Proverbs 23:7

The book of Proverbs gives us a lot of instruction on a lot of different subjects. One subject that can keep us in God’s wisdom is Godly Follower-ship. Who we follow; where we follow; how we follow are all spoken about in Proverbs. Here is one of them about those who have deceptive hearts:

Proverbs 23:7

For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

He says to you, “Eat and drink!”

But his heart is not with you.

In the proverb just before this one, Solomon has warned us to be weary of selfish people.   In this proverb he gives us the reason; they are deceptive in their hearts.  The selfish person may be saying to us, "Eat and drink!" when in reality his heart is not with you - implying it is against you.   We might be enticed by food and beverage.   But, we must never be deceived by them.   Selfish people, even in their offerings, are always selfish.    We might see their gifts and think otherwise, but their gifts are for personal motives.   They give to get.  They invite to capture.   Their world is made up with them in the center and everything revolves around them.     Selfishness is not always corse and rough.   We may think of selfish people as caustic and crooked.   However, this proverb tells us that is not always so.  They can be so inviting that we fail to see the kool-aide they offer is kill-aide.   We think they may change and we think they may want to help us and benefit us ... they don't ... their heart is not with us.  We might think of Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss.   Don’t always look at the outward activities someone presents but rather take time to study the inward motives behind that activities.