A Motto for a New Year
Proverbs 11:30
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise.


Our first object should be to win Christ. That being attained, we cannot adopt a better motto for life than this, "He that winneth souls is wise."

1. He is a wise man who sets this before him as the object for which to five. No pursuit is more worthy of our energies. No pursuit yields a better return.

2. He who would be successful in this work must go about it wisely. He must himself be wise unto salvation. He must have the tact to discern his opportunities, and rightly direct his appeals. The word winneth (margin, "taketh") is an allusion to the hunter's craft.

3. A wise adaptation to the circumstances and temperaments of those we seek to bless is needed in this work. It will not answer to deal with all alike. Men are not to be taken in the lump and treated after some patent method of moral mechanics. Every human being is an individual, and must be so reckoned and laboured for. No labour or self-denial will be misspent in this holy cause.

(C. A. Davis.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

WEB: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.




Troubling One's Own House
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