So these proverbs do a lot, they teach us and everyone different things;
teach how to be wise and self controlled
this is a different wise though, it means "To receive the instruction - השכל haskel, the deliberately weighing of the points contained in the teaching, so as to find out their importance." So, these proverbs teach us how to apply it, in many translations it says "disciplined and prudent life" which basically means the same thing, being self controlled and having a good judgment, Which we need in every day life! We need to be self controlled in our sins, break away from bad habits and have a good judgment on the right and wrong things we do, making sure we're aware.
teach how to be honest, right and fair
pretty self explanatory: being honest, right, and fair is what Jesus would have done, it's how he would have acted.
being honest - yeah, not telling lies, i don't need to explain this. but . . did you check the "i am 18" button to watch that film, regardless whether you aren't 18? did you tell a white lie to make someone feel better? did you really read the terms and conditions? (but, making the distinction between clicking, i accept them, and i read them obv). is it easier to say you don't have any gum, when you do? it's so easy to tell little lies, but it's not honest, and we shouldn't behave in that way.
doing what is right - i could get philosophical and talk about what is considered right? utilitarianism uses the "right" as a situation where the majority benefit: i'm not saying this is how we should live though. If you're in doubt, get out of the situation, pray, look in the bible, look to someone whose a mature christian who can help you decide what is right, or just go with your gut feeling. if it is really a wrong action, usually your conscious will tell you.
being fair - although as humans, we tend to have a lot of favouritism, and there's many situations in life where we need to act fairly. It is defined as, acting within the rules. I am not saying the bible is a rule book, but in many situations it says to feed the hungry, to help those in poverty. are you being fair, following the bible and helping those in need?
make the uneducated wise
my commentary describes uneducated as "simple, lack judgment, gullible, undiscerning and inexperienced." as mentioned yesterday, people are wise because of their experience, they have learned right from wrong by going through it. not everyone needs to experience bad things first hand, it can be seen through examples. but these proverbs help to teach us the right from wrong: for all those who lack judgement, the proverbs will show the right judgement.
give knowledge and sense to the young
this could be referring to young children, which they can learn from proverbs too, but I took it as in, young Christians. the best book to probably get the basic truths of life from would be Romans or Proverbs where the life truths are spelled out, and teach us how to live.
wise people can listen and learn
no one ever stops learning, older people shouldn't become complacent and self confident, because we are sinful by nature, there is something we need to all learn, no matter how old we are. but it's showing us that we don't need to just be young to learn, everyone is still learning, no matter where on our walk of faith we are on.
anyone can understand, applicable to anyone
as said before, the young can understand, the old can understand. it means that anything in Proverbs can be applicable to anyone, it may have different meanings to everyone. on one QT, you might pick out something that hits home more than someone else, similar to Proverbs, everyone can get something out of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment