Faith Venture

Do you ever feel like you’re talking to a wall? OK, wives, no need to think about that one. I get that feeling when I hear political discussions during this quite contentious election season. So many people made their minds up early–usually based on nothing more than emotion–and discussion is fruitless.

We find in Proverbs 23:9, “Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, who will only despise the wisdom of your words.” OK, that may be a little harsh to blanket everyone. But it’s worth thinking about.

First, you can’t have a discussion with people who have emotionally held beliefs. All you can do is listen. Nod your head to show you’re listening. Hold your piece and move on. The only thing that changes that type of person is another huge emotional experience. Hence the preaching method of evangelists.

However, we read in Proverbs 23:12, “Apply your mind to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.”

I suppose it’s my personality type (ENTP if you must know), but I take information in and weigh it then make decisions on the information. It’s not that I don’t have emotionally held beliefs. But I’m always willing to change if presented good evidence to the contrary. People with different personality types who judge first based on criteria and evaluate information as to whether or not they agree ahead of time always amaze me.

I think we need to recognize different personality types. But I think that we would be wise to listen to the wisdom of Proverbs and apply our minds to instruction and our ears to words of knowledge.

This entry was posted on November 1, 2012 at 7:01 am and is filed under Listening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.