinions. There are times when we need to speak up and times when we need to shut up, and we need to be wise enough to know when to do either. Keep this verse in mind in the coming months of this year. Verse 7 reminds us that our money and possessions are not the most important things in our lives. I do not mean that we should not earn and save money. What I do mean is that we do not need to let our money and possessions own us. How does a person “make himself poor, yet have great riches”? He or she does this by being a giving person. Being a giver is true with money and possessions, and it is true with ourselves, and our time. Jesus gave a parable about a Samaritan who stopped to help a man who had been beaten, robbed and left half dead on the side of the Jericho Road. A priest and Levite saw the man and “went by on the other side.” In the eyes of God, they “made themselves poor,” because they did not give of their time or money. The “Good Samaritan” gave the man his time and also spent money on him to help him get well. (If you are not familiar with this parable, you can read about it in Luke 10:25-37.) In the eyes of God the compassionate Samaritan made himself rich because he shared his time and money to help someone else. One is not really rich in the eyes of God if he or she is selfish. In the final analysis, it is better to please God by being a giver than it is to please ourselves by withholding our time and money. Verse 10 reminds us that being prideful brings contention in our lives, and that a “well advised” person is wise. The Bible never speaks kindly of false pride, nor of those who have false pride. In Luke 18:9-14, we read about two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a self-righteous Pharisee, the other was a hated tax collector (publican). The Pharisee informed God of his great righteousness, and made light of the righteousness of other people. The tax collector only prayed: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus commended the tax collector for his humility and denied the Pharisee for his great pride. Remind yourself of this parable in the coming year. There you have it, wisdom for the coming year from Proverbs 13. Heed it! Bro. Joe
1 Comment
Joe Thomas
12/30/2015 05:37:44 pm
Great advise Bro. Joe. I shall heed it and be bless. Thank you for your unselfish giving of your time to encourage us! Happy New Year my Brother!
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