You have read, heard a message on, read a blog post about, or read a book on Proverbs 27:17. Ministries are named after this verse. Much ink has been applied to paper exhorting men to engage in this process. There are are other verses in Proverbs that inform the action you may choose to take in response to 27:17. One of those is Proverbs 9:8 – 9.
A little while ago a man I know stopped me at an event we both were attending and asked me some very pointed questions about some of the choices I have been making in this ministry. That was risky for him. He did not know how I would respond. That does not happen much. To say I was grateful for his challenging questions would be an epic understatement. Too often we are navigating on our own we need each other to question.
I meet with another man weekly to pray and talk through life and ministry stuff. He asks me hard questions as well. There is a group of men with whom I meet weekly on Skype. We have known each other for a collective 130+ years. There is not much that any of us can get away with in that conversation.
I need all of those interactions. The Lord uses those men to keep me focused, on or near the right track. He also uses my wife’s questions.
But there are some men I will not approach. They will not listen. They suffer from what Prof used to call hardening of the categories. They already know everything so they cannot learn anything. They scoff. They disparage. They attack when questions are asked. Proverbs says we are not to challenge them. By contrast they are fools.
Which are you? If folks are not challenging you what does that say about you?
I meet with another man weekly to pray and talk through life and ministry stuff. He asks me hard questions as well. There is a group of men with whom I meet weekly on Skype. We have known each other for a collective 130+ years. There is not much that any of us can get away with in that conversation.
I need all of those interactions. The Lord uses those men to keep me focused, on or near the right track. He also uses my wife’s questions.
But there are some men I will not approach. They will not listen. They suffer from what Prof used to call hardening of the categories. They already know everything so they cannot learn anything. They scoff. They disparage. They attack when questions are asked. Proverbs says we are not to challenge them. By contrast they are fools.
Which are you? If folks are not challenging you what does that say about you?
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