Title: How Genuine is Love if You Don’t Listen First?
Text:
Proverbs 18:2 (ESV)
A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
Observation:
One of the things essential to close and lasting friendships is love. Our text indicates that fools don’t make good friends, and one of the reasons is that they don’t value listening; they love to talk so much, that they don’t have any time left for listening. Consequently, they leave a trail of harm and hurt.
Proverbs 17:17 (ESV)
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 18:6-8 (ESV)
6 A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating. 7 A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul. 8 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.
None of us is perfect. Therefore, we must learn to forgive others. We need to learn to listen first, and then speak.
Proverbs 18:13 (ESV)
If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.
There is always hope and help for those who the text describe as fools; those who lack good sense or judgment. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, gives us the key.
Proverbs 18:15 (ESV)
An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
There is no problem that is beyond the reach of prayer. Give God access to your needs by asking Him to help you.
James 4:2-3 (ESV)
2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Prayer:
Father God, my dear Father, I pray that You would stir our hearts so that we would stop talking, and begin to listen to others. Amen.
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Matthew 4:4 (HCSB)
4 But He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Psalm 2:8 (HCSB)
8 Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance and the ends of the earth Your possession.
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