When computers entered the corporate marketplace, an accompanying idiom became popular among users—garbage in, garbage out! In other words, the newly invented wonder machine didn’t have capacity to convert bad data into good products. Decades of advancement later, that premise remains valid. Input determines output.
Humans are wired somewhat similarly. What we put in determines what comes out. Much of our intake derives from interpersonal relations. Person-to-person interactions trigger stimuli that activate resultant outputs. Exchange with another person can activate joy, hope, assurance, confusion, grief, resentment… We take time to learn how to use electronic gadgets to procure desired output. Being of much greater value, our lives require no less diligence.
Staying Within Safe Boundaries
24Make no friendship with an angry man,
and with a furious man you will not go,
25 lest you learn his ways
and get a snare to your soul…
28Do not remove the ancient landmark
which your fathers have set.
(Proverbs 22: 24, 25, 28 ~MEV)
Proverbs belong in a class of Old Testament texts labeled ‘Wisdom Literature’. These life manuals teach us how to tackle day-to-day issues. Others in the category include Job, Psalms, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes (aka Qoheleth or The Preacher). A common feature of these books is their use of parables, similes, and other allegorical language that requires decrypting.
With thirty-one chapters, Proverbs makes a good devotional; a chapter per calendar date. They are vital tools in your arsenal, invaluable nuggets of wisdom to face life’s challenges.
Our reference passage has four pieces of advice.
- Don’t be friends with a short-tempered person
- Don’t accompany or follow a manic
- If you do, you will acquire characteristics that will ensnare and harm you
- Don’t change the ancient ethics set by your patriarchs
Peers influence us in unimaginable ways. As we relate with folks, we try to fit into their mold. We replicate their tendencies in order to please them. It’s often subtle and involuntary. We laugh at their jokes. We repeat their slogans. We flatter each other. If we don’t like something about them, we turn a blind eye. We mustn’t hurt their feelings. No wonder, Solomon advises us to avoid folks who exhibit noxious manners. Rude and violent people are dangerous! Such friends will put you in trouble sooner or later. As you hang out together, their tendencies will rub off on you. 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Cor 15:33 ~MEV).
Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set. In antiquity, ‘landmark’ was a beacon on the ground, a marker for land boundaries. Only a person of evil intent would move a beacon. It caused public distress. The word also applied to standard social rules. Unlike today, society had clear codes of acceptable norms. Altering timeless tenets causes confusion and moral decay. Juvenile urges must never be allowed to transcend wisdom of the sages.
Early in my career, I watched virtuous boys and girls move to cities for their first time jobs. Many of them grew up in farmlands and had little or no experience in urban life. You could easily tell they’d been raised well. At first, they exhibited admirable conduct; discipline, work ethics, respect for people, etc. But soon, the glamor of city life was too intoxicating for their fragile loyalty. Income from their meagre wages gave the youths a false impression that they’d attained independence from parental authority. They got into alcohol, illicit sex, revelry, debt! With floodgates of filth wide open, shame and misery came rushing in. I wish I could tell you how many of those neophytes wrecked of their lives on their first encounter with the real world!
I meet this kind everywhere. You can sniff the stench of their indifference miles away. Vasco da Gama couldn’t teach them a thing in the world about adventure. They are exceedingly wise in their conceits. With the wayward itch of straying sheep, they can’t wait to break hedges to get to freedom. They have no idea that the fence that keeps them in is the fence that keeps foxes out!
Every Product Reveals its Source
16 You will know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit. But a corrupt tree bears evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree bear good fruit. (Matthew 7:16-18 ~MEV)
Grapes are picked from vines, not from thorn bushes. Figs are produced by fig trees, not thistles. Amazingly, some would have you believe that lying, foul-mouthed, egotists are wonderful individuals at heart. They are not. Tendencies as rage, use of vulgarities, etc. are tell-tale signs of a corrupt heart. Practice makes perfect, and the more someone continues in vile habits the worse he gets. Where I was born, they said, “ngima yumaga mũtu-inĩ, na njũgũma njega yumaga o ikũũrĩro” (cornmeal is made from flour, and a club is only as good as the stalk from which it was cut).
When Jesus talked of trees and their fruits, He was simply referring to people. A person’s truest identity is the product of his lifestyle. It’s not about external façade. It’s about definite outcomes. People who care about integrity safeguard their reputation. They vet their words, their actions and their companions. They cultivate purity of heart rather than try to conceal their tracks.
An Internal Compass
27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. (Prov 20:27 ~KJV)
Man is a triune creature. He is a spirit, has a soul, and a physical body. That is the real definition of a human being. We are all familiar with our bodies, the least important part of who we are. We spend most of our lives tending to it. The soul consists of intellect, will, and emotions. The part we know least about is the most important—our spirit—the core of who we are.
We interact with the world through our five senses—eyesight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Sense is a voice of the body, reason a voice of the soul, and conscience a voice of the spirit.
When folks say they don’t want to violate their conscience, they are referring to spirit, an inner acuity of right and wrong. Proverbs 20:27 calls it the candle of the Lord. It’s God’s light, an internal moral compass. Conscience echoes God’s voice. We are all born with a pure conscience.
God is a Spirit. We contact Him through our spirits. We can’t do it by sensory or logical means. To grasp God’s leading and make right choices, our spirit must be pure and alert. It takes a great deal of abuse to silence ones conscience. However, every time someone overrules their conscience, they weaken its sensitivity. Eventually, the voice of caution is disabled. Innocence is lost. God’s alarm bells are turned off. A person can now engage in all sorts of evil without remorse. From that point on, it’s a slippery slope towards disaster.
Eutrophication Breeds Dead Zones
Poorly managed farms allow fertilizer runoff to drift to the sea. This facilitates blooming of algae, aquatic organisms that use up dissolved oxygen from the water, resulting in dead zones. Eutrophication is a very serious problem. Some dead zones in our oceans and other waterbodies are miles in diameter, zones utterly deprived of oxygen. Marine creatures venturing into dead zones suffocate to death. Unfortunately, dead zones get bigger year by year, creating complex problems for ecosystems and the entire universe.
Metaphorically speaking, pollution in a human spirit facilitates formation of spiritual dead zones. Slow asphyxia begins. For instance, a new smoker always chokes on tobacco fumes. Getting the respiratory system to accept foreign matter is a huge struggle. But once respiratory resistance is overcome, addiction sets in, craving dependency on lethal nicotine. So also is the spirit.
For our survival, God created us with three major safety valves—pain, shame, and guilt! Pain signals bodily injury. Shame is of the soul. Guilt is an indicator of spiritual malfunction. Each of these valves can be silenced, the same way a fire alarm can be deactivated. Reviving a dead valve is a tough task. It’s better to avoid danger than to recover from a ruinous experience. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Prov 4:23 ~NLT
Are you in a toxic environment? Here is a word of advice for you. RUN! Run for your life. Run from profanities; cusswords invite curses. Eschew levity; life is a serious matter. Run from those who deride godly values of ancient patriarchs. Swim out of your dead zone while there’s still air in your lungs. Effluent kills slowly! Torturously! Shamefully! The victim suffers a long time.