Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Cor. 15:58

design

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Day 7: 'Gracious vs Ruthless'

Proverbs 11:16-- A gracious woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth

*************
I love Proverbs. Its one of my favorite books of the Bible.  Its filled with good advice and practical life applications... plus its easy to read (a plus for me!)

Now... on to today's verse....

If the first thing you see in this verse is women vs men then you miss one of the biggest points about the scripture.  It's not a gender.  Its about character.

Gracious vs Ruthless

Lets think of it like this...

A gracious 'person' gets respect. 

What does Gracious mean?  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary , gracious means:

1 obsolete: godly
   archaic: pleasing, acceptable
2. marked by kindness and courtesy <a gracious host> b: graceful c: marked by tact and delicacy : urbane d: characterized by charm, good taste, generosity of spirit, and the tasteful leisure of wealth and good breeding <gracious living>
3merciful, compassionate —used conventionally of royalty and high nobility

***********************
Basically, gracious means a kind, courteous person.  So a kind, nice, courteous person who thinks of others is respected....


By contrast, a ruthless 'person' ONLY gains wealth.
ONLY

Respect is held WAY above Wealth here. 
That's hard for our 'celebrity' crazy society to grasp.
'Fear' of the wealthy (ie what some billionaires demand) is not REAL respect. TRUE respect comes from a sincere, genuine, God-loving, Gracious heart.
Weath is only wealth. It can come and go.  But respect... respect is something that should be cherished.
I want to do my best to have a gracious spirit... not a ruthless one.  A giving spirit... not a greedy one.  How about you?
God bless you today!
Kelly

4 comments:

  1. Hi Kelly. I too, love Proverbs. And I completely agree with you. One of my desires for myself is to be a more gracious person. Its not so easy but I try to practice in every day life - you know - be friendly to the check-out packer, courteous to the people in traffic (very very very difficult for me as rude people in traffic is one of my pet peeves), things like that. The women I look up to are gracious people - I wonder if they ever felt like I do but have changed through God's grace into who they are today?
    God bless
    Tracy

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a good question. I'd bet they changed... or had to work at it lol. Things to think about :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You have no idea how much I needed this. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. KathiAnn, I'm glad this could help you. That's what I want. God really knows what people need and when :)

    ReplyDelete