Proverbs 18:3
"When a wicked man comes contempt also comes, and with dishonor comes scorn"
This is an interesting lesson in people and wisdom. What God is telling us is that if you have a person who violates the Ten Commandments (wicked), they will also bring with them contempt. In other words a person who would curse, dishonor parents, murder, commit adultery, lie, steal, covet will also downgrade others.
They may be joyful and full of life when you are sharing their sin, but they will bring a level of contempt into your life by their presence. This concept of linkage is a crucial understanding for wisdom. What comes with doing this or that? Many people only see the first activity or the sin and do not think through that action's relatives.
The real key to understanding is to look for and realize the linkages between things.
One must ask questions like: If I marry a person who cheats, what else will I get? If I go into business with a person who lies or is unfaithful, what else will I get in the business and my dealings with them? If I become close friends or marry someone who does not believe in God or acknowledge His primacy, what else will I invite into my life? It is these linkage questions that are so often not asked. Or they are discovered after the fact when the contempt is already there and the scorn is rampant.
Another interesting linkage is the backwards linkage. There is a lot of contempt in this business, this family, this church. Where and who are the wicked who bring it in? If contempt is here, then wickedness is also here.
This kind of linkage must be handled with great skill, but it does give you a great leg-up in understanding and solving people problems.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz