Sun.’s Devo - Business, Respect, Criticism and Friends

Read: Prov. 11-13
Solomon gives much instruction on business. He knows that being honest and fair is how to have a successful business. God wants his people to prosper and succeed because when we do, it blesses the whole city. When we realize that when a Christian brother or sister prospers in their business it prospers the body of Christ then we are becoming mature Christians. We are all one in Christ so we should be glad when we see our fellow Christians succeed, especially when we are not. Our time will come if we wait upon the Lord, guard our hearts and continue to be honest and fair in our dealings.
Here is a question to ask ourselves: would we rather have respect or wealth? We should want respect because it can’t be measured by gold or silver. You can’t buy respect it has to be earned over time. The good news is that we can have both respect and wealth, we just shouldn’t want wealth without respect. How we run our business reflects who is in our hearts.
Solomon also says much about being able to take criticism. No one likes to be wrong or to be corrected but everyone is wrong and everyone needs correcting sometime in their life so we are all in the same boat. It is better to see it as a learning tool instead of a rebuke. If we learn to listen to correction with the attitude of wanting to learn and better ourselves then the one correcting us will become our teacher instead of our cruel taskmaster. His attitude will reflect ours. Humility is more attractive than rebellion to others and to God.
Another favorite of mine in today’s reading is: “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.” Who we choose as our closest friends is so important. We should all be reaching out to sinners, but we will become like the ones we spend the most time with. Our best friend should be Jesus! He is always a good influence.
Lord, thank you for the wise words of Proverbs. Help us to hide the nuggets of wisdom in our hearts.