Priorities in Establishing a Home

Proverbs 24:23–34
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The following topics are discussed in this section:

1.           Partiality in judging (vv. 23-26) It is never good to operate on preferences when making judgments of people. To judge between persons based on preference is to turn justice into injustice.

2.            Priorities in establishing a home (v. 27) A person needs to be certain that a well-ordered life has been established before entering marriage. Think of all the problems in marriages that could be avoided today if this principle was followed. There are so many young couples who get married without even thinking about how they are going to pay their bills.

3.        Principles of false witnessing (vv. 28-29) To appear as a witness against your neighbor to get revenge is certainly wrong. The servant of the Lord must place all retribution in His hands for He hath said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay ...”  (Romans 12:19).

4.            Problems related to laziness (vv. 30-34) The writer makes some observations about laziness and draws some conclusions about its consequences.  The field of a lazy person is filled with thorns. There is fruit and the walls of stone are broken down. The weeds of evil habits will have overtaken his life and he is destined for ruin. Staying in bed and resting when it is time to work leads to poverty.

Application

In my many years of life and ministry I have had to stop and evaluate my life and ministry often. It is so easy to get sidetracked running down rabbit trails. It is always best to keep my mind focused on the Lord and seeking his direction day by day (Matt. 6:33).