Posted on 12/10/2020 12:55:01 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction . . . He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth” (Proverbs 10:14, 17).
“Wise men lay up knowledge,” that is meditate on it, memorize, and learn it. That is, really get it into your mind until you need it, so that you can use it later. Some folks might ask, “Well, what good is that going to do for me now?” It might not do you a bit of good right now, but five years down the road you may be glad you have it. You may even run across someone else that it may really help. It may well become a “word fitly spoken” (Proverbs 25:11). So, lay it up, like banking it away.
“. . . but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction,” his words condemn him “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:37).
The mouth of the fool will talk himself into a mess that often he can’t come back from. Someone might dare him, “Would you do that?” And the fool will boastfully answer, “Yea, I would do that!” YouTube is full of videos of people that said that and paid the price. There are all kinds of dares out there. And there are a lot of people wishing they could take back the thing they did that landed them where they are now. Of course, a few of them would be thankful for a second chance to get it right and still end up in traction.
Kids play chicken with cars out on the highway. Kids taking dope. “Yea, I can do that! I’m a man!” Yes, and you may be a dead man right after you do it.
“. . . but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction,” that mouth can get you in a bail of trouble.
“He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth.”
“He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction,” first, that is how you get to life by being in the way of life. Cornelius was in the way of life in Acts 10. He was headed for life. Why? He was keeping instruction. He was trying to do right. He listened, and he paid attention to his conscience and God sent to him the Gospel through Peter.
“. . . but he that refuseth reproof erreth,” now, when a man continually rejects his conscience he hardens himself and is destroyed: “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1 KJV).
Young people, don’t quit. Don’t stop going to church when you grow up and leave home. You will have a tendency to just say, “Well, nobody’s forcing me to go to church anymore, so I’m just not going to go.” Don’t be foolish enough to refuse instruction. Keep going and remember that you own children need a strong daddy—both physically and spiritually.
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