Proverbs 23:15

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 honoring spiritual accomplishments:

Proverbs 23:15 (NASBStr)

My son, if your heart is wise,

My own heart also will be glad;

Proverbs 23:15 (ESV)

My son, if your heart is wise,

my heart too will be glad.

Have you ever watched a parent who has just witness their child(ren) accomplish something great or of worth? No matter the age of the child(ren) their chest will puff out and their heads will raise high. That is what Solomon is describing in this proverb. We are so proud of our kids when they make great decisions. We should be elated when they make a decision that reflects glory to God. "If your heart is wise" is the conditional aspect above. But we have to be ready to rejoice over this aspect of our children's lives. We often get happy when they "score a goal" or when they "get an 'A'" or when they "graduate from ...".  Those are, indeed, great things to celebrate. However, we ought to really rejoice over their accomplishment of spirituatl things. Do our children know that we "rejoice" over spiritual accomplishments? Do they realize we get excited about "wise" choices of the heart? Perhaps that is the problem. When they see us get more excited about grades, goals and graduations and accomplishments similar to those three, we will see them strive more and more for those things. If, however, they see us get more excited about spiritual things they will walk with God in the Spirit and desire to achieve spiritual things.   In the psychology of life, you get what you honor. You honor something by praising it.   If we want to raise spiritual giants we have praise spiritual accomplishments.