Relationships
Relationships with Pastor Matt Pierson
What is wisdom?
Two perspectives on wisdom
“Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”
Charles Spurgeon
“Wisdom is the capacity to see things from God’s viewpoint.”
Charles Stanley, Walking Wisely: Real Life Solutions for Life’s Journey
“Knowledge is knowing the fact that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is having the good sense not to put a tomato in a fruit salad.”
Terry Pinnegar (also attributed to Miles Kington)
Wisdom from God’s perspective: Proverbs
“The Purpose of Proverbs: That the reader may gain wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, with the goal of nurturing moral discernment and discipline.”
Jim Thomas
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Proverbs 9:10
The Way of Wisdom: In All Relationships
Wisdom looks, wisdom listens, wisdom considers, wisdom is curious.
“Listen to understand, speak to serve.”
Wisdom looks,
Wisdom listens,
Wisdom considers,
Wisdom is curious.
“The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.”
Proverbs 15:28
“If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.”
Proverbs 18:13
“Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.”
Proverbs 14:29
“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”
Proverbs 19:11
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Proverbs 15:1
“A gentle tongue is a tree of life.”
Proverbs 15:4
“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.”
Proverbs 18:2
“A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating.”
Proverbs 18:6
The Way of Wisdom: Friendship
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
Proverbs 17:17
“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”
Proverbs 12:25
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
Proverbs 27:6
“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”— when you have it with you. Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.”
Proverbs 3:27-30
“A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.”
Proverbs 16:28
“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Proverbs 31:8-9
The Way of Wisdom: Relationships to Avoid
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
Proverbs 13:20
“Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.”
Proverbs 22:24-25
“Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.”
Proverbs 4:14-15
The Way of Wisdom: Family Relationships
“The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.”
Proverbs 23:24-25
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6
“Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.”
Proverbs 23:22
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
Psalm 1:1-6
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