Show Notes
The shortcut always looks faster. The workaround always looks smarter. And almost every time a man walks off the straight path, it doesn't feel like walking into sin — it feels like being clever. In today’s episode, Chris works through Proverbs 2:15 and the picture of the man whose paths are crooked and devious. In Hebrew, crooked means something twisted out of its original shape: a path that should be straight but got bent and rerouted. And devious means to turn aside. Here's the catch: Sol...
More from Men's Morning Devotional
What has God already put in your hand that someone else needs today? The man who lives with an open hand gains more than the man who holds on tight. Most men understand hard work, saving, and protecting what they’ve built. That’s responsibility. But if we’re not careful, responsibility can turn into gripping too tightly. In Proverbs 11:24–25, Solomon flips our thinking upside down: the man who gives freely gains even more, and the man who refreshes others is refreshed himself. We tend t...
Do you consider kindness to be a sign of strength or weakness? Every man has felt that sudden surge of anger when another driver tries to merge into “your” lane. Why do we guard that spot like it’s ours, just to reach the next red light three seconds sooner? Sometimes the problem isn’t the other guy. It’s what he brings out in us. In Proverbs 11:17, Solomon shows that kindness blesses the man who gives it, while cruelty comes back to bite the man who dishes it out. Some men treat kindness as ...
If God blessed you tomorrow, who besides you would be better for it? When God prospers a righteous man, the blessing should reach far beyond him. Proverbs 11 doesn’t shy away from a topic that makes some Christians squirm: prosperity. In Proverbs 11:10, Solomon pictures a whole city rejoicing when the righteous prosper, and celebrating just as loudly when the wicked are gone. The difference between the two men isn’t how much they have. It’s where their blessing goes. Don’t apologize for...
Are you living as one man, or two? Integrity means being the same man everywhere, because who you are when nobody’s watching is who you really are. Pastor Steve Alessi opens this week’s study of Proverbs 11 with a question that hits close to home: why do we shift so easily from kid with the buddies, to closed-off at home, to foul-mouthed at work, to Bible-quoting with the church guys? In Proverbs 11:3, Solomon draws a hard line between the man guided by integrity and the man undone by d...
Are you working hard, or white-knuckling the outcome? Monday’s proverb gave us diligent hands that produce wealth. Today’s gives us a blessing that comes with no sorrow attached. Solomon isn’t contradicting himself. Diligence is what a man does, but blessing is what only God can add. Learn how to hold both without being crushed by either. Wisdom is never a formula we can run without God, which is why Proverbs begins with the fear of the Lord. Diligence without that fear becomes anxious ...