2022-01-18
Proverbs 13:18 NIV
When someone corrects you, be teachable and not unreachable. “Let every man be quick to listen but slow to use his tongue, and slow to lose his temper” (James 1:19 PHPS). If you do the first two things, the third one naturally falls into place. If you are quick to listen and slow to answer back, you’re going to be slow to lose your temper. “Whoever heeds correction is honored.” So use your ears more than your mouth, and be willing to accept correction.
The wisest people have a “teach me” attitude and are willing to learn from others. You can learn from anyone, if you just know the right questions to ask. It is important that you never stop asking questions, because the moment you’re through learning in life, you’re through! Period! Be teachable, not unreachable.
Husband, can you learn from your wife, or does that threaten you? When she makes a suggestion, do you get defensive? Do you take every comment as a threat to your manhood? Wife, can you learn from your husband? Parent, can you learn from your children? If you want to end up lonely in life, never admit your mistakes, never learn from anyone, and never let anyone teach you anything. How long has it been since you admitted to your spouse, “Honey, I was wrong; it was my fault”? Some people haven’t said that in years.
The Bible says, “Humbly accept the word planted in you” (James 1:21 NIV). The word “humble” here means “gentle.” When you approach God’s Word, you ought to approach it with a gentle, or humble, attitude that says, “Lord, I’m willing to be taught.”
Soul food: Gen 37-39; Luke 3:21-38; Ps 84; Pro 2:16-19
Proverbs 13:18 NCV
When someone corrects us, we should try to be teachable and not unreachable. ‘Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving]’ (James 1:19 AMP). If we can do the first two things, the third one naturally falls into place. If we’re quick to listen and slow to answer back, we’re going to be slow to lose our temper. ‘The one who accepts correction will be honoured.’ So let’s use our ears more than our mouths, and be willing to accept correction.
The wisest people have a ‘teach me’ attitude and are willing to learn from others. We can learn from anyone, if we just know the right questions to ask. It’s important that we never stop asking questions, because the moment we refuse to learn, we can’t grow any further. We might feel threatened by someone who has more experience than us and can teach us something. We might get defensive when someone makes a suggestion to us. We might resent someone for giving us advice, or refuse to listen to someone who’s younger than us.
It’s often very humbling to admit our own mistakes or inexperience. We might feel that we’re somehow lowering ourselves and losing respect if we have to learn something from another person. But knowledge is an amazing gift, and when someone offers to share their knowledge with us, let’s jump at the chance. The Bible says, ‘Humbly accept the word planted in you’ (James 1:21 NIV). The word ‘humble’ here means ‘gentle’. When we approach God’s Word, we should try to approach it with a gentle, or humble, attitude that says, ‘Lord, I’m willing to be taught.’
Gen 37-39; Luke 3:21-38; Ps 84; Pro 2:16-19
2022-01-17
Spreuke 15:1 NLV
Wanneer iemand nie met jou saamstem nie, wees sagmoedig, sonder om die aftog te blaas. Jy sal nooit almal kan behaag nie. Jy sal altyd mense ontmoet wat daarvan hou om te stry en te baklei. Sommige mense sal alles wat jy sê, weerspreek. Hoe moet jy teenoor hulle reageer?
Een van die toetse van geestelike volwassenheid, is hoe jy mense hanteer wat van jou verskil. Sommige mense het die behoefte om enigeen wat van hulle verskil, te vernietig. Wanneer jy hulle uitdaag of ‘n klagte of kritiek teenoor hulle het, reageer hulle met ‘n volskaalse persoonlike aanval. Wat doen jy dan? Jy het drie opsies:
1) Jy kan in vrees die aftog blaas. Baie mense volg hierdie roete omdat hulle nog nie die vaardigheid ontwikkel het om in sagmoedigheid te reageer nie.
2) Jy kan met woede reageer. Woede is dikwels ‘n teken dat jy onseker is en bedreig deur iemand se afkeur voel. Dis ‘n waarskuwingslig dat jy op die punt is om iets te verloor – dikwels jou selfbeeld. Wanneer ons dus kwaad word, raak ons dikwels sarkasties en val die ander persoon se selfwaarde aan.
3) Jy kan met sagmoedigheid reageer. “‘n Vriendelike antwoord kalmeer gemoedere, ‘n dwars antwoord laat woede opspring.” Dis die tipe reaksie wat ‘n fyn balans handhaaf tussen jou reg tot ‘n opinie, terwyl jy in dieselfde mate die ander persoon se reg tot sy of haar opinie respekteer.
Dit verg dat jy sagmoedig is sonder om jou oortuigings prys te gee. Soms moet jy by jou oortuigings staan. Daar is egter ander kere wat jy die volgende vraag sal moet vra: ‘Is ons verhouding belangriker as die punt wat ek probeer bewys?’
Sielskos: Gen 35-36; Luk 3:11-20; Ps 81; Spr 2:11-15
Proverbs 15:1 GNT
When someone disagrees with you, be tender without surrender. You will never be able to please everyone. You will always meet people who like to argue and quarrel. Some people will contradict everything you say. How should you respond to them? One of the tests of spiritual maturity is how you handle those who disagree with you. Some people have a need to demolish anyone who disagrees with them. If you challenge them or offer a comparison, complaint, or criticism, they respond with a full-blown personal attack. Then what do you do? You have three alternatives:
(1) You can retreat in fear. Many people choose this route because they haven’t developed the ability to respond in gentleness. So, if you’re a “peace at any price” person, it will have hidden costs in your life’s most important relationships.
(2) You can react in anger. Anger is often a telltale sign that you feel insecure and threatened by someone’s disapproval. It’s a warning light that tells you you’re about to lose something, often your self-esteem. When we become angry, often we become sarcastic and attack the other person’s self-worth.
(3) You can respond in gentleness. “A gentle answer quiets anger, but a harsh one stirs it up.” This is the kind of response that requires a fine balance between maintaining your right to an opinion, while equally respecting another person’s right to their opinion. It requires being tender without surrendering your convictions. Sometimes you must stand by your convictions. But other times you will find you’re answering this question: “Is our relationship more important than the point I’m trying to prove?”
Soul food: Gen 35-36; Luke 3:11-20; Ps 81; Pro 2:11-15
Proverbs 15:1 GNT
When someone disagrees with us, we should try to be tender without surrendering. We’ll never be able to please everyone. We’ll always meet people who like to argue and disagree. Some people might contradict everything we say. How should we respond to them? One of the tests of spiritual maturity is how we handle those who disagree with us. Some people have a need to demolish anyone who disagrees with them. If we challenge them or offer a comparison, complaint, or criticism, they respond with a personal attack on us. Then what do we do? There are three alternatives:
1) We can retreat in fear. Many people choose this route because they haven’t developed the ability to be confident in responding with gentleness. If we’re ‘peace at any price’ types, there’ll be hidden costs somewhere along the line in our most important relationships.
2) We can react in anger. Anger is often a sign that we feel insecure and threatened by someone’s disapproval. It’s a warning light that tells us we’re about to lose something, and it’s often our self-esteem. When we become angry, we can also become sarcastic and attack the other person’s self-worth.
3) We can respond in gentleness. ‘A gentle answer quiets anger, but a harsh one stirs it up.’ This is the kind of response that requires a fine balance between maintaining our right to an opinion, while equally respecting another person’s right to their opinion. It requires being tender without surrendering our convictions. Sometimes we must stand by our convictions. Sometimes it’ll call for us to ask questions and gain a better understanding of why the other person has that opinion, which might take a bit of effort on our part. But it’s always worthwhile if it helps us respond to them with gentleness.
Gen 35-36; Luke 3:11-20; Ps 81; Pro 2:11-15
