"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."
Proverbs 15:1-3
I like the idea of the soft answer. When someone says something angrily to us, our instinct is often to fight back. We get angry too, and make things worse. But, if we can keep our cool, retain that inner core of peace that comes from being close to the Spirit, then we can answer calmly, without anger, and hopefully make things better.
Using knowledge correctly is also a cool idea. We think a lot about getting knowledge, but maybe not often enough about how we use it. We probably shouldn't use it to justify evil, for instance, or to win arguments. Using it to teach and make things better though, that sounds awesome. Knowledge is just like technology... it is a powerful force for good when used "aright," but when abused, it can also be a powerful force for evil. It's kind of like a persuasive paper. You can write it well, talking about *all* the information and facts, and helping people to make their own decision after thinking about the different pros and cons... or you can write it poorly, ignoring all of the information that doesn't agree with your stance, and additionally insulting anyone who doesn't agree with you. It's a basic paper I used to teach in my introductory English classes, but we see more bad examples than good in the real world.
We worry sometimes about the government spying on us, and knowing too much about our lives... and here we see that God sees and knows everything. He observed the evil and the good. There are no camera blind spots for him. :) One of the good things about that is that God *already* knows anything we have to tell him. It still helps us to face it and confess it, but God will be there, ready with a plan to help us get back on track. God has our best interests at heart, always... and since he already knows all the circumstances, he can relate, and understand, and help.
Today, let's work on soft answers, using our knowledge for good, and on talking with God about our lives. These can seem like really disparate things, but I think over the course of the day that we will find how they fit together, and help us keep the spirit in our lives.
The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."
Proverbs 15:1-3
I like the idea of the soft answer. When someone says something angrily to us, our instinct is often to fight back. We get angry too, and make things worse. But, if we can keep our cool, retain that inner core of peace that comes from being close to the Spirit, then we can answer calmly, without anger, and hopefully make things better.
Using knowledge correctly is also a cool idea. We think a lot about getting knowledge, but maybe not often enough about how we use it. We probably shouldn't use it to justify evil, for instance, or to win arguments. Using it to teach and make things better though, that sounds awesome. Knowledge is just like technology... it is a powerful force for good when used "aright," but when abused, it can also be a powerful force for evil. It's kind of like a persuasive paper. You can write it well, talking about *all* the information and facts, and helping people to make their own decision after thinking about the different pros and cons... or you can write it poorly, ignoring all of the information that doesn't agree with your stance, and additionally insulting anyone who doesn't agree with you. It's a basic paper I used to teach in my introductory English classes, but we see more bad examples than good in the real world.
We worry sometimes about the government spying on us, and knowing too much about our lives... and here we see that God sees and knows everything. He observed the evil and the good. There are no camera blind spots for him. :) One of the good things about that is that God *already* knows anything we have to tell him. It still helps us to face it and confess it, but God will be there, ready with a plan to help us get back on track. God has our best interests at heart, always... and since he already knows all the circumstances, he can relate, and understand, and help.
Today, let's work on soft answers, using our knowledge for good, and on talking with God about our lives. These can seem like really disparate things, but I think over the course of the day that we will find how they fit together, and help us keep the spirit in our lives.
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