Discipleship

Control Yourself!

Nathan Williams has compiled a good list of wise warnings we need to hear today.

One of the overriding themes of Proverbs is the admonition to control yourself! The wise man controls his attitude, his tongue, and his actions. The fool is lazy, mean-spirited, quick-to-react, hateful, and vengeful. Whatever a man does reflects what is in his heart. What is in your heart? You can tell by your attitude, words, and actions.

Control Your Body

___ The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
_______ I shall be killed in the streets!”  (Pro 22:13)

 

____________ I passed by the field of a sluggard,
__________________ by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
____________ and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
__________________ the ground was covered with nettles,
__________________ and its stone wall was broken down.
____________ Then I saw and considered it;
__________________ I looked and received instruction.
____________ A little sleep, a little slumber,
__________________ a little folding of the hands to rest,
____________ and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
__________________ and want like an armed man.  (Pro 24:30-34)

Control Your Tongue

____________ What your eyes have seen
__________________ do not hastily bring into court,
____________ for what will you do in the end,
__________________ when your neighbor puts you to shame?
____________ Argue your case with your neighbor himself,
__________________ and do not reveal another’s secret,
____________ lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,
__________________ and your ill repute have no end.  (Pro 25:8-10)

 

____________ When words are many, transgression is not lacking,
__________________ but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
____________ The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
__________________ the heart of the wicked is of little worth.
____________ The lips of the righteous feed many,
__________________ but fools die for lack of sense.  (Pro 10:19-21)

Control Your Temper

____________ A fool gives full vent to his spirit,
__________________ but a wise man quietly holds it back.  (Pro 29:11)

 

____________ A man of wrath stirs up strife,
__________________ and one given to anger causes much transgression.  (Pro 29:22)

Control Your Associations

____________ 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.
____________ Be not one of those who give pledges,
__________________ who put up security for debts.  (Pro 22:24-26)

 

____________ Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
__________________ do not desire his delicacies,
____________ for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
__________________ “Eat and drink!” he says to you,
__________________ but his heart is not with you.
____________ You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
__________________ and waste your pleasant words.  (Pro 23:6-8)

 

____________ My son, if sinners entice you,
__________________ do not consent.  (Pro 1:10)

 

____________ For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
__________________ and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
____________ to preserve you from the evil woman,
__________________ from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.  (Pro 6:23-24)

 

____________ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
__________________ and call insight your intimate friend,
____________ to keep you from the forbidden woman,
__________________ from the adulteress with her smooth words.  (Pro 7:4-5)

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