Proverbs 18
1 An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment. 2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions. 3 When wickedness comes, so does contempt, and with shame comes disgrace. 4 The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. 5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the innocent of justice. 6 A fool's lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating. 7 A fool's mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul. 8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts.
20 From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. 21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
1 An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment. 2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.
We finished an election cycle. I am sure you are aware of all of the talk about school closing etc. I am amazed at the way people simply attack people with different opinions without reason. The only thoughtful side of their negativity is that they are sure they do not feel good about something...but is that really wise? How about people that are friendly, as long as you agree with them? They are not actually interested in friendship, no, they are interested in personal affirmation. Does any of this seem like a familiar observation of the things going on around you?
There is a little thing called logic or reason. Here it is in it’s simplest form, “if XYZ is true then LMNOP will happen.” But for some reason taking the time to think critically with the tools God gives us is just often neglected. People hate information because all though we live in the “Information Age” we do not like chewing on it. We like to look at the surface and draw our conclusion. A one sided story is good enough. We like someone to tell us what to think, what to believe, I we do not want to dig into to a matter and think intelligently. We do love to think emotionally.
Now to be clear I am not telling you to burry your emotions. I am telling you to be intelligent in the way you think about the world around you. In the "Kingdom of God"...which, if you are a Believer in Christ, that is where you are living, the place ruled and governed by God's authority...and in the Kingdom we should be doing what we call “thinking with the mind of Christ.” This means before we devote ourselves to a line of thinking about something we draw our conclusions based on two ideas:
1. Does the way I am leaning (thought wise) or is the direction of this decision taking me closer to the heart of King Jesus?
2. Does my thought agree with what His word (the Bible) says concerning an issue?
People, even Christian people, say and do so many stupid and ugly things to one another and to others because they do not think in the “Kingdom of God”...they think in the “Kindgom of Self.” Of course, none of us have ever journeyed there, right? When we think in the “Kingdom of Self”-verse two rings true in ways that are often blaring to everyone but ourselves.
2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.
We look like little children with our hands over our ears, teeth clinched, eyes shut, stomping our feet as if this will change God’s mind...not so. Instead, it changes us. The more committed we are to thinking in the “Kingdom of Self” the more blind we become to the good things God has in store for us in His Kingdom. We become fools that guard our foolishness with pride, because we want to resist be convicted of our journey into the “Kingdom of Self” which we are really ashamed of...We live in contempt or in defiance of the truth. Outwardly this downward spiraling process looks like a consistently increasing response of ugly bitterness towards anything other than what we think. We suffer from the self-inflicted wounds of blindness that is easily cured by submitting or agreeing with “Kingdom of God” thinking but we do not care. In the “Kingdom of Self” the only thing that matters is what we want.
3 When wickedness comes, so does contempt, and with shame comes disgrace. 4 The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
Maybe you find yourself making excuses for people who behave foolishly and choose sin over and over and over. We like them, so it will be okay, right? Or, “ They just don’t understand truth and we are supposed to love everyone, so we should tell no one that they are wrong,”...right? We are sticking our toe into the dangerous waters of the “Kingdom of Self,” and more is going on than we understand. Every time we chose self we choose to forfeit the gift of God’s wisdom. Trusting in His ways no matter the price or what we fear will be the rusult is always the best way. We forfeit the advantage of being in the "Kingdom of God" when we rely on appearance and what simply seems good to us when we think outside of the “Kingdom of God.”
5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the innocent of justice. 6 A fool's lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating. 7 A fool's mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul. 8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts.
See what happens? We buy into the surface, we enable and often times become accomplices with the enemy’s scheming against us. We compromise and we being to give our ears over to talk that influences our thinking to a place that is just full of all kinds of lies and boldfaced cowardice. So guard your mouth and the thoughts behind your words by guarding the process that generated your thoughts. Decide today to begin thinking in the Kingdom of God.
20 From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. 21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Our lives are full of what we make room for, and this same rule applies to our thoughts, our words, and then our actions. It is an axiom that declares, “We will have an abundance of what we are willing tolerate.“ “How do I start think and acting and living in the Kingdom with the mind of Christ?”
1. Submit your life fully to Christ. Surrender to His Lordship. Stop trying to figure God out and let Him show you who you were created to be.
2. Second, get into God’s Word (the Bible) and agree with everything that is says even the parts that do not jive with what you think now...because you are not God and He always knows better than us what is best for us. We are responsible for trust; He is responsible for delivering on His word.
3. Third, obey what His word tells us by believing what is says about who we are in Christ, act on it by going somewhere or doing something with Jesus.
Bring the Kingdom into every aspect, conversation, and relationship in your life. Fill your heart with the things of God and His Kingdom and your mouth will be full of His wisdom.