Proverbs 14 gives a contrast between the life of the wise vs. the life of a fool (or the unwise). As I read through this Proverb, there were several verses that caught my attention and forced me to ask the question “Am I choosing to live by the standard of God’s word in every area of my life?” and if not “Am I changing to align every area of my life with the word of God.”

Our life is a daily journey to learn what God’s word says and then walk it out-loud for others to see so they may come to know the saving grace of Christ’s love. So the first verse that stopped me dead in my tracks to do a little self assessment was verse 9.

“Fools don’t care if they sin, but honest people work at being right.”

I got out my journal and wrote down my thoughts to the following questions:

• Is there anything in my life that doesn’t align with the word of God and if so, am I staying there?

• Do I refuse to accept God’s truth about an area of my life? Maybe it’s not a refusal to accept the truth, maybe it’s just not trusting God to know what’s best for my life in that area.

• Have I fallen into repeated patterns where I know my actions, words and deeds speak negatively about my walk with Christ? [I guess what I mean by this question is: what do others who don’t know the truth of God’s word see when they watch the way I live my life? When I come to realize what others are seeing in me that don’t line up with God’s word, I ask God to forgive me of (the specific sin) and give me the courage to  to change so my belief align with His word.]

Verse 12 also had me looking inward,

“Some people think they are doing right, but in the end it leads to death.”