After church this morning, I listened to Curtis Bowers “Agenda Weekly”. If you haven’t heard of Agenda Weekly or Curtis, I would encourage you to look him up and take the time to listen to what he has to say each week. He pretty much gives a Christian World view to what is happening in these United States and the world.
Curtis read an email that he had gotten from a listener who thought that he used the word “stupid” too much and Curtis apologized and admitted that he needed to come up with a different word.
Many year ago, when I was doing quite a bit of substitute teaching, I walked into an art room one morning and saw a sign that said “Do Not use the “s” word”. They say curiosity killed the cat but being curious, I had to ask the first class what the “s” word was…they were hesitant to say the word but I really did want to know. As some of you probably have guess, the word was stupid. Because of that long-ago incident, I had decided that I wouldn’t use that word as much as I did.
When you decide to not use a word, you can get a thesaurus and see what they suggest to use instead of the word you no longer want to use. Well, I didn’t do that. Seems like I often stumble through life rather than go the easy way out. But as most of you know, I have read the Bible through each year for many years and the one thing I noticed when I would read Proverbs is that the word “fool” was used to denote a stupid person. With that in mind, I often have used food in my every day conversation or even in writing.
After I heard Curtis say that he heeded to come up with a different word, I went to my Bible. I am reading a little differently this year. Rather than starting in Genesis and finishing in December in Revelation, this year I read one chapter starting in Genesis, one chapter from Psalms, one chapter from Proverbs and then go to the New Testament and started reading one chapter daily (started with Matthew). I wasn’t sure how I would like all this jumping around but I am enjoying it immensely. What I am really enjoying is the added Psalm and Proverb each day…getting a little bit of the heart of God and the wisdom of God each day. It will take three months to get through Psalms and then I will start over, it only takes a month to go through Proverbs so I will (hopefully) gain a lot of wisdom this year being in Proverbs daily.
I am using a new Bible this year but a version that I’ve read many times before. I cannot read the same version yearly without spacing out so I do switch versions every year or so. This Bible is kind of special in that my old New International Version was ragged and pages were falling out but I had decided half-way through last year that I wanted to use the NIV. And do you know what the Lord did for me? I went to a house sale late last summer just to see what they had. There, only a few steps inside the door, was a NIV Study Bible still in its original wrappings and in a leather zipper cover for…are you ready for this? $3.00! Brand New! I had my Bible for 2025.
With all that background, I will tell you I am enjoying this Bible very much. I haven’t used the study notes as much as I could because the other thing I do is mark my Bible up with different colors for different subjects so that’s kept my attention much of the time. But Proverbs (now that I am in my second time of reading it this year) does allow me to now look at the study notes more often. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a big “word” person in that I don’t want to look up words in their Greek or Hebrew or whatever but this study Bible has some interesting notes on just plain English words.
I would like to share some of these words with you because it might help use a different word instead of one that the world seems to use constantly.
Fools: those who hate knowledge (Pro 1:22), of correction of any kind (Pro 20:3) and “give full vent” to their anger (Pro 29:11), who are complacent (Pro 29:32) and who trust themselves (Pro 28:26 rather than in God (Ps 14:1).
Mockers: Those who are proud and arrogant (Pro 21:24), who are full of insults, hatred and strife (Pro 9:7-8; 22:10; 29:8), who resist correction (Pro 13:1; 15:12) even though they deserve flogging (Pro 19:23; 2`:11).
Simple: those easily persuaded and who “lack judgment” (Pro 9:4, 16), who are immature, inexperienced and naïve (Pro 19:7).
Ignorant: those who ignore God (1 Cor 15:34; 2 Pet 3:16).
Wisdom: skill in living—following God’s design and thus avoiding moral pitfalls. A grantsman can be called a wise (skilled) man (Ex 31:3). Proverbs urges people to get wisdom (4:5), for it is worth more than silver or gold (Pro 3:13-14). The NT refers to Christ as “wisdom from God” (1 Cor 1:30; Col 2:3).
Prudence: good judgment or good sense (Pro 15:5; 9:25). Outside Proverbs the Hebrew word is used in the negative sense of “shrewd” or “crafty” (Gen3:1; Job 5:15).
With this little bit of insight, I hope this will draw you ever closer to reading the Word of God daily. It is exciting no matter if it’s your first time or your 38th time!
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