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Advice is a piece of illustration or suggestion for anything to be carried out in a better manner. And it is optional.
1. Advice or disobedience.
It is getting an approval for what you think best and not expecting any suggestion. Let’s look at into the Bible.
I Kings 12 where king Rehoboam asked advice over the harsh labour that his father had put on the labourers.
1 Kings 12:7-8
7 They replied, "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants."
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.
The elders had advised him to lighten the burden, but not satisfied king Rehoboam turned to the young men who were serving under him and
they advised him to increase the work load.
1 Kings 12:10
The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'--tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.
He then refused to give them justice. Probably he did not listen to the elders’ advice since he too felt the same as the young men did.
In Genesis 2 We also know about Adam and Eve how they were deceived by Satan and were forced in to his trap. But then it was because they did not listen to one simple advice that God gave them.
Q: How are we today?
Q: Are we any better than Rehoboam or Adam or Eve
Or do we keep up to the advice from somebody, which is according to your desire.
The consequences of both the above illustrations were certainly not good.
Genesis 3:17-24
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Adam and Eve were cursed and banished from the Garden of Eden.
Do we have any excuse for not listening or taking advice?
For Adam and Eve. it could have been the serpent. But did the serpent face the consequence anywhere.
1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
2. Advice on consistent basis.
Taking advice always helps our hearts to rely on God. But advice should always be taken from disciples. For they always think better for us.
Proverbs 12:5
The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.
We should watch our hearts, it could deceive us.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
So we should always rely and pray that God will reveal all our sins through our disciplers and leaders
Hebrews 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
By their advice our lives can be disciplined
Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.
Proverbs 19:20
Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.
Proverbs 20:18
Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.
Proverbs 3:7
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
Conclusion
Let us decide whether we should follow the example of Rehoboam and Adam and Eve or believe that advice can help us to be a better Christian.
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