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Proverbs 19:8 · World English Bible

Proverbs 19:8 Meaning He Who Gets Wisdom Loves His Own

He who gets wisdom loves his own soul. He who keeps understanding shall find good.

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What does Proverbs 19:8 mean?

To seek true understanding is simply to love the mind God created, for the wisdom meant here is not information stored but the willingness to see with love instead of fear. A mind that reaches for this is reaching, at last, for itself, choosing the teacher who shows it its own innocence rather than the one who trades in guilt.

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CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

To seek true understanding is simply to love the mind God created, for the wisdom meant here is not information stored but the willingness to see with love instead of fear. A mind that reaches for this is reaching, at last, for itself, choosing the teacher who shows it its own innocence rather than the one who trades in guilt. This is not self-regard as the ego knows it; it is the end of self-attack.

And the good that follows is not a reward given from outside. To keep this gentler way of looking is already to find the good, because a mind that has forgiven has nowhere left in it for harm to live.

Soul: the Self as God created it, the changeless innocence the mind either cherishes or attacks

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Live Proverbs 19:8 today

  1. Catch the next thing you say to yourself after a mistake, the words you would never say out loud to a friend. Say the friend version instead, in your head, and mean it.
  2. Tell someone you trust one thing you have been quietly ashamed of. Hearing it met with ordinary warmth does more than a year of arguing with yourself.
  3. When you are stretched thin and the first thing to go is sleep, food, or the walk, protect one of them anyway. Taking care of yourself under pressure is not a luxury, it is how you stay able to help.

Am I treating my own mind as something worth caring for, or as something to correct?

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