A HEARTY ADVICE IS GOLDEN

SATURDAY 21 JANUARY 2023

The decisions we make will always reveal the character of the heart, because the heart determines our choices. This suggests that heartfelt advices can help us to make the right decisions. Hence, many a man is successful not just because they made the right decisions; they make the right decisions that lead to good success because they are successfully engaged with the right friendship. More below!

Reference: Proverbs 27:9 New International Version (NIV)

"Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice."

Beloved, put simply, the heartfelt, genuine counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. Have you ever been in a situation where you are in-between two opinions or you even have diverse views about a decision you need to take? Then a great friend shows up to listen and handle the entire views of the conversation about your considered decision making - to your utmost satisfaction. When this happens, it will be noted that your friend's taughts and candid advice came from the faculties of their heart to yours. And considering our referenced Scripture, you can discern such advice as beneficial, even by sense of acuity. Today's very verse is sourced from the book of wisdom literature (Proverbs), and within the context, the author compared a heartfelt advice from a friend, with perfume and incense that bring joy to the heart.

Have you ever thought of the inviting effect of perfume? Special perfumes are not like a tree that you can simply pass by or a spray that will diffuse or transmit around you, without being noticed or fully experienced by sense of smell. They carry an irresistible savour of pleasant smell, and they are contagious because the aroma spreads to others. The quality ones convey a tantalizing scent of freshly-aromatized tang, which circulates with a permeating influence in the air, and definitely causes us to notice and sustain the effect in the atmosphere of our surroundings, even long after the person wearing the fragrance is gone.

Beloved, in a similar way, a quality friend is cheerfully remembered long after his advice has made you succeed in a matter and when the matter has even been forgotten. In essence, it means that even if your heartfelt advice from a good friend has paid off because you adhered well to it and made good decisions by it, you'll always consider their advice as an expensive one, and you will always remember your friend because of the quality advice, even much longer time than you will remember the benefits of their advice.

Some quality decisions that will count well into the future cannot be made in an impromptu and extemporary manner. This is why sometimes, we need heart-to-heart conversation with very sincere, truthful and godly friends. Candid and honest advices from such personalities are inescapably sweet-smelling. They are like people standing alongside you to treasure or empathise with the in-depth, affectionate exigency in your heart. In short, they are friends of considerable and invaluable importance, size, or worth. Don't ever take them for granted, if you have them in your life. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Proverbs 17:17; Job 6:14; Proverbs 18:24; 1 Corinthians 15:33; 1Thessalonians 5:11.

Guided Prayer:

Heavenly Father, your eternal Word says that just as oil and perfume make the heart glad, so does the sweetness of a friend's counsel that comes from the heart. Therefore I thank you for surrounding me with the right association that flaunts positive influences, bearing in mind that frank and hearty advice is central to good success and tremendous achievements, in Jesus' Name, Amen!