Read Proverbs 22:7 & 9  Do you get an allowance?  An allowance is money that your parents give you each week so that you can pay for things that you need to.  You may need to buy your tee shirt for your baseball team or you may want to buy Christmas presents for your family.  Some of you are not old enough to get a job, but you can do things at home and get paid for doing them.  My mother had a list of chores - work that I had to do - posted inside of my closet in my bedroom.  I had to brush my teeth every day.  I had to make my bed every morning.  I had to feed our dog and take out the trash.  These were jobs that I could do and earn money.  If I did my jobs, my chores, I could mark them off on my list each day.  At the end of the week, my dad paid me an allowance for the jobs that I had finished.  I got paid 35¢ each week to do my jobs.  When I was about your age, I went to the bank and opened a savings account.  Each week when we went to town, I put some of my money in the bank and the total amount grew each week.  I had money to use for Christmas or camp or a new baseball glove that I needed.  Our verses tell us two ways to have enough money.  Verse 7 tells us that we should save for the future.  We don't know when we are going to camp, but we will need money when we do.  So we have to save for what might happen in the future.  But if we don't have any money saved, when we have to buy a tee shirt for baseball, we will have to borrow the money from our dad.  Then when we get paid our allowance, we don't really get any money because we have to pay back the money that we borrowed.  So, when we get our allowance, we don't get anything!  We owe it!  We can't do what we want to with our money because we owe it.  Our verse says that the borrower is the servant of the lender.  But the second way to get money is that God gives us money.  God says in verse 9 that if we are generous with our money, God will take care of us.  Sometimes we have extra money and our brother or sister doesn't.  We can loan them some money if they have a need.  They can pay us back the loan.  But we can also give them money when they need it.  We give them money just because we care about them and want to help them.  If they waste their money, I don't think God would want us to pay for their needs.  They should save for their own needs.  But sometimes emergencies come up and we might not be prepared.  Sometimes we just have more money than someone else.  If we save, we will have money for ourselves - that's verse 7 - and if we save, we will have money to help others who don't - that's verse 9.  In either case, we should save and be ready for the future.

Proverbs 22:6  Our verse talks about raising children and our verse has a great promise about raising children:  If a parent is faithful and trains his son or daughter the right way, the son or daughter will be faithful and will make their parent proud.  The word  for train in our verse means to bend a sapling in a certain way.  Can you bend a tree?  No way!  But when a tree is young - when it is only a few inches thick - you can bend it.  When I was a little boy I used to love to climb trees.  I would pick a limber sapling that had a lot of spring in it.  I would climb up into the top of it and swing back and forth and finally launch myself out to the side while hanging on.  My weight would bend the little tree over and it would let me safely down to the ground.  I would let go just when I touched the ground and let the sapling spring back up.  Well, almost back up.  It would always stay bent just a little.  After I did this a few times, the little tree would stay bent over.  It could not spring back up.  I have gone back into those same woods some 40 years later and found those same little trees, except they weren't little any more.  They were full grown trees.  But they were still bent over.  They stayed the way that I had bent them so many, many years ago.  That is what the training part of our verse means.  If we train our children early, they will stay that way.  They will stay the way that we train them.  If you are a child, please obey your parents.  If you are a parent, please train your children in God's way.  What a wonderful promise from the good Lord!

Read Proverbs 22:3  Today's verse compares the actions of a prudent man to a simple man.  If someone is prudent that means that they are thoughtful and careful and observant.  A prudent man is one who doesn't drive a car while texting.  A prudent man is one who does his best at his job and saves his money and doesn't waste it.  Our verse says that a prudent man looks out and sees when trouble is coming and does what he can to avoid it.  The simple man, however, just keeps going along and falls right into the trouble that he didn't see coming.  He doesn't look ahead and hasn't even planned for what might happen.  When something bad does happen, the simple man has to scramble to figure out what to do and where to get the money to resolve the problem and how he is going to pay it back.  He doesn't plan ahead like the prudent man, he just works his way out of trouble as best he can.  But the problem is, sometimes he can't get out of his trouble.  He has to depend on someone else to get him out of his trouble.  And that someone else is usually the prudent man who is prepared for the trouble.  Thank God for prudent people, who have money saved up.  God lets prudent people keep the simple from disaster.  Wouldn't you rather be a prudent person than a simple person?

Read Proverbs 22:1  In our verse for today, King Solomon said that a good name is important.  The story is told in Genesis of Isaac and his twin sons.  His oldest son was named Esau and he was an outdoors man.  He loved hunting and didn't care for much of anything else.  Esau's younger twin brother was named Jacob and he was a sneaky boy who schmoozed with their mother, Rebekah.  Isaac was an old man and wanted to give Esau two things before he died.  As the oldest, Esau was entitled to the Blessing and the Birthright.  But Esau wasn't interested in his birthright.  He didn't care about an inheritance from his father.  As a matter of fact, one day Esau came back from hunting empty-handed and chanced upon His brother Jacob, who happened to be cooking some great-smelling porridge.  Esau was starving and begged his sneaky brother for some of the porridge.  Jacob said, "Will you give me the family birthright for a bowl?"  Esau replied, "Sure.  I don't care about an old birthright and anyway, it won't do me any good if I starve to death."  Esau despised his family name.  He didn't care that his father had a good reputation.  He just wanted to hunt and stay in the woods all day long.  But our verse says that a good name is important.  We should respect and protect our father's name.  We have two (or sometimes three) names: Our surname, which is the family name and our given name, which is our first name and the one that was given to us by our parents when we were born.  We carry our father's name with us wherever we go.  We should respect it and try to uphold it.  We should not do anything that would bring shame to our family name.  The last part of our verse says that when we develop a close friendship, we should take care of it just as much as we take care of our good family name.  We should Guard our friendships and our family name more than a pile of money.  We should be careful of our reputation.  Reputations are what others think about us.  Reputations are built up over years and years, but can be torn down in moments by careless actions.  Guard your good family name.  Guard your good friendships.  Both are so important.  Solomon said so!

Read Proverbs 21:31  Today there are many tools that the army uses for war.  They have tanks and cannons.  The Air Force uses bombers and fighter airplanes.  The Navy uses battleships and missle launchers.  But back in Solomon's times they used horses and chariots for protection.  Our verse tells us that Solomon prepared for battle with his powerful horses.  In Psalms 20:7 Solomon's father, King David, said that "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God."  Solomon must have heard his father say words like that because here in our verse Solomon wrote about where his true strength came from: true safety is only found in the Lord God.  David and Solomon prepared their horses and chariots in order to defend against their enemies, but then they prayed to God, who was their true source of safety.  God protected them.  And God protects us!  We may lock our doors at night, but only God can protect us from a thief breaking in.  We may lock our cars, but only God can keep our things safe from someone breaking into our car parked in a parking lot.  We may keep extra money in our purse or wallet in case of an emergency, but only God can protect us from someone stealing our purse or our wallet.  Just like Solomon, we try to plan for emergencies, but only the Lord can truly keep us safe.  We need to trust in God and not just in strong locks.

Read Proverbs 21: 19  Hey, wait a minute.  Is Solomon talking about angry women again?  Solomon talked about angry women in Proverbs 21:9 and he will talk about angry women again in Proverbs 27:15.  I think King Solomon talked about angry women a lot because he had 700 wives!  I Kings 11 tells us that Solomon made treaties with foreign kings.  In order to seal the peace treaty with one of these foreign kings, Solomon would marry his daughter.  The king would never attack Solomon because he would be attacking his own daughter's husband.  But then Solomon needed to make a peace treaty with another king.  So Solomon married his daughter.  And then another.  And then another, and another until Solomon had 700 wives!  There in I Kings 11 we are told that Solomon's great peace treaty plan backfired on him.  Solomon's father-in-law kings did not attack him, but Solomon was drawn into wickedness because of all of the different religions of his foreign wives.  His foreign wives worshiped idols and they talked Solomon into worshiping idols with them.  I think Solomon followed these idol-worshiping wives because they whined all the time.  One would say, "Solomon, you never go to my temple with me.  Why don't you come and worship with me this week?"  And he would.  But then another of his wives would say, "Solomon, you never go to my temple with me.  Why don't you come and worship with me this week?"  Can you imagine Solomon hearing this whined 700 times!  Now we can understand why Solomon would rather dwell in the wilderness!  God tells us in I Timothy and Titus that a pastor must have only one wife.  That is God's plan for peace and happiness in the home.  One husband and one wife.  God did not make Adam and Eve and Sally and Harriet and Francene and . . . well, you get the picture.  God made Adam for Eve only, and Eve for Adam only.  Too bad Solomon didn't think first.  If Solomon had followed God's plan, he wouldn't be writing a verse about dwelling in the wilderness!

Read Proverbs 21:11  Do you remember the three different types of people that Solomon has talked about in Proverbs?  Our verse for today mentions three of the four.  Today we read about the scorner, the simple, and the wise.  The fourth is the fool.  We talked about the scorner back in Proverbs 19:25.  It said that if you "smite the scorner, the simple are made wise."  That is pretty strong.  Our verse here is a little softer.  It says that when the scorner is punished, the simple are made wise.  Some young people just seem to get into trouble all the time.  Then there are others who never seem to get into trouble.  But then there are many of you who fall into the middle category.  You get into trouble some of the time.  Usually, when we get into trouble it is because we forget what we are supposed to do.  Most of the time we are not just outright rebellious, we are just forgetful.  That is how we find this simple young person here in our verse.  But they have a wonderful lesson.  Fortunately for them, they have another young person around them: a scorner.  And this scorner gets into trouble all of the time.  They get into trouble often because they are downright rebellious.  They don't really want to do the right thing.  They want to do the wrong thing.  That is bad for them, but good for the simple young person.  It seems like the scorner is always getting punished.  They never learn because they do not want to learn.  They are stubborn and self-willed.  But when they are punished, or like Proverbs 19:25 even spanked, the simple young person sees it and says, "Hey, I don't want to get a spanking like blank."  I almost said someone's name, but I put a blank there.  Just think a minute.  Would your name go in the blank?  Are you a scorner.  Or are you a simple young person who straightens up when the scorner kid is punished?  Or better than that, are you a wise young person.  Do you know the right thing to do and you do it.  If you are wise, you don't usually get into trouble.  You listen and learn.  If you are a simple young person you get into trouble often, but you are reminded to be careful when someone else is punished.  But, if you are the scorner, well, you never listen.  You never learn, and you are always in trouble.  I don't like to be in trouble do you?  I want to be a wise son of my heavenly Father.  Don't you want to be a wise son or daughter?  If you do, you are already not a scorner.  If you want to do what is right you can.  And, with God's help, you will!

Read Proverbs 21:9  This verse talks about a problem wife.  So you may think, "Well, I am out of trouble because I'm not old enough to have a wife or to be a wife."  Well, that may be true, but there are Bible principles here that apply to all of us.  Jump to verse 19 and read it too.  It says almost the same thing, doesn't it?  But verse 19 adds contentious and angry to brawling in verse 9.  So what do these three words mean?  Well brawling is fighting.  A brawling woman is someone who likes to fight all the time.  They like to fight.  And brawling goes with contentious.  A contentious person is hard to get along with.  For example, if you say that you like the Pittsburgh Pirates football team, they would say that they like Philadelphia.  If you say you like puppy dogs, they would say that they like cats.  But a contentious person doesn't just say that they like Pittsburgh or cats, they don't like Philadelphia and dogs.  They will argue with you about their favorite football team or their favorite pet.  But actually, they may not like either one!  The contentious person just likes to argue.  Whatever you say you like, they don't like.  They have a disagreeable disposition - they are cranky.and always out of sorts.  And contentious and brawling goes right along with angry.  Angry people have real problems deep down inside of themselves.  They are like the Grinch - they are just plain mean!  But let's stop here a minute.  The wife has been getting a lot of grief so far.  But how about the husband who picked her to be his wife.  He sure made a poor decision in wives, didn't he?  So there you have it.  Our verse says several things.  Although it talks about a brawling woman, it is telling you girls not to grow up to be an angry wife.  Do not grow up to be the kind of wife that makes your husband prefer to live in the corner of  the house rather than to live with you!  And you boys, when you grow up, be careful about the woman that you choose to be your wife.  Don't pick a popular woman, pick a woman that you can live with!  You decide who you want to hang around with, and a wife is for keeps!  Don't pick angry people for your friends.  And, don't be an angry person.

Read Proverbs 21:4  Here in our verse God reminds us of three sins.  We clearly know that the first two are sins, but the last one . . . How can plowing be a sin?  We know that a high look is a sin.  A high look means that someone is snooty.  They think that they are better than everyone else.  Their heart is even proud.  And that is the second sin that our verse mentions.  But the third sin, the plowing of the wicked, how is that a sin?  Well, let's think a minute.  Where did the wicked man get the strength to get up in the morning?  Who makes the wicked man's heart to beat?  Who's air is the wicked man breathing every minute?  Who caused the sun to shine on the wicked man's field?  Who sends the rain to water the wicked man's crops?  But does the wicked man thank the good Lord above for all of His wonderful blessings?  No!  The wicked man says to himself, "I have worked hard and made this crop.  This is mine, and mine alone."  The wicked man doesn't thank God for doing most of the work to make his crop.  The wicked man's ungrateful work is sin before Almighty God.  Everything that we have is God's.  He is so good to us!  We should thank him for all He does for us!  Let's be grateful and not sin before God.

Read Proverbs 21:2  The first half of our verse says that everyone thinks that they are right.  When you see someone at church dressed in a really weird way, the really weird part is that they think that they look good.  If someone thinks that they do not look good, they will change their clothes - that is unless that someone is Grandaddy.  Marmie makes Grandaddy wear her favorite tie to church.  You know, that really weird tie. Just kidding!  Just like we think that we are dressed great, our verse says that we think that we are right.  Everyone has an opinion about something, but we are not always right.  That is why half of the world drives Fords and thinks that Chevys are junk, while the other half of the world drives Chevys and thinks that Fords are junk..  But the second half of our verse lets us in on a secret: we may think we are right, but God knows our hearts.  He knows what is deep down inside of each of us.  We may fool other people, but we can't fool God.  He knows it all.  We may think that we are right, but God's way is absolutely right!  We can know that we are right if we follow God's way. 

Read Proverbs 21:1  Did you know that God is in charge of everything?  We have different leaders in charge of our governments.  You have a mayor who is in charge of your city.  Do you know the name of your mayor?   Do you know the name of the governor of your state? Do you know the name of your president?  You need to know the names of your leaders so that you can pray for them.  But our verse says that although we may think that these leaders are in charge, God is really in charge of them!  Our verse also gives us an example.  The water in a river moves along downstream, but we can take a paddle and stir the water and move it around.  That is the way that God works.  God can put thoughts into the hearts and minds of our leaders.  These powerful leaders may even think that these thoughts are their own ideas, but they are actually thoughts that were put there by God Himself.  God is much better at leading us than any of our human leaders are.  Oh, they may think that they are in charge, but God is actually in charge of them!  And God always does what is right.  He is a perfect leader!  I am glad that God is in charge of our leaders, who are in charge of our governments, who are in charge of us.  Let's pray to God thst He would direct our leaders to lead us the right way.

Read Proverbs 20:29  Now this verse is a real problem!  Well, the first half is not a problem, but the second part is.  It talks about gray hair - something that I know a lot about.  Ha, ha!  In the cycle of life, young men like to show off their muscles.  But as the young man ages, he becomes a middle aged man, and then he becomes an old man.  It just seems like yesterday that I was in college running 3 miles before breakfast.  Now I waddle 3 steps to Chick Fil-A to eat breakfast.  Young men are proud of their muscles and old men are proud of their experience.  And experience is seen by their gray hair.  But growing older is no guarantee that you are growing wiser.  Gray hair just means that you are older.  Wisdom comes by listening to God and reading and heeding His Words in His Bible.  Today I finished my work early and I went by . . . can you guess where?  Yes, Chick Fil-A.  At Chick Fil-A senior citizens get free drinks.  So I went by Chick Fil-A and got my free coffee and sat down and read my Bible for an hour.  I Read all of II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.  Isn't that amazing!  I read 5 books of the Bible in one day - actually in one hour!  Did you know that most of the books in the Bible can be read in 20 minutes or less?  It isn't very hard to read God's Word.  We just have to do it.  And by reading God's Word, we become wise.  Our gray hair then shows wisdom and not just old age.  I am glad that I have gray hair.  And I am glad that you have muscles!

Read Proverbs 20:22  Solomon uses a big word here in our verse for today.  The word is recompense.  Recompense means to pay back.  It means to get even with someone who has wronged us.  When someone does something bad to us, our first reaction is to do something bad right back to them.  We want payback.  We want to get even with them for what they have done to us.  But our verse warns us that we should not try to get even; we should not recompense evil with evil.  When our Lord Jesus Christ was dragged into court just before His crucifixion, did He try to get even with His accusers?  No, Jesus answered them not a word.  He knew that they would not be satisfied with anything that He said.  They were determined to put Him to death on the cross.  And God turned around that terrible deed into salvation for all of us who believe on Jesus Christ!  We do not need to get even; we should let God take care of us.  God writes down everything in His books and someday, He will get even for us!  In Romans 12:19 God says, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."  We don't have to get even if God is keeping up with everything.  We just have to trust God and be kind to others.  Someday, God will repay.  He will take care of us!

Read Proverbs 20:19 This is the fourth time we have heard of a talebearer.  Solomon must have thought that talebearing was important to be warned about.  A talebearer is someone who carries a tale around.  They bear a tale.  A tale is a story that may or may not be true.  The truthfulness of the story is not important to the talebearer.  They just want to carry the story around to several people so that they are the ones who are important.  The talebearer will come by and say, "Have you heard the latest story?"  And of course you haven't, so they get to tell you the latest tale.  The talebearer likes to be the first one to carry a story around.  That is why they talk to so many people.  They have to be "in the know."  They are nosy.  They stick their nose into other people's business so that they can carry more tales to the next person.  And what do they say at the next person's?  They say, "Have you heard the latest story?"  As a mater of fact, they will actually add things to the story that they carry in order to make it more exciting.  They call it embellishing the truth but God calls it lying.  Whether a story is true or not is not the important thing to a talebearer.  What is important to the talebearer is that they have a new story and that they are the first to bring it to you.  A talebearer will bring you gossip about someone else and then try to get information out of you.  They want you to join in their talebearing.  But the problem with a talebearer is that when they leave you, they will talk about you to the next person.  They come to you with a tale about someone else, and then they go to someone else with a tale about you!  So when a talebearer comes by with some juicy gossip, just remember that they will be talking about you at their next stop.  Be honest and faithful in your words.  Don't fall for the flattering words of the talebearer because they will turn the tale around at their next stop.  At their next stop you will be the next tale. 

Read Proverbs 20:18  Well, which of you kids are going to war?  May be you are going to fight a Legos Star Wars battle, but that is different.  Our verse talks about counsel, which means getting advice from someone else.  When you are going to do something that you have never done before, it is good to have someone else to tell you what to look for and what to expect.  They can tell you the stuff you might need and how long it might take and . . . well, just about everything that you don't know that you should need to know.  That is what we call advice.  And then the last part of our verse talks about going to war.  Going to was was a serious matter in Solomon's day.  It still is.  Before someone goes to war they absolutely need to know that they are ready.  If you aren't ready, you might lose your life!  You have to know that your equipment is ready and that it is the very best.  What if your sword breaks in the middle of fighting?  You are dead meat!  What if your arrows are not properly prepared?  If just one of the feathers on your arrow falls off, the arrow will fly crooked and will miss the mark.  You will waste your time shooting a defective arrow.  When you go to war, it is good to get advice from an old veteran - someone who has been through the battle before and has come out victorious.  That is the same way it is in life.  You, as a young person, should get advice from someone older and wiser than yourself.  If you don't listen to older people, you may ruin your life.  And remember, you only get one life.  In a computer game, you get to start over when you "die."  But in real life, you only get one chance.  Don't take the risk of not listening to your parents and messing up.  Get good advice and live a great life!  Get good advice so that someday you can give good advice to your children.  Wow!  That sounds crazy!  But you will grow up before you know it!  And with good advice, you will do a great job at life!

Read Proverbs 20:13  This is another verse that talks about lazy people.  Do you remember the other word that Solomon used in Proverbs for a lazy person?  That's right: a sluggard.  Our verse says that if you love sleep, you will come to poverty.  But the second part of the verse says that if we open our eyes, we will be satisfied with bread.  Here is the problem:  If you are lazy, you won't work and you won't have anything.  If you are lazy, you will never save the money for a new baseball glove.  If you are lazy, you will never save enough money for a new bicycle.  But, if you work hard and save the money that you earn, you will be able to buy a new baseball glove or a new bicycle.  Here it is: you can sleep and be lazy, but you will have nothing.  Or you can be diligent and work and save, and you will have many things.  But our verse says that you can't be lazy and have things.  If you want things, you have to work for them.  It's as simple as that.  God does not want lazy people.  He wants people to work and to provide for their families.  Learn to work while you are a kid.  Remember, lazy kids grow up to be lazy adults.  Think about that!

Read Proverbs 20:11 Do you have a kid who preaches at your church?  Probably not.  You may have preached at Master Club competition, but you don't have a ten-year-old who is the pastor of your church.  Most of the time it is an older adult who pastors the church.  But you don't have to be an adult to know someone's heart.  Our verse says that even a child can be known by whether he is good or not.  Let me ask you a question: How do you know what is in someone's heart?  The answer is by what they do on the outside.  If a person steals money, what do you think is on the inside of their heart?  They probably have the heart of a thief.  If someone talks dirty and talks about wicked things, what do you think is in their heart?  Probably wickedness and evil is in their heart.  Last week I read, "Be careful of what you think because your thoughts may become words at any moment."  Isn't that is true?  Thoughts become words and words become deeds.  And you don't have to be an adult for people to know what is in your heart.  Even a child is known on the inside by what he does on the outside.  When someone says your name, what comes to their mind?  When someone says, "Gerald," do they think a good man or do they think of a cheat or a liar or a thief?  I hope they think good things when they say my name.  But what about your name?  What kind of a person have you been building for yourself?  A good person or a bad person.  If you haven't been building a good person, isn't it about time for you begin to build yourself a good person? I think so.

Read Proverbs 20: 7  This is a great verse for kids.  It talks about where we get our good habits from.  It explains to us the key to being a good man or woman when you grow up.  There are some kids who grow up and become great adults on their own, but most kids become good adults because their father made them that way.  When you sneak and steal something and your father corrects you, you learn to be honest.  When you are lazy, your father corrects you and you learn to be a hard worker.  When you sass your mother and talk back to her and your father hears you, he doesn't let you get away with having a smart mouth.  He stops you from being a smarty pants. (Ha, ha!)  And . . .  when you learn as a child to be honest, hard working, and respectful, you grow up to be an honest, hard-working, and respectful adult that everyone likes.  You are blessed and everyone likes you because your father corrected you and made you act the way you should.  And actions become habits.  And habits become character.  You may not like your father correcting you, but someday, you will want to thank him for correcting you when you were little.  Why not thank him today!

Read Proverbs 20:4  This is the fifth time that we have talked about a verse on the sluggard.  God must think that it is pretty important if He has this many verses on it.  I like to go bare foot outside.  When I walk around my back yard, I am careful not to step on a pine cone.  Those really hurt!  But at night, I can't see them.  But one thing worse than stepping on a pine cone in the dark is stepping on a slug when it is out at night.  Ooooh!  Slugs have to be the nastiest creatures that there are!  I despise slugs!  And slugs are the root word for sluggard.  I bet God despises a sluggard as much as I despise a slug.  In our verse, King Solomon says that when it is time to go our and prepare the farmland to plant the new crops, the sluggard doesn't want to go our because he thinks it is too cold.  But if he doesn't plow the ground and plant the seeds on time, the seeds can't begin to grow.  When the weather gets nice and warm, it is too late to go our and plant.  Now it is time for the little plants to be up and growing well.  So when other farmers are out harvesting their crops, the sluggard's plants are just beginning to grow up.  He put them out too late because he was too lazy and didn't want to go our and plow in the cool weather.  When the sluggard's plants get ready to produce their harvest, the cold frost of the fall kills them and the sluggard has no harvest.  You may remember that this is called Cause and Effect.  it is a chain of events like this:  The sluggard's crops don't produce because the fall frost killed the plants - because the plants were too late in maturing - because the seeds were put into the ground too late - because the sluggard didn't want to go out into the cool air to plow the ground.  The sluggard has no crops and no food for the year because way back in the early spring, he didn't want to get out of his warm house and do his work!  My, my!  One lazy day can have such a terrible result!  So what is our lesson here?  Talk about it and then I'll give you some of mine.

Don't be lazy.  Don't be afraid of the cold.  Don't put off the work that you must do.  Don't be a sluggard.  Do your work on time.

Read proverbs 20:1  Wine is mentioned many times in the Bible.  Some people say that the Bible does not say that drinking alcohol is wrong.  Jesus actually made wine at the marriage of Cana in John chapter2.  But Jesus never permitted drunkenness and the wine mentioned in the New Testament was always mixed with water.  It was kind of like Kool Aide.  In Bible times there were no refrigerators to keep grape juice fresh, so all grape juice turned to wine quickly as it sat outdoors.  But Jesus never used strong drink.  Here in Proverbs wine is always spoken of as bad for you.  Here in our verse Solomon even says that wine mocks whoever drinks it.  It makes fun of you.  When someone drinks wine or liquor, they become controlled by the drink.  They usually can't stop with just one drink.  Then the alcohol in the wine takes them over.  Their speech is slurred - they can't talk clearly.  Their vision is impaired - they can't see clearly.  Their actions are slowed and they stumble around clumsily - they can't act clearly.  When people see a drunk person stumbling around, they laugh at them.  They are not in control of themselves.  Their body is controlled by the liquor.  As our verse says the wine takes them over - the wine makes a mock of them.  Anyone who thinks that they can control wine is deceived - the wine is controlling them.  And our verse from God's holy Word says that they are not wise.  Be wise.  Stay away from wine.  Stay away from liquor.  Stay away from alcohol.  Be wise!

Read Proverbs 19:25  Well here is another verse about correction.  But after all, Solomon is giving advice to his son, and his son probably needed correction.  How do I know that?  That is because all sons need correction!  But here in our verse Solomon talks about three different kinds of sons: the scorner, the simple, and the son who has understanding.  Solomon tells us that the scorner will not listen.  He cannot be taught or reasoned with.  The only thing you can do with the scorner is to smite him.  That means a spanking.  Can you be reasoned with?  If your mother tells you, "If you keep on doing that, you will get into trouble" what do you do?  A wise son or daughter will think, "Hum.  I think I had better stop doing that before I get into trouble."  But the scorner doesn't stop.  The scorner thinks he can get away with what he is doing and not get into trouble.  He won't learn.  He won't listen.  He can't be taught.  When I was a teacher in junior high years ago, my classroom was next door to the storage room where the students got a paddling when they were very naughty.  When another teacher took a student into the storage room and spanked them, Me and all of my students heard the spanking.  It was funny, because all of my students sat up just a little straighter in their seats and paid just a little more attention to my teaching.  They were like the simple person mentioned in our verse.  Solomon said that when the scorner was punished, the simple watched and listened and paid attention.  But the best was the child of understanding.  When a wise son or daughter was corrected, they obeyed and changed their ways.  So, what kind of a kid are you?  A scorner who will not listen?  Are you a simple child who follows a scorner and only obeys when the scorner is punished?  or are you a child of understanding?  Do you listen and learn before you have to be punished?  it is much better to listen than to have to be corrected.  I hate getting into trouble.  Do you?  How can you keep from getting into trouble?  How did you get into trouble today?  How could you have avoided getting into trouble?  What about tomorrow?  Are you going to be more obedient tomorrow?  I hope so.

Read Proverbs 19:18  Oh no! I can't believe this verse is in the Bible!  I can't believe that parents who love their children are told here in this verse to actually spank them!  Our verse goes on to say that don't let up just because the kid cries.  Wow!  Is that cruelty, or what?!  Actually, if a parent does not correct their son our daughter, that is the worst kind of cruelty.  Why do I say that?  Well, I'll tell you.  The only way that a child learns self-control is for their parents to correct them.  How does a little kid learn that a hot stove will burn them?  Well, there are two ways: a parent can just let their child burn themselves or they can tell the child, "No, no.  Do not touch the stove.  It's hot."  Which one is the kindest?  Suppose little Willie wants to play with a sharp knife from the silverware drawer.  Should his father just let him play with it, or should his father stop him?  But he really wants to play with the sharp knife.  Why is his father being so mean?  Actually, his father is being loving in not letting little Willie play with the sharp knife. Willie's father knows how dangerous a sharp knife can be.  How about when little Mary wants to play in the street.  Why does her mother not let her?  The street is nice and wide and flat.  It is a perfect place to set up a playhouse.  Is her mother mean in not letting little Mary play in the street?  No, not at all.  Mother knows that the street can be a dangerous place for a little girl.  Mother knows what is best.  What if little Sophie kicks her feet in anger and wants to play doctor with the medicine bottles in the medicine cabinet?  But she really wants to play with them.  Why is mother so mean as not to let her play with the prescription pills up in the medicine cabinet?  I think you are getting the picture.  Children need parents to be in charge of them until they get old enough to be in charge of themselves.  We learn self-control as our parents teach us by their control.  Correcting a child is serious business and parents need to take their job seriously.  And children need to accept a parent's loving control.  Before you know it, you will be driving a car and making all sorts of adult decisions.  And how do you learn how to make adult decisions?  By learning from your parents, who make good decisions for you when you are too young to know how to make good decisions for yourself!  Turst your parents.  They love you and want only what is best for you.

Read Proverbs 19:17  Someone said that God must like poor people because he made so many of them.  Well, that really isn't true, but there are a lot of poor people.  Some people are poor because they use all of their money to buy beer or cigarettes or drugs.  They never have any money left over to save or to buy things that they need.  Then there are people who are poor because they have had bad things happen to them.  They have lost their jobs.  Or they have lost their houses because they didn't have enough money to make the house payments. Then there are some poor people who are married to someone who uses up all of the family's money.  Some kids are poor because their parents have made bad choices.  It isn't their fault that they were born into a poor family.  Our verse last Thursday talked about the slothful person.  Do you remember what a slothful person is?  A poor person may ask you for some money.  They may say, "I'll pay you back next week."  But they may not.  They are poor.  Usually we look at the person and their situation to figure out whether they will pay us back or not.  But our verse says not to worry about that.  God will pay us back!  What that means is that the Lord will take care of us if we take care of His poor people. But we can't just give poor people all of our money.  All of our money would only help them for a few days and then all of us would be poor.  We need to help them to get a job, or to manage their money better, or to save more of their money for hard times that are sure to be ahead.  But being poor is actually their problem,; not ours.  We can help them some, but they need to help themselves.  Actually, they need to get to know the Lord and begin to attend church.  That would be much better for them than for us to keep on paying their bills and taking care of them.  There is an old saying, "You can give a poor man a fish and feed him for one day, or you can teach him how to fish so that he can feed himself for the rest of his life."  Do you know what that means?  Talk about it.

Read Proverbs 19:5  What is a witness?  A witness is someone who is called into court.  A witness has some first-hand information about an important decision that the judge and jury have to make.  They know something that no one else knows and they have to give testimony in the courtroom.  The witness has to faithfully tell what they saw and heard.  But, what if the witness lies.  Will the decision that the judge and jury make be fair?  Will the lies of this false witness affect the outcome of the court trial?  Will an innocent person be found guilty?  Will a guilty person go free?  When false testimony is given, everything turns out wrong.  The wrong person suffers and the wrong person gets to go free.  That is why God hates a liar.  God says that a false witness should be punished.  But the problem is that no one knows that the false witness is lying.  He gives his false witness in court and everyone believes his lies. He has gotten away with his lies.  Or did he... Think a minute.  Does God know the truth?  Does God know when a false witness is lying?  Someday when God judges every work of man, is the truth going to come out?  Will the false witness be found out?  Think about it.  Then the false witness will have to live with his lies for all of eternity.  That is a long time.  Although the false witness may think he is getting away with his lies before a judge here on earth, someday the false witness will be exposed as the liar that he is.  He may get away with his lies here on earth, but he will not escape when he stands before God the Righteous Judge.  God knows all and keeps a record of everything. So, tell the truth.  Be a faithful witness.  Serve God and you'll never be sorry that you did!

Read Proverbs 18: 22  Well I am pretty sure you don't like our verse for today.  Are you thinking about getting married?  Probably not.  But, remember this verse.  Put this verse in your memory bank and save it and remember to think about it some day.  The person whom you marry is so very important.  I am glad that I married Kathy Papastavro.  I remember years ago I was thinking of moving to Maryland to take a job as a maintenance man at a church.  My dear wife asked me. "Is this what you want to do with the rest of your life?"  I thought about it, and said to myself, "no".  I returned to college and finished and became a teacher.  That is what I thought  God had for me.  Twenty years later I told my wife that I felt God was directing me to go into mission work.  She said, "Whatever you think you want to do, I am behind your decision."  And so I did.  I am so glad that I have the dear wife that I do!  She has been faithful and helpful to me for 42 years now!  If God allows you to marry some day, remember our verse for today.  Look for a good wife - or husband - and make sure that they are obedient to God.  If you do, you will be blessed.  I am!

Read proverbs 18:21  Wow!  These are powerful words here on our verse for today!  Sometimes we don't remember the power that our tongue has.  Words that we say can really hurt someone.  Or words that we say can really encourage someone.  I remember instances of each.  When I was in junior high I went to the Bill Rice ranch in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  I was only in the seventh grade and it was high school week.  I was in a cabin with good and bad boys.  On the first night the music director, Bud Lyles, announced that they would having a choir the next night.  Anyone who wanted to come to practice was invited to do so before the service the next evening.  So I showed up.  One of the college students scoffed at me and said, "What are you doing here?  You aren't even old enough to be at this camp let alone sing in the choir."  I was crushed and left and didn't sing in the choir the rest of the week.  Of course, I got over it and I sing all of the time now.  But that night back in 1961, I was hurt.  Sid's word hurt me.  They were only words, but they hurt me.  But I also remember good words that helped me.  Dr. Fred Brown used to preach often at Tennessee Temple College, where I attended.  One night as he preached he said, "If you don't like the person that you are, grow another person inside of you that you want to be."  I remember that night in 1967 that I decided to become a happy person.  I didn't want to be grumpy or complaining.  So i decided that I would be a happy person.  Dr. Brown's words helped me.  They helped me to become a better person.  I still remember his encouraging words.  Be careful what you say.  Your words can help or they can hurt. You can say wicked words or you can say blessed words.  As Solomon said in our verse, out tongue has the power of life and death.  How will you use your words?

Read Proverbs 18:17  When I was much younger and it was raining outside and I couldn't go outside to play, I used to get bored.  Have you ever been bored?  I had nothing to do.  Well once I got the smart idea that I was going to play a game of checkers against myself.  I was going to play both the red and the black team.  I would move a red checker and then move a black checker.  But soon I realized that a game played that way would not work.  Any plan that I thought of for the red checkers to win, the black checkers already knew about it, because I was also the black team.  And anytime that the black checkers thought of a clever move to trap the red checkers, it never worked.  That is because the red checkers could always get out of the trap because they already knew the trap that the black team was planning.  I always knew what the other team was thinking.  Sometimes we need to think like the other person.  We usually know what we are going to do.  We usually know what we are going to say.  But sometimes we need to stop and think what the other person is going to do or say.  We often think that our idea is best.  We think that the game that we want to play is best.  We think that the TV program that we want to watch will be the best.  But our verse reminds us to listen to others.  Listen to what they think and what they want to do.  Our way is not always best.  we need to listen to others too.  Think of when you should listen to others.

Read Proverbs 18:13  In order to make a decision, you need to have the facts.  For example, what would you say if I asked you, "Would you like to buy this candy bar from me?"  If you would say, "Yes" you are in trouble.  You are the kind of person that Solomon is talking about here in our verse.  You should first ask a few questions like, "How much does it cost?" or "Where did you get it?" or "How old is it?"  Would you buy a candy bar if it costs $10,000?  Of course not!  Would you buy a candy bar that I got out of the dumpster behind Kroger's?  Yuck!  Of course not!  What if I had a candy bar laying it the glove box of my old truck for a year.  Would you buy that candy bar?  Absolutely not.  Solomon is reminding us in our verse to think first before you answer a matter.  When you jump and decide something before you hear all of the facts, you are not wise.  If someone offers to sell you something that seems to be way too cheap, ask some questions first.  Ask where he got it, how did he come to have it, or why is he selling it so cheap.  When someone tells you a story that doesn't seem possible, ask them some questions before you believe it.  That doesn't mean we should not believe everyone.  We should trust some people, but not others.  When your mother serves you supper, you don't need to question her about where she got the mashed potatoes or how old the meat is.  You can trust your mother.  You don't need to worry about the food that she gives you.  But someone that you don't know - well that is a different story.  If a stranger offers you free candy, what should you do?  That's right - run away and tell some adult whom you trust.  What should you do if your Grandaddy offers you free candy?  That's right, take it!  You can trust Grandaddy.  Think when you hear something and know all of the facts before you decide.  Be smart - don't be like the man in our verse who is too quick to answer.  He ended up being made fun of and laughed at because he answered too quickly.

Read Proverbs 18:9  Do you remember what a slothful person is?  A slothful person is lazy and will not work when he should.  A slothful person will not go outside and mow the grass.  He makes excuses like, "It's too hot outside.  I'll mow the grass when it gets a little cooler."  But later in the day when it is cooler he says, "I can't mow the grass now because I need to do my homework."  That doesn't mean that the slothful person is going to do his homework.  He is just using his homework as an excuse not to mow the grass.  To be sure, he is too lazy to do his homework too.  Finally, he gets around to mow the grass - except that it is dark outside.  Too bad!  Our verse goes on to say that the slothful person is brother to a great waster.   When the tomatoes ripen, it is time to pick them.  But what do you think the slothful person says?  He puts off the work of picking the tomatoes as long as he can.  He waits several days.  But when he finally gets around to picking the tomatoes, what do you think he finds?  He finds rotten tomatoes.  His laziness has wasted the tomatoes.  When you are lazy, you waste things.  God's Word is true: If you are slothful, you are brother to him that is a great waster.

Read Proverbs 18:2  Here we go talking about a fool again.  Our verse says that the fool has no understanding.  That doesn't mean that a fool doesn't know anything - he just doesn't have understanding with what he knows.  He knows things he just doesn't know what they mean.  It's like the fool knows how to add and subtract money, but he doesn't understand how to save his money.  He just wastes it and has nothing, even though he knows he will need money to pay for his food tomorrow.  He knows but he doesn't understand.  But our verse goes on to say that the fool does know one thing: he knows how to have fun and how to be selfish.  Our verse says that the fool tries to discover his heart. That means that what he wants to do in his heart, that is what he does.  He gives in to his feelings.  He never tells himself no.  Do you know people like that?  Whatever game they want to play, they play.  And everyone else around them has to play their game with them.  Whatever video they want to play, they do.  They don't let other people play.  They are selfish.  They do not tell themselves no.  Every once in a while we need to tell ourselves no.  It is good practice.  We need to listen to others.  We need to let others go first.  We need to let others be in charge.  It isn't that we don't want to be in charge; it's that we should not want to let ourselves to be in charge of us.  We should be in charge of ourselves.  Don't be like the fool in our verse and let our hearts tell us what to do.  Don't just give in to your feelings.  Do the right thing. 

Read Proverbs 17:28.  Proverbs doesn't have much good to say about a fool.  But here in this verse it does.  How strange.  There is a story about two brothers who were wicked men.  They stole, sold drug, and lived evil lives.  One of them died and the other brother asked a minister to say some nice words at his brother's funeral.  The minister said that he couldn't find anything nice to say about the dead crook.  The brother told the preacher that he would give him a lot of money to do his brother's funeral with only one condition: the preacher had to call his brother a saint.  The preacher agreed.  At the funeral the pastor began, This man was a crook and a thief and a liar.  But compared to his brother, he was a saint."  Solomon had nothing good to say about a fool except: when a fool holds his tongue, people think he is wise.  He really isn't wise.  It is just that if the fool doesn't open his mouth, he won't say anything foolish.  And if he doesn't say anything foolish, others think he is wise.  Do you remember the poem that I used in Proverbs 15:13?  Here it is again:

A wise old owl sat in an oak
The more he heard the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard
Why can't we be like that wise old bird.

Think before you speak. Everyone will think you are wise.

Read Proverbs 17:22  I don't like to get a shot at the doctor's office, do you? I don't like to take medicine, do you?  But, when you're sick and can't seem to get any better, you will even get a shot or take medicine to get better.  That is what our verse is talking about.  No one likes medicine, but no one likes to be sick either.  But when you have a broken spirit, there is no medicine to help.  That is except a merry heart.  When you are feeling bored and you don't have anything to do, it is great for a friend to call and to invite you to do something with them.  When you are discouraged, it is good to have a friend to cheer you up.  When you feel like you just can't go on, it is good to have someone who can encourage you.  Sometimes a good laugh is just the thing.  A good laugh is, as the saying goes, "Just what the doctor ordered".  Laughter is good medicine for the soul.  God's Word is right.  A merry heart will lift your spirit. 

Read Proverbs 17:17  Our verse today is much like our verse yesterday.  It talks about good friends.  It says that friends love at all times.  It is good to have a friend to laugh with you and talk about funny things.  But it is even better to have a friend to stick by you when you are having a bad day and things aren't very funny.  Everyone likes you when you are having a good day, but only your best friends stick by you when you are having a bad day.  That's what friends are for.  They enjoy the good times, and they stick by you in the bad times.  The last half of our verse uses a new word: adversity.  Adversity means anything that is contrary or something that goes the wrong way.  For example, when you pet your dog, you stroke your hand down her back.  You can't rub your hand up her back - that is rubbing the wrong way.  Adversity means things are rubbing you the wrong way.  Our verse says that brothers are born for adversity.  When you have a problem - and I mean a real problem - you can count on a dear friend.  Someone who is either a real brother or like a brother.  We all need a few friends who we can count on.  We'll learn more about a true friend in Chapter 18.

Read Proverbs 17:9  Have you ever had an embarrassing moment?  You felt like crawling in a hole, didn't you?  Do you remember when one of your friends had an embarrassing moment?  When a friend trips and falls and spills their drink at McDonald's your first thought is to laugh, because it is a funny situation.  But then immediately, you feel sorry for them, and you probably run over to help them up and then quickly help to clean up the mess.  That is what our verse is talking about.  It is talking about two opposite reactions to a situation.  When your friend has a problem you can either make fun of them, or you can try to help them out of the problem.  Solomon says that a true friend will help their friend out of the problem.  A false friend will laugh and tell someone else about the problem so that they will laugh too.  But when a friend sees you and another friend laughing at them, they will no longer trust you.  You have hurt their feelings.  They will no longer be your friend.  Remember, when problems come, you can either help solve the problem or you can gossip about the person who has the problem.  You can either help your friend, or you can laugh at your friend.  Actually, if you laugh at your friend, they are your former friend.  Get it?

Proverbs 17:5  Have you ever made fun of someone?  It is easy to pick on someone who is not able to defend themselves.  They may walk with a have a limp.  They may wear thick glasses.  Our verse talks about someone who is poor.  One of the kids on your baseball team may not have much money.  He may not have a great bat and glove like you do.  Some of the other boys may make fun of him because he is poor.  But Solomon says that when someone makes fun of someone else, he is making fun of their Maker.  Who made the poor child?  Did you have a choice about what family you were going to be born into?  Did the poor child have a choice about what family he was going to be born into?  When you make fun of another person God sees and knows.  When you are glad when something bad happens to someone else, God sees and knows.  Don’t be mean to others.  After all, God sees us and He remembers when we mess up and need His help.  How do you think the Lord feels when we make fun of one of His children?

Read Proverbs 17:1  Our verse for today talks about choices.  Let’s try some choices:  Would you rather be a lion or a bear or an elephant?  Why?  Would you rather be a famous person or a rich person or to be left alone?  Why?  If you were in a fight, would you rather have a pistol or a shot gun or a machete?  Why?  Solomon gives us a choice here in our verse.  You can have a big house with plenty of food or a little house with just a little food.  But with the big house comes fighting and fussing.  But with the little house and dry food comes peace and quiet.  Solomon made his choice in our verse: he would rather have just a dry crust of bread with peace and quiet than to live in a big house with plenty of food with strife.  I agree with Solomon.  I would rather have family who love me than live in a big house filled with angry relatives.  Which would you rather have?  Why?

Read Proverbs 16:32  Soldiers go through a lot in their training.  When a young man goes into the army he first goes through Basic Training.  He is put through weeks and weeks of difficult exercises and drills that are designed to mold him into a skillful soldier.  His drill sergeant yells at him and the recruit has to take it.  His drill sergeant isn’t yelling at him just to be mean.  He is yelling at his recruit to teach him to be tough.  When you see a soldier, you see a powerful, skillful, killing machine.  But our verse says that a man who can control his temper is even more powerful than that skillful soldier.  It goes on to say that a man who can rule his spirit well is better than a mighty general who captures a city in a battle.  Solomon says that self control is better than military might. 

Read Proverbs 16:31  This is a great verse because it talks about me!  I have a hoary head.  Can you guess what a hoary head means?  It means gray hair.  Most people don’t like gray hair because it means they are old.  But I like my gray hair because it makes people be nice to me.  I don’t have to work as hard as others because I am just an old man.  I don’t have to remember everything because everyone knows that I am just an old man.  I can take naps and go to bed early because I am an old man.  I like my gray hairs.  If you have been a Christian a long as I have, you know how faithful God can be.  I have learned to trust God.  You are young and just learning to trust God.  My gray hair is like my crown – a crown that the good Llord has given me to wear.  It is great!

Read Proverbs 16:24  When I was a little boy, I used to go to West Virginia for three weeks in the summer to stay with my grandparents.  Papaw had a small farm and worked as a plumber each day.  Plumbers put together the pipes in houses that bring in fresh water and take away waste water.  Papaw had a chicken house and sold eggs.  We had to gather the eggs and wash them.  Then we had to grade them, which means to put them in cartons by their size.  Papaw also had a hog which ate all of the table scraps.  He had a cow and a calf; the cow, which he milked twice a day and the calf, which he grew all year and slaughtered in the fall for meat.  From the house to the barn was a lane with bee hives on one side.  Hundreds of honey bees flew back and forth from the hive gathering nectar.  Those honey bees never bothered us as we walked by.  They were busy working to make honey.  Papaw gathered some of the honey in the fall leaving the bees plenty of honey to take them through the winter.  The bees made beeswax and put their honey in the honeycomb.  Papaw cut off some of the honeycomb for me to eat.  As I bit into the comb, the sweetest taste burst into my mouth.  The sweetness was wonderful.  King Solomon said that pleasant words are as sweet as that honeycomb to the soul.  Don’t you love to hear your coach say, “That was a great hit you just made.”  Isn’t it great to hear your mother say, “Good job!  I am proud of you.”  Don’t you like to hear your dad say, “You made me happy today with the way you treated your brother and sister.”  Those pleasant words are as sweet as the honeycomb.  Use good words to help others and to lift them up.  You can help them to have a great day!

Proverbs 16:18  Wow! This verse gives us a warning.  Someone who is proud thinks that they are pretty good.  May be even perfect.  But the trouble is that they aren't perfect.  When they let other people know that they are perfect, other people think, "Oh brother!  This person is soooo snooty!  They really think they are something!"  When I was in college, there was a young man who was just that way.  He thought all of the girls should be so lucky to have a date with him.  He was always combing his hair - even though he never had a single hair out of place.  He had the best of clothes - and he knew it.  He took voice lessons, even though he thought he didn't really need to.  So one day he was scheduled to sing a solo in chapel.  But when he went up to the platform and began to sing, he forgot the words and stopped.  So he started again, but he forgot the words at the same place.  The president of our college then stepped in and said, "Young man, sit down, learn the words and come back and sing another day."  The young man was humiliated.  But the sad thing about it is that everyone else was glad when he messed up.  The young man was proud.  He was haughty.  And our verse reminds us that a proud and haughty spirit soon leads to destruction and a fall.  Watch out for a proud spirit.  It will only get you into trouble.

Proverbs 16:11  This is an interesting verse that we need to investigate.  A word that we need to look at carefully is the word just.  Just means fair or true.  How would you like to buy a bag of chocolate that had printed on the outside "12 ounces".  But after you bought it and picked it up, it felt a little light to you.  So after you get home you get out your mother's Weight Watcher's food scale and actually weigh the candy.  To your surprise it weighs only 10 ounces!  Would you feel cheated?  Would you be mad at the company who sold the chocolate and lied about how much was in the bag?  That is because your mother's weighing scale is just and the company's bag is unjust.  Back in Solomon's day, the merchants used a balance scale.  When it was empty, the balance scale was perfectly balanced.  Then the merchant would put a one pound weight on one side and then start putting, say, fish in the other side until the scale once again balanced.  The buyer knew that he was buying one pound of fish.  That is if the merchant's one pound weight was a full one pound.  If the merchant had a weight that said it was one pound on the side of it, it should actually be one pound.  But sometimes crooked merchants would have true weights along with false weights in their bags.  The merchant would use the just weight to convince buyers that he was just and fair.  Then he would switch weights and use the lighter, cheating weight.  The merchant would be cheating the buyer, but the buyer wouldn't even know it.  But God would know it.  That is because God sees and knows everything.  When you think no one is looking, they might not be.  But God is.  When you think you got away with something, may be you did.  But not quite.  Although no one caught you, God saw it.  And God remembers. Later when we need a favor from God, and we ask Him in prayer, suddenly we remember our sneakiness and we remember that God remembers too.  So don't cheat.  Don't be sneaky.  Be honest.  After all God knows everything anyway.  Live a just life and never be afraid to come to God.  He loves you and wants only what is best for you.

Read Proverbs 16:8  Our verse uses the word revenue.  Revenue means income or money that you make from your job or from your work.  Back in Solomon's day, people made money from their crops and flocks.  They planted five baskets of wheat and harvested two hundred baskets in return.  That is good revenue.  They had fifty sheep and their sheep had little lambs in the spring and the flock increased to eighty sheep.  That was pretty good revenue.  A wealthy man invested five hundred shekels with a ship captain whose ship was sailing to Arabia.  The ship returned five months later with a cargo of spices and silk and the captain gave the investor two thousand shekels for his risk.  That was good revenue.  Solomon said in our verse that it would be better to have just a little of money with a clean conscience towards God that have a lot of money that had been gotten through crooked ways.  It is better to work honestly for your money than to get a lot of money from selling drugs.  When you get your money the right way, you can sleep well at night and you don't have to worry about someone driving by and shooting up your house because of a drug deal that goes wrong.  Earn money the honest way and God will bless you and you will have peace of mind.  It is not how much money you have, but how you can enjoy the money that you do have.  That is called contentment.  When you work hard, the money that you get is exactly the amount of money that God wants you to have.  And that is enough.  It is all that you need.  After all, God knows what we need and gives us just enough!  He is faithful.

Read Proverbs 16:3  Have you ever thought a naughty thought?  Of course you have.  We all think bad thoughts.  But it is hard to get bad thoughts out of your head.  Let's try something: do not think about the color "blue".  That is the first thing that you think about, isn't it?  Even though you don't want to, you just think about the wrong things.  "So, how do I think the right thoughts?" you ask.  Our verse tells us.  If you keep on doing the right things, eventually you will think the right things.  If you think about being angry with your sister or brother; if you think about talking back to your mother; if you grumble because you don't get your way; all of those will make you think bad thoughts.  But if you make yourself be helpful to your brother or sister; if you make yourself be helpful to your mother; if you make yourself play what your friend wants to play, well pretty soon you will be thinking good thoughts.  Here is the formula for thinking good thoughts.  It is found in our verse.  Do the right things and pretty soon you will be thinking the right thoughts.  Our actions will produce our thoughts.