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Proverbs 23:24 · World English Bible

Proverbs 23:24 Meaning The Father of the Righteous Has Great

The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.

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What does Proverbs 23:24 mean?

There is a gladness in the mind that has nothing to do with pride in an outcome. When the part of a mind that knows the truth watches the thought it has raised choose love, its joy is simply recognition: the child was never anything but innocent, and now the mind sees what was always so.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 23:24 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

There is a gladness in the mind that has nothing to do with pride in an outcome. When the part of a mind that knows the truth watches the thought it has raised choose love, its joy is simply recognition: the child was never anything but innocent, and now the mind sees what was always so. This is not a reward earned by good behavior. It is what happens whenever a thought is welcomed home rather than judged.

The joy comes because nothing had to be fixed, only seen rightly. A mind rejoices in what it teaches the moment it stops teaching fear, because then it meets itself as it truly is.

Father of the righteous: the deeper mind that gives rise to a right thought, the source in which every gentle idea begins Wise child: the single thought that has chosen love over separation, the mind's own offspring seen as innocent

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 23:24 today

  1. When you catch yourself being kind in some small way today, a gentler email, a thought you did not send, let yourself feel glad about it without turning it into proof that you are a good person.
  2. The next time someone close to you does something generous, say what you saw instead of praising how far they have come. Something like "that was a kind thing" rather than "look at you."
  3. In a tense meeting or a stuck group chat, if you hold back a sharp line, do not grade yourself on it. Just let the quiet feel good and keep going.

What in me is already fine, waiting only to be seen rather than fixed?

The same truth in other traditions

Zen

A teacher's delight is not in having improved the student but in the moment the student sees what was already there. Nothing was added, and nothing was ever missing.

Tao Te Ching 2

The sage does not strive and so has nothing to take credit for. The gladness is in things being allowed to be what they are.

Hinduism · Upanishads

The self seeing itself has no cause for pride, only recognition. The seer and the seen are one, and the joy of that is quiet.

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