Stay Away From Hotheads
“Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.” Proverbs 22:24-25
Have you ever thought to look closely at what your friends are like? When someone is a dear friend, we often overlook their not so pleasant ways and just accept them as they are. I guess we all have to do that in some ways, but with a hothead, it is different.
There is something about hotheads that is contagious. When they blow up, one of two things happens. The person or persons who have to experience it will also blow up or they will become intimidated and give in. Being a hothead is not the way to solve a problem. But, worse than that, people visually learn that they can intimidate others and get their own way.
God is not pleased when we control others by anger. There is a righteous anger that is justified, just as Jesus displayed when He cleansed the temple. But, anger is not the way to settle matters. Jesus, that day did not “blow up”, or as my dad used to say, “Cloud up and rain all over them.” If you look closely, He went to the temple the night before, witnessed what they were doing and went the next day to deal with it. He slept on the matter.
The danger of making friends with a hothead is that it rubs off. And when it does, you will find yourself displaying the same kind of behavior and lose all the respect of the people around you. The wise man said that you would “get yourself ensnared.”
Hotheads do not belong in our company. They are dangerous to our mission and stand a good chance of perverting everything we know that is good and wholesome.
So, take the advice of God’s wise man and stay away from hotheads. They will turn on you and they will do their best to turn you into one like themselves.