Proverbs 13:16, By Their Fruit!

July 14, Proverbs 13:16

Luke 16:1-12 “Ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge” (Rom. 15:14).

By Their Fruit!

How much knowledge Christians frivolously cast aside! Do not members of deadly cults and Christ-denying religions often put us to shame by their eagerness to spread their pernicious beliefs? Are we prudently handling the precious Word of God for the building up of Christ’s Kingdom? Let us not be like this fool whose folly appears for all to see and mock. Are we seizing the opportunities for using and spreading this knowledge? Are we the ambassadors for Christ we ought to be?

1. Private Sense! Every prudent man deals (works) with knowledge (16a). The word prudent sometimes has the meaning shrewd or crafty (Gen. 3:1), but, we remind you again, that Proverbs always interprets it in a good sense.

a. The prudent person has knowledge. He knows that sound knowledge is essential to man’s well being. Yet, he is humble, and confesses that all true knowledge has its origin in God. It is given for man’s profit. To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge (1 Cor. 12:7, 8).

b. This prudent person puts what he knows to best advantage. He deals or works with the knowledge he possesses. It takes true wisdom to rightly apply our knowledge. The Greeks taught that “Knowledge is power,” but without wisdom, it can be deadly power! The Greeks also said, “Know thyself”, but, better far, the Bible says, “Know thy Lord!” The prudent does everything with carefully measured knowledge, for his own good, and for the benefit of all around him. He acts with deliberation. He never launches a venture without scrupulous care. He counts the cost before he turns the first sod. Prudence was the distinctive characteristic of Christ’s earthly life (Isa. 50:4; 52:13). Consider closely the parable of the unjust steward and our Lord’s commendation of his actions.

2. Public Nonsense! A fool lays open his folly (16b). Our crimes and foolish actions hit the newspaper headlines quicker than our good and wise actions. Man’s folly is flashed on TV screens around the world. So it is with the fool here.

a. He lays open, spreads out his folly for all to see. It seems to be the rule with the fool that the less he knows, the more his tongue goes. “Frogs betray themselves by their own croaking.” The fool thinks nothing right but what he does himself. He rushes rashly into everything. He talks brashly, yet he knows little or nothing of the subject at hand.

b. This fool knows not that he knows not! He thinks he can do things for which he has neither the knowledge nor the fitness. Thus he soon lays out his folly for all to see and scorn. By opening wide his mouth, this fool only displays his real ignorance, yet imagines everyone thinks he is very smart. He is more often the one who begins a project but cannot finish it (Lk. 14:25-30). “Fools feast forgetful of the reckoning.”

Thought: Our conduct reveals our character. 

Prayer: Lord, make me prudent with the knowledge entrusted to me.