Proverbs 14:29–30: He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly. A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones.
Insight
Being patient under trying circumstances evidences wisdom, but an impatient person who loses control of his temper reveals folly. The Hebrew (displays) means “to exalt or lift up for show.” Controlling one’s temper is always wise, and losing it is never wise!
A person’s emotions affect his physical condition, as it is well known today. A heart at peace (“a mind of health,” i.e., a healthy disposition) helps produce a healthy body, but envy, an ardent agitating desire to have or achieve what one sees in others, produces adverse effects physically. 1
Application
In 1 Corinthians 13:6–7 we learn that “Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
To experience that level of love, it takes a tremendous amount of patience that is willing to preserver through every high and every low. Are you willing to make that kind of commitment? Will you renew that commitment today?
Motivation
But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Matthew 5:22
The cause of anger toward others is often rooted in an unresolved anger towards God for the unhappy circumstances He allowed. – TWEET IT
Prayer
Father, please remove any root of bitterness in my heart.
1. Walvoord, John F., & Zuck, R. B., Dallas Theological Seminary. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
