Reading your Bible for Today August 29

August 29: Proverbs 15:5

Key Verse: Proverbs 15:5
A fool despises his father’s instruction, But he who receives correction is prudent.

Devotion:
A loving father will always try to guide you in ways which are prudent. This does not mean they will always say yes to everything! It means they will give you encouragement when it is due and punishment when it is due! It means they will be effective in their authority over you.

But if you are not going to listen to that authority, then you will be the one who is making a mockery of what is probably sound judgement! You will be the one who is ignoring the sound advice. We cannot go through life just taking in the good parts (the parts we think we like) and ignoring the bad parts (the parts we think we can do without). We have to make sure what we listen to is the whole truth and not just part of it!

When we come up against someone who has authority over us, we should listen to what they have to say and not go all out to rebel just because we think we can. We should heed the advice that they give us. Equally, if we are in authority over someone else, we should be acting like a loving father to them in the way we guide them – not always an easy task – even when it is your own children!

If we do not give in to the authority, we are going to find we very quickly get into trouble. Likewise, we should make sure we quickly and sharply give reproof where it is due. Allowing anyone to continue going against what is right means we are agreeing to what they are doing – or so it seems to them. It is very difficult to point out what is wrong when we can see it happening to someone we love, but as long as we do not point it out, they will continue to move father and father away from the truth. We may not want to point out what is wrong when we see that doing so will cause hardship to the person being affected... Likewise, we need to take notice when others point things out to us!

Points to Ponder:
Do you get angry when friends point out your mistakes?

What do you do when God points out mistakes?