Read Proverbs 22:15  Oh no!  Here is another one of those verses that talk about spanking!  We don't want to talk about spanking, but the truth is: it works.  Our verse says that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.  Is that true?  If it is, then may be our need for spankings may also be true.  I have had four little children and can answer this question accurately.  None of my children had to be taught how to say, "Mine!"  They were just naturally selfish.  Actually, they had to be taught to share and be nice.  They didn't want to share their things with other children.  They had to be taught to share.  I did not have to teach my children how to lash out and hit other children.  I never had to teach them to bite other children while they were in the nursery.  Quite the opposite, I had to teach them to be nice; I had to teach them to be kind and gentle to others.  That is because we were all born with a sin nature.  We got this sinful nature from our great, great, great, great-grandfather, Adam.  We are sinners by nature and we are sinners by choice.  We all sin because we got our sin nature from Adam and we sin because we choose to sin.  We like to sin.  We like to be selfish.  We like to have our own way.  And our verse says that when we are spanked, we have a sudden awareness that sin is no fun.  We connect our sin with the pain of the spanking.  This is called cause and effect.  Every effect in our life has a cause.  If we are kind to others, we will have friends.  If we are mean to others, we will not have any friends.  This is the cause and effect.  If we disobey God, He will have to punish us.  If we obey God, He will bless us and will not have to punish us.  Again, cause and effect.  When our parents do what God says and punish us for our naughtiness, we don't like the punishment.  So we don't do those naughty things.  We don't like the effect, so we change the cause that led to the effect we didn't like.  We do the right things and we like that we are not spanked.  Again, cause and effect.  Our spankings quickly drive our foolishness out of our thinking because we don't like spankings.  We learn to be good because we don't like what happens when we are naughty.  Our parents must correct us because God tells them to.  And God corrects us and our parents when we disobey because He loves us and wants us to do what is right.  If we are smart; if our parents are smart; we will obey God and avoid correction.  God loves us and wants us to be right and to live a happy life.  But in order to learn, we need to be corrected.  let's learn from our spankings so that we will not have to get many more.

Read Proverbs 22:13  Do you remember what a slothful man is?  What is another word for slothful?  Another good word for slothful is lazy.  A lazy person comes up with an excuse why they can't do their work.  The reason that the slothful man in our verse is afraid to go out and work is - he says - that there is a lion out in the streets.  If he goes outside, the lion will eat him.  That is a pretty big story, isn't it?  Do you think that there was really a lion in the streets walking around?  Or was this lazy man just saying that there was a lion walking around in the streets just so that they wouldn't have to go out and do their work.  Lazy people can come up with some pretty crazy excuses - but a lion in the streets?!  That is a real story!  May be tomorrow the slothful man will say that there is a tyrannosaurus Rex in the streets!  Or may be he will say that there is a ninja warrior in the streets!  What do you think that the slothful man will say is in the streets?  Pretty crazy, don't you think!  Lazy people will say almost anything to get out of work.  Have you ever been so lazy that you used a stretcher of an excuse?  Wasn't that crazy?  Don't be like the slothful man in our verse.  Don't use exaggerated excuses.  Just do your work and don't be lazy.

Read Proverbs 22:10  Do you remember the four types of people that Solomon talked about in Proverbs?  The fool, the simple, the scorner, and the wise.  Our verse today talks about the scorner.  King Solomon talked about the fool and the simple as not being very smart.  But he did have hope for them.  Solomon said that the fool could be made to listen and the simple could be taught, but here in our verse Solomon does not have any hope for the scorner.  Solomon said that there is nothing to do for the scorner but to kick him out.  That is pretty serious.  The reason that the scorner must be cast out is that if he isn't, he will lead the fool and the simple into the wrong way.  I heard an old preacher years ago say that one child is worth all of the gold in the world.  But one child is not worth 20 children.  Do you understand what that means?  If this one scorner leads the 20 kids in the wrong way, then 21 kids will do wrong.  But, as Solomon said in our verse, if we cast out the scorner,  then the other 20 children will not be let into the wrong way.  May be they will listen and become like the wise.  So, we may have to boot out the scorner in order to save the 20 other children who may be following the scorner.  In our verse Solomon said that if the scorner is cast out, then things calm down.  Solomon said that strife and reproach will cease.  The scorner likes to stir up  the pot.  He likes to cause trouble and he likes to get other people into trouble.  So if the scorner is cast out, things will calm down and the kids that are left will probably listen and learn.  After all, shouldn't we listen to our parents and to God?  Shouldn't we listen to our Sunday school teachers and our youth pastors?  But we can't listen to these good leaders if we are listening to the scorner.  So, don't listen to a scorner.  He will get you into trouble and lead you into the wrong way.  If the leaders do not obey our verse and kick out the scorner, then we must obey our verse and kick the scorner out of our life.  If you are around someone who mocks God and good leaders, they are a scorner. Don't listen to them.  Don't follow their bad ways.  Kick them out of your mind.  Kick them out of your thinking.  Obey God's Word and you will never be sorry that you did!