Proverbs

I have a bit of a soft spot for the Book of Proverbs. It is a very down-to-earth book. It's very useful; it's very practical with daily life. This morning we're looking at Chapters 25 to Chapter 29, and a little bit like a box of chocolates, there are a few proverbs that are little personal favourites of mine—and the coffee creams go first, the chewy toffees never go—and some of my favourites occur in these five chapters we're looking at this morning.

When I was an undergraduate at university, we had a week-long series of events for people who are not yet Christians to come and find out about the Lord Jesus. We had a series of talks, one a night for a week, on Luke's Gospel, and the speaker was the now late Australian evangelist John Chapman — Chappo to his friends.

Are you somebody who is motivated by a carrot or a stick? If you're faced with a choice, are you more motivated to make the right choice by the appeal of the right one, or the fear of what may go wrong if you take the wrong choice?

At work, what incentivises you to put in that little bit of extra effort? Is it the idea that you might be noticed and so rewarded, or the fear that your career could be harmed if you just work to rule?

How about with Jesus? Is his appeal one of carrot or stick?