Proverbs 27: Listen to the Right People

There are certain people in your life that are going to help you going forward. They are going to help you to as you go forward in life. Their are other people who are in your life that are going to drag you down, and make it so that you can not progress forward in your Christian life. Verese 6 says “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Your friends are going to tell you painful truths at times. They know when you are straying from the path, and when you are doing wrong things. They will tell you this. And you may get offended. These are faithful wounds though, they are wounds that you need. Your enemies, those who will drag you down, will tell you that everything is okay, and that you are not doing anything wrong. You need to determine, now, who is who, so that you can listen to your true friends and grow because of it.

Proverbs 23: Do Not Envy Sinners

Sometimes we look at other people who are living life for themselves and we envy them. We think that they get to do whatever they want. It appears as if they are having fun and doing whatever they want. Their fun is short lived though. We can envy sinners quite easily. We can envy the rich thief or the individual who seems like he is having a lot of fun doing bad things or we can find out satisfaction in our God. Verse 17 of this chapter says:
“Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all day.”
It is so easy to get into the mindset that what they have is better than what you have, but this simply is not true. God is good, and he not withholding something good from you, but merely showing you what is best. There are times when Vera may reach for an electrical outlet and I will tell her no. She may or may not listen, and if she does not listen I pick her up and move her. Often she cries when I do this. She thinks I am withholding something good from her. I am not. I am protecting her. It is the same way with the commands of God. God created us. He knows what is best.

Proverbs 7: You Will Find It If You Look

We often put ourselves in a position that will cause temptation and lead to sin. We allow ourselves to be put in situations with people of the opposite gender where we are going to be tempted to sin sexually. In some ways it is like we are looking for sin, or at least trying to see how close we can come to it without falling into sin.

This does not only apply to sex, but in other areas as well. For instance, some people want to go to parties where a lot of people are drinking, yet they say they do not want to drink. This is getting dangerously close to sin. This chapter is written so that we would avoid sexual sin. It is written so that we would avoid even being tempted by such sin and instead would flee it. It might appear to be fun at the time, and sin can be seductive, but we need to run away from it.

Verses 8-9 say, "and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house."

The man is heading to the prostitute's house. He is seeing how close he can get to sin, and in the end he falls into it. Let us not be like him, but instead flee from sin.

Proverbs 27: Getting Sharper

Verse 17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." 

What this means is that those we are with will affect us. We will be sharpened by those who are doing what's right and weakened by being with those who do wrong. Iron sharpens iron, and Christian sharpen other Christians.

Do you find yourself continually hanging out with people who bring you down spiritually? Then stop it, and instead hang with those who will sharpen you and push you to do better.  Spend time with those who push you closer to Jesus, rather than those who push you farther away.