Proverbs 15:32
He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul:
But he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
The Hebrew text of this proverb reveals much more of its contrast. It tells us:
He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul:
But he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
The Hebrew text of this proverb reveals much more of its contrast. It tells us:
' He who negates discipline despises his soul; and he that heareth (obeys) reproof buys (values) an understanding heart.’
Life is a school. It is a school to prepare us for the World to Come. Courses are made available to us and we can sign up for them. We can sign up for them or we can let them go by. When we sign up for them, we can either apply ourselves to the lessons at hand, or we can be distracted by the many cares of this life. We are handled as mature free people but the cost of maturity and freedom is that we are and remain responsible for our own actions. We become the full result of the sum of our own decisions.
This proverb tells us that to refuse the discipline of life set in front of us by the Father is similar to despising our own soul. It is close to spiritual suicide. We sometimes cannot relate to people committing physical suicide, but what about people committing spiritual suicide? How many of us are guilty of knowing the discipline of life and yet despise it by excusing ourselves from it?
From the days of Moses we have been promised to become a nation of Priests and kings. Exodus and Leviticus teach us about the particular discipline of Hebrew kings and priests. They were held to different standards than that of the other people. The Mosaic promise is fulfilled in the Messiah. Anyone therefore under the atonement of Messiah has the potential to be a recipient of this promise. They can become a king or a priest among people, but they need to go through the course and learn the discipline.
The course is paid for in full. How would we feel now if we paid for our child the full price for the greatest of higher education in the grandest of all universities, but all he would do is waste his time partying? Wouldn’t he be despising his own soul? The same goes with us with the course the Messiah paid for us with His own blood at Calvary.
Life is a school. It is a school to prepare us for the World to Come. Courses are made available to us and we can sign up for them. We can sign up for them or we can let them go by. When we sign up for them, we can either apply ourselves to the lessons at hand, or we can be distracted by the many cares of this life. We are handled as mature free people but the cost of maturity and freedom is that we are and remain responsible for our own actions. We become the full result of the sum of our own decisions.
This proverb tells us that to refuse the discipline of life set in front of us by the Father is similar to despising our own soul. It is close to spiritual suicide. We sometimes cannot relate to people committing physical suicide, but what about people committing spiritual suicide? How many of us are guilty of knowing the discipline of life and yet despise it by excusing ourselves from it?
From the days of Moses we have been promised to become a nation of Priests and kings. Exodus and Leviticus teach us about the particular discipline of Hebrew kings and priests. They were held to different standards than that of the other people. The Mosaic promise is fulfilled in the Messiah. Anyone therefore under the atonement of Messiah has the potential to be a recipient of this promise. They can become a king or a priest among people, but they need to go through the course and learn the discipline.
The course is paid for in full. How would we feel now if we paid for our child the full price for the greatest of higher education in the grandest of all universities, but all he would do is waste his time partying? Wouldn’t he be despising his own soul? The same goes with us with the course the Messiah paid for us with His own blood at Calvary.
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