The Christians who have knowledge
“A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.” (Proverbs 17:27-28)
What qualities and characteristics do we need to be a true leader? In response to this question, LG Economic Research Institute mentions 15 common qualities of 50 successful leaders who lead the business in their book “Lessons from the leadership experts, Top” by Tomas J. Neff and James M. Citrin, leadership experts. Only three of these fifteen qualities are related to intellectual or technical abilities, and most of them are attitudes or wills based on soft level of Emotional Intelligence. Here, “Emotional Intelligence” refers to 'the ability to objectively judge one's limits and possibilities, to control one's feelings well, to truly understand the person from the other's point of view, and to maintain a good relationship with others.' Then, why is Emotional Intelligence becoming increasingly the basic qualities for future leaders, especially in the field of corporate management? First of all, as the speed of changing business environment, the values of employees are changing so fast and diverse. Therefore, the leaders must be able to understand and accept the various values and perspectives of their members, and form close relationships with them. In other words, the leaders should be able to demonstrate emotional leadership based on rich emotional intelligence. Only then can they meet the needs of their employees and make them feel satisfied. This enables the employees to be passionate about their work and generate high results. Furthermore, at the organizational level, human ties based on understanding and consideration between the leaders and the subordinates lays the foundation for a workplace or a strong organizational culture that allows them to work well. Daniel Goleman, a psychologist, has published research showing that the difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders depends more on emotional intelligence (EI) than on technical abilities or IQ. When about 80% of emotional intelligence and 20% of intellectual ability are properly harmonized, the leaders can be effective (Internet).
But I think little bit different from what the psychologist Daniel Goleman said. If effective leadership requires 80% emotional intelligence and 20% intellectual ability, I think that 20% intellectual ability should lead to 80% emotional intelligence. In a word, intelligence is more important than emotion in effective leadership. The reason is because emotion that isn’t based on knowledge is dangerous (cf. Rom. 10:2). In other words, I think that emotions should be led by intelligence. And my thought is based on Proverbs 19:2 – “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.”
Based on Proverbs 17:27-28, I want to think about “The Christians who have knowledge” in two ways:
First, the Christians who have knowledge use words with restraint.
Look at Proverbs 17:27a – “A man of knowledge uses words with restraint ….” King Solomon who wrote this says that those who have knowledge use words with restraint. Here the phrase “words with restraint” means “restrain mouth” (Brown). What is the reason? Why do the Christians who have knowledge restrain their mouths? The reason for this can be found in Proverbs 10:19 – “When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.” The reason why the Christians who have knowledge, that is the wise Christians, restrain their mouth is because when the words are many sin is not absent. In other words, if we talk too much, we cannot be without sin. But the problem is that a pastor like me or a Bible teacher must open our mouths to speak and talk. What should we do? I look for the answer in James 3:1-2: “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.” Although in case of pastors and teachers who teach the Bible should say many words, we must become perfect men who don’t stumble in any ways. That is, we must be perfect, just as our Father God in heaven is perfect (Mk. 5:48). In order for us to pursue this Heavenly Father's perfection, we must listen to what Apostle Paul says in Romans 2:21 – “you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? …” We who teach the Bible must first diligently teach ourselves before teaching others. Then, what should those who learn the Bible from their pastor or their church Bible teachers do? I found the answer in James 1:19 – “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” That is, those who learn the Bible should be slow to speak and quick to listen. In other words, they need to be quick to listen to the message of Christ (Rom. 10:17). Then their faith will grow.
Nowadays, as I look back on myself and pray to God, I have few struggles. One of those struggles is about listen quickly and speaking slowly. I think I have been struggling with this issue from the third year of college. While I was serving in the Christian club in college, I think I hurt so many people’ hearts by the words that came out of my mouth. Thus my heart was in distressed. So whenever I came back to my school apartment, I asked God for forgiveness and fell asleep. But since I couldn’t uses words with restraint and spoke out in a hurry, I unintentionally hurt many people’s hearts. Such person like me, the Scripture Proverbs 29:20 says, “Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” So nowadays, I try to think once more before I say something, unlike the years when I was in college, but I am still struggling with it. But I don't want to give. And I want to try harder to be more careful in what I say and speak few words. And I should try not to speak the words of a gossip (26:22). In particular, I shouldn’t say the prayer topics of others who have shared only with me, even to my close friends without their permission. Also, no matter how complimentary it is, I want to be honest but not exaggerate too much. And I want to restrain my mouth from criticizing others. My thought is to be self-reflecting in a balanced way, being generous to those who criticize me but not to myself. And if I share one more thing, I have to be silent when I need to. Look at Proverbs 17:28. I personally think of this passage when I see myself smiling, but I feel a bit pathetic: “Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.”
Second, the Christians who have knowledge is calm.
Look at Proverbs 17:27b – “and a man of understanding is even-tempered.” Here, the word “even-temper” means that the person’s character is calm (Park). There is an English phrase “Be cool!” This means “Be calm!” This phrase is often used to mean ‘Why don’t you calm yourself’ when the other person is excited. The literal meaning of “even-tempered” in Proverbs 17:27 is 'cool of spirit' (Walvoord). This means that the man of understanding is calm in his soul no matter what situation he is in. In other words, the man of understanding had calm character and he can control his emotion and deal with a situation calmly even in the situation where he can surely get angry. Thus, in Proverbs 14:29, the Bible says, "A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly." What does it mean? A person who is slow to be angry has great understanding, but a person who is quick to get angry is displaying his own folly. Are we the people who have great understanding or easily get angry?
The Scripture Proverbs 17:12 tells us that “Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.” In other words, the fool is more dangerous than the bear robbed of her cups. Why is the fool more dangerous than the bear? The reason is because when the fool is angrier than the bear, s/he is irrational. Then if we meet this fool who is irrational, would we be able to react calmly? This is possible to the Christians who have knowledge. The reason is because they can control their temper. Look at Proverbs 16:32 - “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.” If we are filled with the Holy Spirit and our hearts are controlled by the word of God, we can be slow to anger because the Holy Spirit rules over our hearts. So we can keep calm in any situation.
This is the post-modern age we live in. One of the characteristics of this postmodern era is relativism. In other words, people don’t acknowledge the objective and absolute truth (value or norms). Another characteristic of postmodernism is "emotionalism." In other words, this age in which we live emphasizes emotion more than reason. People seek emotional and sensuous things in all areas, and they speak and act as they flow under the control of their feelings. This also reveals as it is in our walk of faith. Rather than building faith on the foundations of the Bible and the biblical sound doctrine, we consider experience, mystery, or feeling more important and emotional aspects are prioritized in worship, praise, and prayer (Internet). But as we learned in Proverbs 17:27-28, we should be knowledgeable Christians rather than emotional Christians. We must restrain our words. We must also be calm. We should be slow to speak, and when we speak we should be careful in speaking. Never should we be swept up by our feelings and open our mouths. We must also be calm. Our character needs to be cold. In other words, we must be able to control our emotions calmly and respond calmly even in situations where we may be angry. Therefore, we must honor the Lord Jesus Christ through our lives.