Proverbs 17
There is something refreshingly down-to-earth about Proverbs, free from a desire to spiritualise everything. Our faith needs to be worked out in real life, at work, home and in the community. All life matters to God - there is no secular-spiritual divide.
In this chapter the focus lies more on our choice of companions than on the presence of God. His absence from the text reinforces how easy it is to leave him out of sections of our lives. This is never eaiser than when we adopt the values and attitudes of associates who have no time for God in their lives (vs 4,5). It has always been easy to think that we live in a new era where the old values no longer apply, but the 'new morality' so often turns out to be just the old immorality dusted down. What we listen to (and watch) has a bigger impact on our lives than we often realise. Others' speech and attitudes can sow seeds that, over time, produce a rotten harvest. Contempt in speech is shown in raised voices, a quarrelsome spirit and a torrent of trouble (v14).
The time to change is before disaster strikes. Once started, actions have a life on their own and consequences can run beyond our control. We defend ourselves and get deeper into problems. Then others get sucked in and relationships are broken. Knowing that, we need to ensure that the foundations of life are rooted in God and bring our lives under his scrutiny (vs 3, 20). Knowing that we are accountable for all we say would probably make us say less and say it more kindly (9,28). Try it and see!
A good thought is good - a good word is better - and a good deed is best of all.
Colin Sinclair: Encounter with God
In this chapter the focus lies more on our choice of companions than on the presence of God. His absence from the text reinforces how easy it is to leave him out of sections of our lives. This is never eaiser than when we adopt the values and attitudes of associates who have no time for God in their lives (vs 4,5). It has always been easy to think that we live in a new era where the old values no longer apply, but the 'new morality' so often turns out to be just the old immorality dusted down. What we listen to (and watch) has a bigger impact on our lives than we often realise. Others' speech and attitudes can sow seeds that, over time, produce a rotten harvest. Contempt in speech is shown in raised voices, a quarrelsome spirit and a torrent of trouble (v14).
The time to change is before disaster strikes. Once started, actions have a life on their own and consequences can run beyond our control. We defend ourselves and get deeper into problems. Then others get sucked in and relationships are broken. Knowing that, we need to ensure that the foundations of life are rooted in God and bring our lives under his scrutiny (vs 3, 20). Knowing that we are accountable for all we say would probably make us say less and say it more kindly (9,28). Try it and see!
A good thought is good - a good word is better - and a good deed is best of all.
Colin Sinclair: Encounter with God
posted by Della at 12:16 PM
0 comments
