The Meaning of Words

Proverbs 9:9 Still Wiser?

One of the amazing things about words is that context matters. If you think about the word still, you might think it means how you want energetic children to change in Sunday School: “Sit still!” Or it might mean what you experience out on a lake when all is still – motionless, with a glass-like surface on the water. It can also mean you have limited time. If a beverage is meant to be consumed hot, we would encourage those who are drinking it to “drink it while it is still hot.” (If it is hot McDonald’s coffee, you might want to sit still until it cools a bit and then drink it while it is still hot.)

It can also mean that something isn’t ending. He is still sick, or the thief is still on the loose. This still has no end – (smile!) Still can also mean nevertheless, as in “even if you are careful, you might still make mistakes.” It can mean “even” as in saying, “we still haven’t been paid for our work.” In photography you might take a video, or you can take a still. A still is a single image of a moment in time.

Still and Wisdom

Proverbs 9:9 says, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” This reminds me that I still need to want to be wiser. Therefore, I am open to instruction.

Still Doesn’t Have to Be Permanent

God recognized a persistent condition from which I could not rescue myself. I was “still a sinner”, remaining in my sin and deserving God’s just wrath. When I was still weak, a righteous Person died in my place. God is both just and the justifier. That is amazing! “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Romans 5:6-9

How to Identify a Follower of Jesus

They don’t want to live in sin. Grace isn’t a license for sin, it is a motivation to walk in “newness of life.” “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:1-5

Five Minute Friday

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up.

All scripture passages are from the English Standard Version except as otherwise noted.