Save your breath to cool your soup!

Proverbs 9:7-9 (NLT) 7 Anyone who rebukes a mocker will get an insult in return. Anyone who corrects the wicked will get hurt. 8 So don’t bother correcting mockers; they will only hate you. But correct the wise, and they will love you. 9 Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.


A few years ago I copied the following from Mike Murdock.  In my better moments I try to live by them:

  • I don’t correct where I see error—I correct where I see humility.
  • I don’t correct where I see disagreement—I correct where I see a learner.
  • When you stopped asking, you stopped learning.  When you stopped learning your present became your future.
  • It’s difficult for me to stay interested in someone who ignores counsel.
  • I don’t control winds, I don’t correct liars, I don’t counsel the disinterested.


Sometimes to be honest, my mother-in-law’s statement is true: “You might as well save your breath to cool your soup.” 

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