Proverbs 25:13
“As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.”
How you clothe a person often determines what others think of them. How you dress causes people to think of you differently. I could take one person and clothe them in dirty, wrinkled and unkempt attire, and many people will never notice them or even want to be around them. I could take the same person and put a fashionable suit on them and give them a sharp haircut, and that person will be recognized by many. It is the same person with different clothing, but their adorning makes the difference in how others recognize them.
Likewise, many good people have never reached their potential because they didn’t adorn their character with good habits. A person whose heart is good will never be an influence if they don’t adorn their character properly. Proverbs 25:11-13 reveals three adorning habits that will help a person to become influential if they make them a part of their character.
The first adorning habit is proper speech. Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” A person who uses crude speech will often turn people away. What you say and how you say it will often overshadow the message that is being said. You can have the right message with the wrong packaging, and the message will be ignored because of the packaging. If you want to influence others for right, you had better learn how to speak properly. Dirty jokes, filthy language, crude speech and curse words will not help you to influence others. Our present society has become very crude in its language. Learn to say the right things all the time. Speak kindly and properly all the time, and don’t lower your speech to the modern day’s crudeness. You will never regret speaking properly all the time.
The second adorning habit is an obedient ear. Verse 12 says, “As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.” One of the biggest causes of misunderstandings is the lack of listening. You won’t miss what others are saying to you if you don’t allow yourself to be distracted when they are speaking. One of the greatest habits you should master with all the distractions of technology and busy schedules is a listening ear. You learn more when you give your full attention to listening. You will know better how to do things if you listen. Be careful that you don’t become passive about listening. You will have fewer misunderstandings in life if you train your ear to listen.
The third adorning habit is initiative. Verse 13 talks about how refreshing a “faithful messenger” is to his master. If you develop the character to do what you are supposed to do without being told to do it, you will find promotion will be easy to find. The person who is always having to be told what to do will never become a person who leads. People who can be trusted to do what they are supposed to do without being told to do it are often promoted to leadership.
Friend, your habits are the clothing of your character. People will never see who you really are if these three things are not a part of your character. Are you missing your potential because you lack these three habits? Make these three habits be a part of your character, and you will have a better chance of reaching God’s potential for your life.