Just when I thought my Bible Study was done, the church brought out the Book of Proverbs. For once I was expecting to see a short, informative review of a book that I’m familiar with and don’t need to reread. What I received was an in depth study guide that included the King James Version, the translation by MLA Press, and notes from the original author.
The first famous line from the book was about service. It quotes Bible teacher J. W. Jacobson and states that if you really want to serve God, you must be servant oriented, do what’s needed and share it. I suppose it is a great way to serve God and I will agree with that, but how many times do we hear someone say that they’re not serving God. Most of the time it is because they are doing things to show themselves how deserving they are and they don’t care who gets the credit.
The book goes on to say that when service is shown to others, God will show service back to them. Some people have a hard time showing service. A study guide would be useful to others that do not know how to display the service properly.
The Bible says that the best soldiers are those who fight for God’s honor. Knowing this, I am sure that I’m not always the best soldiers at Church. That is one reason I like the book, to help me find out where I need to improve so I can better serve God and those around me.
The fifth passage from the Book of Proverbs is about forgiving. I often wonder if I’ve ever forgiven someone or why they were so mean to me. I’m willing to go through the motions of saying I forgive them, but really I just don’t feel like it.
The next section of the book discusses dishonesty. It compares this word dishonesty to the word ugliness. Both are filthy words in the sight of God. Sometimes we want to get away from them so we can make them seem less damaging than they really are.
John says to think of honesty as a beautiful, charming thing. Because of that it is a weakness and a gift to others. Honesty is the type of selflessness that makes us vulnerable to others who want to get something for nothing.
The last part of the Book of Proverbs is about eating up so much food. This may be the most difficult verse in the entire book. I’m sure I’m not very good at it but I’m trying my best!