Topic(s): Prayer, Speech, Tongue

The wise man wrote, “Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince” (Proverbs 17:7). The idea behind excellent here is different from above. The word yether comes from a root (yathar) meaning “to jut over, overhang, or exceed” and pictures someone who over-compensates a lack of understanding with an abundance of words. Solomon follows up on the thought, “He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit” (17:27). Again, a still different word is behind excellent here (qar). It comes from an unused root meaning, literally, “to chill; cool; or be quiet.” It has exactly the sense of someone telling a panicky person to “chill out.” We should offer to God “excellent” words (Proverbs 22:20), and speak of “excellent” themes (nagiyd, honorable speech, as a commander addresses his troops on the front lines, Proverbs 8:6), but don‘t count volume for strength. - Allen Webster

“Give Your Tobacco to a Billy Goat”

Topic(s): Moral Issues

• Percentage of children who recognize Mickey Mouse: 91.
• Percentage of children who recognize Joe Camel: 91.
• Number of cigarettes Americans smoked in 1984: 600,000,000,000.
• Number of cigarettes Americans smoked in 1994: 486,000,000,000.
• Number of Americans who die each day from smoking: 1,300.  Office on Smoking and Health, cited in Smart Money (9/96)

See: Rm. 6:12; 14:21; 2 Pet. 1:6.

Things that Are Best

Topic(s): Bible Study

Daniel had an excellent (yattiyr, coming from a Chaldean word corresponding to “preeminent”) spirit or attitude (Daniel 5:12). A person who has the advantage of knowing God’s Word can approve things that are excellent (Romans 2:18; Philippians 1:10), which here means to differentiate between things that are good and things that are better. Sir Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) had it right, “Good is not good where better is expected.”

The fourth biggest maker of women's garments in the United States is the toy company Mattel Incorporated. In the past thirty-one years they have used seventy-five million yards of fabric to make dresses for Barbie dolls! No one would deny a child her dolls, but in a world where many people have no clothes at all it is surprising that the fourth largest manufacturer of women's clothing does not make clothing for women at all.

What the Odds Are

Topic(s): Wisdom

• The chances you will eventually die in a car crash: 1 in 125
• Develop a brain tumor: 1 in 25,000
• Die in a fire this year: 1 in 4,000,000
• Win a state lottery jackpot: 1 in 4,000,000 - Harper Perennial, 1992 by Les Krantz

“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2)

• Chances of your being killed by terrorists overseas: 1 in 650,000
• Chances of your being killed by Americans in Baltimore: 1 in 4,000
• Chances of your being aborted if you are in the womb of an American woman: 1 in 3.3. - What Are the Chances? by Bernard Siskin (Crown, 1989).

"When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble" - Psalm 9:12 (See also: Exodus 20:13, 1 Kings 21:19).

Definition of Morality

Topic(s): Moral Issues

Plato, in a long discussion of justice in the Republic, asked how good a man would be if he were wearing Gyges’ ring, which made its wearer invisible. Would a just man, with this ring on, rape or steal? The conclusion was that a man’s morality is only what he would do if he were safely invisible (See Hebrews 4:13).

Image of Service

Topic(s): Wisdom

Toward the end of his life, Albert Einstein removed the portraits of two scientists--Newton and Maxwell--from his wall and replaced them with portraits of Gandhi and Schweitzer. He explained it was time to replace the image of success with the image of service (See Galatians 5:13).