WISDOM FOR THE DAY

Life and Hatred

17 

People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life,
     but those who ignore correction will go astray.

18 

Hiding hatred makes you a liar;
     slandering others makes you a fool.

Verse 17

A wise person accepts correction. He wants advice. Other people will benefit from this. They will copy the wise man’s actions. The wise person leads other people. He shows them the right way to live.

A church leader must be careful. Other people will copy his actions. ‘God will be a strict judge with us because we teach other people.’ (James 3:1)

When a person refuses correction, other people will suffer. Other people will make the same mistake. Nobody will learn.

Verse 18

We should forgive other people. Even when someone hurts us, we should not hate that person. Instead we should pray for them.

Many people secretly hate someone else. The first line says that this is like a lie.

Other people talk about the person whom they hate. Perhaps they actually tell lies about that person. This happens in the second line of this verse.

This verse teaches that both of these are wrong. We should not hate someone silently. We should not talk about a person whom we hate. Instead we should forgive such a person.

The message from Proverbs rings clear: Listening to advice leads to a fulfilling life, while disregarding it leads to a path of sin and eventual destruction.

When it comes to our speech, there are a couple of major pitfalls: lying and slander. These are actions that can wreak havoc not just on others but also on ourselves.

Emotions can sometimes get the better of us, and it's natural to feel hate towards someone or something at times. It's not inherently sinful; in fact, there are things we're told to hate, as they go against what's right. However, when we deny or conceal our feelings of hate, that's when we cross into sinful territory.

Slandering, spreading false information about others, is always wrong. It directly violates the commandment against bearing false witness.

Think about this: Emotions are part of being human, and they can be intense and unpredictable. But we do have control over how we respond to them, especially when it comes to what we say. To rein in our tongues, we might need to practice mindfulness, think before speaking, and strive to speak with honesty and kindness, even when emotions run high. It's about exercising self-control and considering the impact of our words before letting them loose.

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