Proverbs 16:21 · World English Bible
Proverbs 16:21 Meaning The Wise in Heart Shall Be Called
The wise in heart shall be called prudent. Pleasantness of the lips promotes instruction.
What does Proverbs 16:21 mean?
Wisdom is not stored in the intellect but held in the heart, in the part of the mind that has already chosen love and now teaches from that choice. What such a mind offers is gentle, because it no longer needs to be right at another's expense, and gentleness is the only thing that truly teaches.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Proverbs 16:21 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
Wisdom is not stored in the intellect but held in the heart, in the part of the mind that has already chosen love and now teaches from that choice. What such a mind offers is gentle, because it no longer needs to be right at another's expense, and gentleness is the only thing that truly teaches. Harshness closes the one it meets; sweetness opens him, and learning passes only through an open door.
So the mind that has softened toward itself finds it can reach others, not by force of argument but because it has stopped attacking and become safe to hear.
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Christian Psychology lens
Live Proverbs 16:21 today
- Reread the message you are about to send and take out the one phrase that was there to score a point. Send the rest.
- When you give feedback or disagree today, start with what you actually understood about their side. Say it in their words before you say yours.
- If someone snaps at you under pressure, answer at the volume you wish they had used. You do not have to match them.
Who would hear you differently if you stopped needing to be right?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 43
The softest thing in the world wears down the hardest. What is gentle gets in where force cannot, because it meets no resistance.
Buddhism · right speech
Speak what is true, kind, and useful, and wait for the time when it can be heard. Words that wound may be accurate and still teach nothing.
Sufism · Rumi
A harsh word closes the listener like a fist. Speak so that the other person stays open, because nothing passes through a closed door.
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