“Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.” – Proverbs 11:29 How do you get more followers? How do you get on the fast track to celebrity? Take it one step further. Push the envelope. Be a little more...
When it comes to wisdom, be selfish
“If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.” – Proverbs 9:12 If you do it right, you will do the most good by being the most selfish. This is one of those paradigm-shattering axioms that behaves like a nuclear weapon. If...
What’s better than being rich?
“Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.” – Proverbs 8:10-11 Why is money always the answer? The Bible, in fact tells us as much (Ecc 10:12)....
You can get away with it
“For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.” – Proverbs 7:19-20 In Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the protagonist, Raskolnikov, rationalizes his way into the perfect crime:...
Playing with fire
“Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?” – Proverbs 6:27 Don’t play with fire. Why would anyone need to be told that? Perhaps more intriguing is why many grown men, myself included, who are well acquainted with the properties of fire,...
Self indulgence is self harm
“At the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed.” – Proverbs 5:11 It’s not a coincidence that substance abuse and sexual license like to hang out together. These two vices deceive us in similar ways. There is a promise of escape. There is an...
Resolve to make resolutions
“Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.” – Proverbs 24:27 You can irritate others either by making New Year’s resolutions, or not making them. For the resolution-making snobs, they don’t really...
Your life is like the dawn
“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.” - Proverbs 4:18 There’s not many times I can remember waking up to do something outside at dawn. It’s not something you look forward to. And yet…it is. The...
A right and wrong way to Keep Christ in Christmas
Along with the carols, tinsel, gaudy inflatables, red kettle ringers, and frazzled faces of exhausted shoppers which appear around this time of year, another indication of Christmas arrives in the form of signs or bumper stickers reading: "Keep Christ in Christmas". I...
Pain is more than weakness leaving the body
“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” - Proverbs 3:11-12 It doesn’t take Biblical wisdom to see failure as opportunity. That slogan is placarded to...