Proverbs 14:7:
Stay away from a foolish man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips.
What defines a foolish person? The The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so a foolish person is one who doesn't fear the Lord. Does this include non-Christians? Well, non-Christians do not fear the lord, but they are not foolish, because they do not know better. So this proverb is reminding us what kind of people to associate with, Christians who are living in fear of the Lord.
Proverbs 14:9: Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.
Meaning of the Hebrew word translated as goodwill: pleasure, acceptance, favor, will
Which kind of amends? Repentance, or paying back, like Zacchaeus did?
Well, if it's repentance, then what would the fool be mocking?
Praying to God for forgiveness, or the need for repentance itself. On the other hand, what if the fool was mocking the act of making amends to others? A Christian could fall into this category, if they thought forgiveness from God was enough, and they didn't think they needed it from other people. Gut God wants us to forgive others as often and unconditionally as He does.
Do we need to be forgiven by somebody who's never informed us that we've wronged them? Yes, if someone is hiding negative feeling from you, then I believe that God will reveal it to you, so that perhaps action can be taken. But why is it such a big deal? If someone is upset and is dealing with it on their own, why does it matter? The first one being, Satan will jump on that to attack them. If someone is shy and doesn't want to share how they feel, then it stays in their mind and no one finds out about it. They don't talk to the person that it concerns, and consequently the truth in their mind can get distorted. Satan may also try to distort the truth (that's what he does) and convince the person harboring these feelings that the other person is against them. But this should be an indication: how close can people be if they are not comfortable speaking the truth to one another? Not very. I have found the act of hiding a truth to be more harmful than anything the truth could do.
Let's use an example. Let's take somebody, call him Bill, who's shy. He likes to sit and think things out on his own. Say he has a friend that he talks to, John, who's bolder than Bill but yet isn't able to confront him. Now, Bill has a friend named Chuck who is very upfront, very bold. People often take him as a cold and distant person, and some people are afraid to approach him. If Chuck as a problem, he goes right to the source or person and works it out. Bill; on the other hand, just prefers to talk everything out with his friend John and vent all his problems to John. John often gets tired of hearing the same things over and over again, so sometimes he takes matters into his own hand and goes and talks to the people causing Bill so much grief. In his mind, he thinks that he's helping. But is he really? Does Bill learn to solve his own problems? No, he learns to dump it all on John. Bill needs to grow up and carry some of his own problems on his shoulders instead of dumping them all on John, which is unfair. John should only be concerned about what John did, not someone else. Now, say Chuck and Bill have a fight. Will Chuck know about it? Probably not, not right away at least. John, on the other hand, will hear all about it, and will probably get fed up and will get upset at Chuck. Is that right? No, because Chuck did not wrong John. And Bill and John should understand that nothing becomes Chuck's problem until the person with the problem tells Chuck, not someone else. Chuck shouldn't be under obligation to seek Bill out just because he hears from someone else that Bill has a problem. Because until Bill is ready to talk it out, he won't be ready to listen to Chuck. And that's why Chuck has less on his shoulders then Bill and John, because Chuck lets go and puts down what he can, and the rest he carries himself. He's not a packrat of negative feelings or a dump truck that never goes more than a block with a load.
IF we are wrongfully upset at somebody, yet they are unaware of it, should we ask for their forgiveness? I think yes. This is harder than the first idea. It also means; then, than I need to ask forgiveness from a lot of people. Pray with me that I may eventually find them all, and hopefully not add any new people to the list.
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