Proverbs 19:20-21 (NIV)
20 Listen to advice and accept discipline,
and at the end
you will be counted among the wise.
21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the
Lord’s purpose that prevails.
We all may think we know what is best. We may even argue
with friends or spouse, the there is always the change we could be wrong. We
are to listen to advice and when we know it to be trues we are to accept it as
discipline. Then our own words will become wisdom for others. Remember it never hurts to listen to advice for the person giving it may always have seen the wisdom in their words.
Some years ago, Tim Keller had a relative who never would
wear a seat belt. Every time he talked to him, he would get in the car, but
wouldn't wear his seat belt. We all nagged him to no avail. Then one day he got
in the car and put his seat belt on right away. We said, "What happened to
you?" He said, "A couple weeks ago, I went to see a friend of mine in
the hospital. He was in a car crash, and he went through the windshield. He had
like 200 stitches in his face. For some strange reason, ever since then, I've
been having no problem buckling up."
I asked him, "Well, did you get new information?
What changed you? Did you not know that people go through the windshield?"
Of course I knew the answer to those questions: What happened was that an abstract
proposition became connected to an actual sensory experience that is something
he saw. As Jonathan Edwards used to basically say over and over again, it's
only when you attach to some truth—that's when real life change occurs.
Something has to become real to your heart. Then you will be changed.
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