[27] “Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.” — Proverbs 19:27 NIV
I was once chatting with a ministry friend who gave me a report of how someone he encountered on a mission field ended up a smoker because of bad friends. According to my friend, that guy was a brilliant person in Senior High School. He came for vacation at his grandmother’s residence, and bad friends influenced him to smoke.
Today, his educational career is in shambles. And although he has accepted Christ, his life has suffered enough damage. It’ll take years for Jesus to restore his life unto glory, suppose he becomes consistent with the ministry. Now that is what happens when a person refuses to build security around his life.
In Proverbs 19:27, the preacher Solomon tells us that anyone who stops listening to instruction strays from the words of knowledge. And when a person is knowledge-bankrupt, the quality of his life reduces drastically. I suppose that weed smoker ended up like that because the colleagues who influenced him into such a realm of life didn’t know anything good to use their lives for.
Several times have we been warned in the scriptures to keep company with the brethren in Christ by love. Why? Because of a truth, evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Corinthians 15:33).
Be wise to build security around your life, especially as a minister of Christ. Make sure you have at least seven people in your life who have the liberty and boldness to correct you when you’re wrong without you feeling awful about their talk. It’s for your own safety so that you’ll have enough guidance to finish your race of faith well.
You’re a blessing.
Prayer:
Father, give me people who’ll have the liberty and boldness to correct me when I’m wrong, lest I stray from the words of knowledge. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
Devotional Code: KGD – 2023 – 213
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