Proverbs 25:9-22
VS 9-10: "When arguing with your neighbor, don’t betray another person’s secret. Others may accuse you of gossip, and you will never regain your good reputation."
Being a person of integrity and honesty is best reflected in the way we act around one another. Arguing, gossiping, and untrustworthiness are all attributes of a person who does not have a good reputation. It is so much better that we be labeled as honest, true, and righteous people living in the light than to be a people on the wrong and crooked path.
VS 11-13: "Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket. To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry. Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer. They revive the spirit of their employer."
The influence wisdom has on a person is incredible. It completely changes the way one speaks, listens, and lives out their life. Advice that is given at the right time is compared to apples that are precious gold being kept safe in a silver basket. A person who listens and takes discipline well is compared to receiving a gift of gold jewelry. Wisdom is a gem. Its value is beyond any priceless thing we have here on earth, making it even more important to treasure it like the great treasure it is.
VS 21-22: "If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the Lord will reward you."
In our lives, some people will hurt us and stand against us. Our flesh reaction would be to treat them the way they treat us, but that is not what God wants us to do. This verse says that if they are hungry or thirsty, give them what they long for. If we act not out of spite and anger, but instead, of love, they will be confused as shame falls upon them, and the Lord promises to reward us for doing what is right.
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