Proverbs 25:13
“As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful
messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his
masters.”
How you clothe a person often determines what others think of them.
How you dress causes people to think of you differently. I could take
one person and clothe them in dirty, wrinkled and unkempt attire, and
many people will never notice them or even want to be around them. I
could take the same person and put a fashionable suit on them and give
them a sharp haircut, and that person will be recognized by many. It is
the same person with different clothing, but their adorning makes the
difference in how others recognize them.
Likewise, many good people have never reached their potential
because they didn't adorn their character with good habits. A person
whose heart is good will never be an influence if they don't adorn their
character properly. Proverbs 25:11-13 reveals three adorning habits
that will help a person to become influential if they make them a part
of their character.
The first adorning habit is proper speech. Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”
A person who uses crude speech will often turn people away. What you
say and how you say it will often overshadow the message that is being
said. You can have the right message with the wrong packaging, and the
message will be ignored because of the packaging. If you want to
influence others for right, you had better learn how to speak properly.
Dirty jokes, filthy language, crude speech and curse words will not help
you to influence others. Our present society has become very crude in
its language. Learn to say the right things all the time. Speak kindly
and properly all the time, and don't lower your speech to the modern
day’s crudeness. You will never regret speaking properly all the time.
The second adorning habit is an obedient ear. Verse 12 says, “As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.”
One of the biggest causes of misunderstandings is the lack of
listening. You won't miss what others are saying to you if you don't
allow yourself to be distracted when they are speaking. One of the
greatest habits you should master with all the distractions of
technology and busy schedules is a listening ear. You learn more when
you give your full attention to listening. You will know better how to
do things if you listen. Be careful that you don't become passive about
listening. You will have fewer misunderstandings in life if you train
your ear to listen.
The third adorning habit is initiative. Verse 13 talks about how refreshing a “faithful messenger”
is to his master. If you develop the character to do what you are
supposed to do without being told to do it, you will find promotion will
be easy to find. The person who is always having to be told what to do
will never become a person who leads. People who can be trusted to do
what they are supposed to do without being told to do it are often
promoted to leadership.
Friend, your habits are the clothing of your character. People will
never see who you really are if these three things are not a part of
your character. Are you missing your potential because you lack these
three habits? Make these three habits be a part of your character, and
you will have a better chance of reaching God’s potential for your life.