“It is not good to each too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one’s own honor.”
– Proverbs 25:27 (NIV)

by Dr. Larry Poland

My godly, 94 year-old father has an expression which pretty much “nails it” in describing people who are filled with themselves. He says with his wry smile, “I’d like to buy ‘em for what they’re worth and sell ‘em for what they think they’re worth.” Big profit margin there!

Wisdom Principle #66: Pursuing acclaim brings earthly noise that soon dies, while pursuing a humble spirit before God brings the acclaim of heaven and its angels forever.

If there ever was an industry that specializes in inflated egos, exaggerated bios, out-of-reality press releases, and over-the-top self-adulation, it is entertainment. Many celebrities pay an entire staff of people to tell others how wonderful they are, since their own all-out efforts at self-praise are totally insufficient! I was told by a convention manager in New Orleans that only during media trade conventions do they have to import limousines from other cities to meet the demand.

The Scriptures have a different emphasis. They support the pursuit of stature not status. The principle articulated by Jesus is that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). I dare you to try to sell this principle in Hollywood!

Wisdom Principle #67: A heart that acknowledges God’s achievements though its owner can laud those achievements without embarrassment, pride, or sin.

King Solomon and his friends were unimpressed with those who were impressed with themselves. They directed, in the two passages cited above, that people let praise come from the mouths of others, not their own.

An earnest and godly Christian who is a freelance producer struggles with what is the legitimate advertising of his gifts, talents, and experience and what is the unabashed self-glory which God hates. He says accurately, “If I don’t promote myself, I don’t work!” This is a tough question.

The answer lies first in one’s own heart attitude. Knowing honestly that everything on our resume reflects God’s goodness and grace with no credit to us gives us considerable latitude in expressing His achievements through us.

Wisdom Principle #68: Self-praise steals from God the honor due Him, for no one ever achieves anything worthwhile apart from the gifts, abilities and grace of his Maker.

Finally, I think the reason that prideful self-exaltation is condemned in Scriptures is because there is no such thing as a “self-made person.” If there were, you could spot that person in a second by the defects in workmanship! Allowing others to recognize the character of God in us – and applaud it – is far more rewarding that trumpeting our own achievements and, thus, blaspheming their True Source.

“The wicked borrow and do not repay.”                                    
– Psalm 37:21 (NIV) 

“. . . If you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another . . . go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor . . . free yourself.”
–Proverbs 6:1-5 (Excerpts, NIV)

by Dr. Larry Poland

In this age of easy credit – a dollar down and a dollar forever – even followers of Christ get snared into the folly of borrowing.  It seems that some have followed the philosophy, “Borrow big and pray for the Rapture!”

Wisdom Principle #62: Borrowing can be really foolish, because it puts the borrower in servitude to the lender . . . and nobody likes being a slave.

The wisdom literature of the Bible has a lot to say about the snare of indebtedness and the stupidity of the one falling into it.  The passage above puts it bluntly: borrowing establishes a slave/master relationship with the borrower being the slave.  If you have ever had a lending institution on your tail or bill collectors at your door, you understand who is in control and who isn’t!  They have the power on their side, and if the lender is particularly ruthless (“His glass eye is the warm one”) your stupidity can be really painful.

Wisdom Principle #63: Meeting financial obligations in a prompt and timely manner is a hallmark of integrity.  Not doing so puts us in the camp of the wicked.

In part because money is so important to those in the world system, and many in the household of faith as well, deep offense is created by the sloppy handling of debt repayment.  How many times have we heard, “I’ll never do business with Christians again.  I helped out a Christian once, and he never repaid me.”  One mark of integrity is the prompt and faithful repayment of obligations.

The Psalmist is as blunt as the writer of Proverbs on this point: “The wicked borrow and do not repay.”

Wisdom Principle Number #64: Time is on the side of those with a cause against us, so we must communicate and settle issues promptly to avoid the dire consequences of delay.

“Fine,” you say.  “But, what about financial reversals or even ‘acts of God’ which keep us from meeting our obligations or meeting them in a timely manner?  What then?”  The Scriptures have remedies for these situations, and the first rule is to “Communicate . . . now!”  When Jesus gave commands on handling those who have something against us (like ticked-off lenders), he directed us to “settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” (Matthew 5:25-26)

Wisdom Principle #65: To approach unmet financial obligations by silence, flight, or prideful resistance is not only foolish, it is counterproductive at every level.

Finally, don’t be too proud to grovel!  The Proverbs 6 passage above directs us to “go,” “humble ourselves,” and “plead.”  If God grants mercy through our financial “masters,” the yoke of servitude may be lightened, and it will be worth “eating crow.”

Paul said it well in Romans 13:7a, “Give everyone what you owe him.”  Doing so will set you apart from “the wicked” and strengthen your witness for the only True Master.

“The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.”
— Isaiah 3:9 (NIV)

“As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man”
— Proverbs 27:19 (NIV)

Comedian George Burns said of entertainment, “The secret to success in this business is sincerity. And, if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” Is it not true that professional actors have to become outstanding in their ability to “fake it” when it comes to a role? They must fake evil motivations and cherubic ones, angry emotions and elated ones.

But, is there not another facet in the human face that defies “faking?” Have you not seen an actor playing the role of a vile, despicable person (and playing it well), but something in the eyes said, in actuality, the actor was “too innocent” to be playing the role? Sure you have . . . and noted the “bad casting.”

Wisdom Principle #58: The eyes are the window to the human soul, and what’s going on there shows on the countenance.

The Scriptures make fascinating observations about the human countenance –the spiritual “aura” that appears on the face and mostly inside the eyes. The Proverbs 15:13 above passage links, indirectly, that mirroring of a face in a pond with the mirroring of the person’s spirit in the countenance.”

There is a “light” or a “darkness” in a countenance depending on the amount of spiritual light and life that exists in the soul. God is described as having a “light in His countenance.” God, speaking through Isaiah, told the Israelites that, because of their spiritual darkness, “the look on their faces testifies against them . . . they do not hide it.”

Wisdom Principle #59: Persons with Christ in them possess a spiritual life and peace which shows as “brightness” and tranquility in the countenance. You can look for and see it.

A Berkley professor with two Ph.D. degrees, conducted more than 1200 controlled interviews for the military in Viet Nam to discover the use and effects of hallucinogenic drugs. He told me that after he had done a couple hundred interviews, he did not have to ask the soldiers if they had been delivered from drug addiction by new birth through Jesus Christ. They had a “light in their eyes,” he said, and even bore witness to seeing a “physical light” at the moment salvation released from drug bondage.

Wisdom Principle #60: Sin causes a darkness in the human spirit which shows in the countenance; it can’t be covered with makeup, nor the light “faked” by a happy face.

About thirty years ago, testing this teaching, I began studying countenances and learning to “read” the spiritual light in them. For more than fifteen years, now, I have been 95% or more accurate in spotting new birth in perfect strangers before speaking to them. I also can see darkness. The Apostle Paul describes an immoral woman who lives for pleasure as “dead even while she lives” (I Timothy 5:6). This is the hollow-eyed whore or vile, dark-countenance libertine whose physical attractiveness is eclipsed by a dark, death-driven countenance.

Wisdom Principle #61: True spiritual beauty abides in the heart and is transmitted to the eyes making a person “ugly” or “beautiful” independent of physical attributes.

Be a light-filled, beautiful person. Let the light of Christ fill you and flow through you. By the way, you can’t fake this.

“He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.”
- Proverbs 28:23 (NIV)

“Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you.”
- Proverbs 9:8 (NIV)

Hollywood, and much of the entertainment industry, has a really seductive cultural practice.  I call it “vain praise.”  It sounds like this: “Hey, baby, you have what it takes to be a star.”  “Oh, Dahling, you look gorrrgeous.” “With your looks/body/talent, you’ll be a household name in no time.”

I attended a Hollywood funeral a few years ago and listened to the flattering palaver of about a dozen of the media elite, some of whom I knew really couldn’t stand the deceased.  Even in death (especially in death?), they couldn’t tell the truth.

Wisdom Principle #55: True friends will love you enough to scrub you down with truth, even when they know it stings.  Your enemies will lather you up with the soft soap of what they think you want to hear.

God explains a fascinating dynamic in the writings of King Solomon about the benefits of rebuke and the folly of flattery.  The concept isn’t obtuse.  It is based on the value of telling other people the truth (graciously) and not worrying about their feelings or the possible backlash.  In fact, the Scriptures feature well-motivated rebuke as essential to true friendship!

You read it above: “The wounds of a friend can be trusted.”

Wisdom Principle #56: A relationship based on open truth is true friendship; one built on flattery is a con game.

This principle of “rebuke-willingness” is so thoroughly endorsed by King Solomon that he touts it as a long-term strategy to gain favor.  Note in the second verse cited above, the emphasis is on long-term.  In the short term, loving rebuke can have really adverse affects, because the wisdom of the rebuke hasn’t had a chance to “play out” to its consequences.

When the wisdom of a rebuke has kept the friend from suffering the consequences of a wrong path, a destructive habit, or serious character weakness, he will be filled with gratitude and embrace you.

Wisdom Principle #57: A loving rebuke requires running your hand along the wall of another’s soul and feeling for a crack to put the truth in; if there’s no crack, don’t bother throwing it at the wall.

Solomon does have one caveat in the rebuke principle.  That is discerning whether the one needing the rebuke qualifies as a “fool” – one who despises wisdom and instruction.  In such a case, he cautions us not to give unwanted counsel, direction, correction or rebuke, because, “He who rebukes a fool invites abuse (Proverbs 9:7).”

So, a phrase to memorize when confronted with rebuke or constructive criticism is, “Thank you for the helpful suggestion.”  It will help you, if you let God use it in your life!

“For the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.”  – Proverbs 6:26 (NIV)        

 by Dr. Larry Poland

Lucifer could make great money in Washington or Hollywood as a “spin doctor.”  In fact, some of his agents already do so by playing word games to make deadly evil sound like pleasant privilege.  The sickest pornography is billed as “adult,” “sophisticated,” or “mature.”  Nudity and fornication are harmless “play” – as in Play-boy or Play-girl – and seduction is elevated to “scoring” in the game of sex.

God has a different view of the person who is involved in sex outside of the covenant bond of marriage.  For sure, He doesn’t use words like “play” or “mature” in describing them.

Wisdom Principle #52: The heart is a person’s spiritual center.  If left unguarded, it will be ruptured by demonic darts, not stimulated by Cupid’s arrows.

Writing to young men, Solomon warns of the promiscuous woman in most extravagant terms.  He would have said the same things of libertine men if he’d been writing to young women.  In his cautions, Solomon warns of “turning hearts” and “straying onto wrong paths.”  Legion are the Christians who have viewed themselves as “mature” enough to engage in a little “play” with the opposite sex without consequences, and every broken dream and shattered marriage started with an unguarded heart.

Wisdom Principle #53: Defying God’s law in the pursuit of love or sexual pleasure is playing Russian Roulette with bullets in every chamber of the gun.

Four times in thirty-plus years serving leaders in the sex-charged media, I have had to look a brother in Christ in the eyes and say, “Get that woman out of your life.  The Bible says she will reduce you to a loaf of bread.”

For those who did not heed the warning, the picture was not pretty.  I had to watch as Solomon’s heavy words – “victims,” “slain,” “highway to the grave,” and “chambers of death” – settled in on my brothers.  I’ve seen bitter spouses, rebellious kids, lost fortunes, destroyed careers, and abandoned faith reduce the best of men to the value of a loaf of bread.  I’ve watched beautiful young flowers crushed and left to join the ranks of exploited women for defying God’s laws in pursuit of “love.”

Wisdom Principle #54: The priceless value of loving loyalty is never realized until all the cheap thrills of infidelity are in the distant past of God’s forgiveness.

Nearly five decades into a rich and wonderful marriage relationship, I look back on those times when my heart began to turn and the path to another woman looked inviting.  When I do, I thank God for the Hound of Heaven who chased me down and held me to the wife of my youth.  For this reason alone, I am no victim, not spiritually dead, and not worthless and unusable to Him.

Let the hearer listen and learn.

“Ears that hear and eyes that see–the Lord has made them both.”
– Proverbs 20:12 (NIV)

 by Dr. Larry Poland

It was horrific!  A motorcyclist was speeding toward my car at about fifty miles an hour when I first saw him, and there was no place to go to avoid the crash.  He hit the brakes, laid the bike down, skidded into my car, and lay there in the street entwined in his crumpled cycle in excruciating pain with a broken ankle.  I knelt over him and prayed for his healing.  I said over and over to myself–and then to the law enforcement officer -“I didn’t see him.  I just didn’t see him.”

Wisdom Principle #49: Without divine illumination, our eyes can never see through and beyond the thick darkness around us.

Seeing eyes are rare in our culture.  Oh, I don’t mean the 20/20 measurement your optometrist gives you – I mean eyes that really see.  These are eyes that not only record what is viewed, but they are connected to a spiritual process of discernment which sees through and beyond images.

Wisdom Principle #50: Failure to give full attention to the way we are living is to surrender our destiny to the three enemies of success – chance, unexpected risk, and unrecognized stupidity.

Non-seeing eyes are common.  They are owned by those who look directly at evil and call it “good,” look right at impending disaster and call it “a challenge,” look square on at destruction and call it “a choice,” or look right at a demonic trap and call it a “great opportunity.”  Proverbs exhorts us to watch – really see and really level – the paths of our lives.  If we do, all of our efforts will be firmly successful.

Wisdom Principle #51: No one is so blind as he who will not allow God to enhance and correct his vision.

The Scriptures make it patently clear that God creates vision at two levels.  One is involuntary and the other voluntary.  God creates “eyes that see” as the Creator of All Things.  We got the product of that creation when we were born.  But God is also the Creator of eyes that really see – that discern, that penetrate, that see beyond, that aren’t subject to distraction or optical Illusions.  These eyes we get by acknowledging Him, learning from Him, obeying Him, and seeking His view of things.

by Dr. Larry Poland

As Armand Nicoli, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, looked back on his lifelong career as a psychiatrist, he noted a striking pattern shift. When he began his career, he says, the maladies facing him in his practice dealt a lot with the repression or suppression of impulses. Patients needed to be freed to express themselves and their impulses responsibly. Today, he notes, patients suffer from the inability to control the expression of impulses. Most “lack impulse control” and are in bondage to unbridled appetites.

Wisdom Principle #45: The one in bondage to repressed impulses is no more a slave than he who is shackled by lack of control over them.

We live and work in a world in which excess is often the norm. Unrestrained anger, sexual addictions, chain smoking, binge drinking, workaholism, bondage to pornography, drug abuse and, yes, gluttony leading to obesity, characterize many. The word “orgy” describes the excesses we see around us and which tempt us to binge ourselves.

Wisdom Principle #46: Associating with friends who lack restraint over their appetites exposes us to their contagious virus of excess.

Solomon knew the dangers of unrestrained human impulses. He knew that the character weakness which causes a person to lose impulse control in one area often extends to other areas of excess. So, he warned against even associating with those lacking impulse control lest we succumb to the pattern of excess.

Wisdom Principle #47: If it is true that “a fool and his money are soon parted,” it’s equally true that one who binges on anything else will likely binge on spending and borrowing.

Wisdom Principle #48: Financial poverty and bankruptcy begin where lack of control of other impulses leave off.

The inevitable link to financial irresponsibility cannot be missed in Solomon’s warning. It’s as if the wise king is saying, “Show me a person who can’t control his eating and drinking, and I’ll show you a person who can’t control his spending.” Bingeing in any area is expensive, but more than the direct cost seems to be the spillover lack of self control which makes us slaves to financial debt. The pattern eventually “clothes us in rags.”

Fascinating, then, that the Apostle Paul packages “self control” in with the fruit of the Spirit of Christ in Galatians 5:22. Noteworthy, too, that I can’t stay on a diet or exercise program without conscious reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit within me. I guess only God can override sin’s gravitational pull into excess.

One of our readers, Ronald, posted a great question about the biblical basis for the idea that “the spirit is expressed in the conscience.”  I liked the topic so much, I decided to put my response here.

Seldom is there a link made in common perception between the work of God the Holy Spirit and human conscience.  Yet, there seems to be pretty clear biblical evidence to support this link.  Following are some biblical references that make the point.

1. Christ–and, by extension, the Spirit of Christ–is the “light which lights every man.” (John 1:9).  Note that the light of Christ lights “every person,” not just the lives of believers.  This would fit into the category of what some theologians would call “common grace,” a grace extended to all humanity as opposed to the grace extended to the elect.  The fact that every human society ever found has some common moral dimensions–belief in a higher power, a family structure, and an incest taboo–is proof that the light of God’s moral law cannot be extinguished, even in the most debauched societies. German philosopher Immanuel Kant referred to this as “the moral law within” every person.

2. In John 16:8-9, Jesus promised that, after He left the earth, the Holy Spirit would “convict the world  (not just believers!) of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.”

There are other passages, but these two should suffice to build the link.  God’s “moral imprint” on human beings is part of every person’s essential humanity.  Animals are not born with this and do not have it unless it is conditioned into them. While “conscience” is often referred to in non-divine contexts, what could be the source of that deep, inner conviction of guilt and of “rightness” we feel, if it is not the work of God’s spirit?  It is a shame that this inner voice can be effectively silenced by persistent rebellion against it, clever rationalizing of evil behavior, and repeated indulgence to the point that, as the Apostle Paul dubbed it, conscience becomes “seared as with a hot iron” (I Timothy 4:2).

 by Dr. Larry Poland

Hollywood is known for its beautiful and seductive women.  They are everywhere – from the Playmates circling the Playboy mansion in Holmby Hills, to the sirens who walk the red carpet dressed in scant nothingness on Oscar night, to the bare vixens who sell their bodies and souls to the world’s largest “adult entertainment” industry.

Solomon knew a thing or two about seductive women.  His harem numbered a thousand hand-picked beauties, and he authored the Bible’s handbook of sensuality, The Song of Solomon.  Interesting, then, that he follows his warnings about the adulteress in Proverbs 7 and his lauding of the glories of Wisdom in Chapter 8 with alarm about another scary babe (or dude) named Folly, a.k.a. Stupidity.

For sure, Folly is the most destructive seducer of all.  If you don’t believe it, you haven’t visited Las Vegas, or the dives of any major city, or the secret hideaways of Manhattan.  But Folly also attends church board meetings, workplace committee meetings, financial investing seminars, and dinner table arguments.  She is deadly, and . . . she’s not always a “she.”  Solomon makes both Wisdom and Folly feminine as a literary device, but neither gender has any claim of ownership.

One reason Folly, a. k. a. Stupidity, is so seductive is that she’s impressively prominent.  She holds “a seat at the highest point of the city.”  If corporate titans and politicians were wise, society would be very different.

Wisdom Principle #41 – Stupidity is an expression of the dominant world view which parades as “conventional thinking”; only divine insight will help you recognize and transcend it.

Proverbs says three attributes explain Stupidity’s success at seduction and destruction.  She (1) preys on the simple and ignorant, (2) has no respect for what is not hers, and (3) operates in utmost secrecy.

Wisdom Principle  #42 – Wisdom always strengthens the weak and lifts the downtrodden; Stupidity exploits both.

Wisdom Principle #43 – Wisdom always respects the person, feelings, dignity, and possessions of others; Stupidity tramples them.

We might call it the ‘Al Qaeda Syndrome.”  It’s the tendency to operate in the shadows, in secret, and in hidden cells plotting evil.  Stupidity thrives on encrypted memos, clandestine meetings, and the cover of darkness.  The wise and righteous person lives life in the light and in the open.  It never fears investigation or disclosure.

Wisdom Principle #44 – The wise and righteous life never fears examination . . . of its datebook, checkbook, closet, or computer hard drive.

Avoid Folly – he/she will do you in.  His/Her dwelling is filled with corpses (9:18).

“He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered.”
– Proverbs 12:9 (NIV)

“Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways.”
– Proverbs 23:26 (NIV)

by Dr. Larry Poland

On February 14 of each year, we celebrate Valentine’s Day, and stores are filled with a seemingly infinite variety of items that are red, heart-shaped, or carry messages of love – everything from bon bons to boxer shorts.  It’s a celebration of the motivations of the heart.

Clearly, the heart is a whole lot more than that incredible machine inside our chests which pumps enough blood in an average lifetime to fill a string of railroad tank cars fifty miles long.  In this context, the heart is the center of our affections, the core of our being, the real “us,” and we recognize its importance.  We talk of a good heart, a soft heart, a hard heart, a big heart, a tender heart, a kind heart, an evil heart, and a heart for God.

Wisdom Principle #38: An unguarded heart will destroy your life and run away with your soul.

Wisdom dictates that this center of our feelings and affections be managed well, or it can lead us into big trouble.  The Scriptures describe what could be called “spiritual heart disease” – lethal symptoms coming from a heart that is not attuned to God’s law and character.

The most common symptom of this heart disease is illicit relationships.  If the seat or our feelings/emotions is not guarded, it will lead us into affairs of the heart.  We will lust after beauty, wealth, power, perversity, or our neighbor’s spouse.  This is why we are to watch over it “with diligence.”

Wisdom Principle #39: The road to destruction meanders through three cities: Heart, Mind, and Spirit and stays too long in Heart.  The road to life goes directly to Spirit, in the same township as Mind.

We humans have been give three guidance systems–a spirit, a brain, and a heart.  The spirit is expressed in the conscience, reason in the brain, and emotions in the heart.  It is absolutely essential that power be given to each in this order of priority.  A person whose brain gets ahead of his conscience will become an intelligent evildoer, and one whose heart gets ahead of both will become a catastrophe of feelings-directed, immoral foolishness.  This is why Proverbs declares it foolhardy to trust your heart. Wisdom is living by spirit-guided reason, regardless of what the heart says.

Wisdom Principle #40:  Only the heart surrendered to God realizes its deepest desires; self-managed hearts get broken and break the hearts of others.

The only successful way to live is to surrender one’s heart to God.  He made it and promises to give us its desires as a reward for obedience.