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The Prudent Keep Their Knowledge To Themselves?


The prudent keep their knowledge to themselves, but a fool’s heart blurts out folly. (Proverbs 12:23)
He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” (Matthew 13:52)
          I have problems with this today’s passage from Proverbs. As I see it, there is no use in having knowledge that one is unwilling to share with someone else, especially if that information might benefit that person in some ways. In fact, I use the passage from Matthew as part of my mission statement. My mission is to love the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself by bringing out treasures old and new – by collecting and sharing information. The way I see it, I have nothing of value that I can give other than information and ideas. (Referring back to yesterday’s post, that may not be TRUE, but I believe it.) Keeping my knowledge to myself seems hateful and selfish to me. I could have also shared a verse from Ezekiel saying that if someone sins, and we say nothing, we will be judged. 
          The comparison suggests to me (maybe it’s wishful thinking) that the answer isn’t that we should all keep our big mouths shut and never say anything to anyone beyond “Good morning” and “pass the salt.” The fool’s heart blurts out folly. Keeping in mind that for the people at the time this was written, the heart represented the will, not the pitter patter of emotions, one idea comes to mind. Someone once told me that you never tell people your “go up” goal, but you always tell people your “give up” goals. For some reason, they seemed to think that people will discourage your attempts to do better, but in pointing out your failures in giving something up, they’ll actually help you give it up. I’m not sure he was right, but I also remember sitting in the lunch room being lectured on how I needed to have bigger goals by a man half my age who proclaimed that he was going to – I forget just what he was going to do, but it was big. I remember thinking something along the lines of, “Yeah, well, we’ll see what happens after you’ve been cheated and beaten up a few times when all your dreams have turned to ash….
          It reminds me of another passage, Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:13-14) When it comes to the heart’s boasting, we should definitely be prudent and let our deeds do the talking, rather than the mouth.

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