Proverbs 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Is anyone worse than a fool? Yes, a proud person who thinks he is right! A fool is stupid, but he may be able to learn a few simple things. There is little hope for a scornful man, one too proud to be corrected. How will you help him? He is convinced he has no faults.

Self-confidence and self-righteousness are damning. They lock a person into the conceit of their own deceived heart and mind, for they cannot imagine that their ideas and thoughts could be wrong. They arrogantly ignore and reject advice, no matter how worthy of their consideration. Safety from such folly is by humbly mistrusting yourself.

The fool has only one hindrance to wisdom – ignorance. The conceited fool has two – ignorance and self-delusion. He must first learn he knows nothing, which is the hardest lesson in the school of wisdom, and it is usually only learned by severe punishment. The more confident a man is in error, the more ignorant and dangerous his condition.

The LORD wants you to consider such people. You may learn by watching these proud and haughty wretches. They assume they are already wise, and therefore they never will be. They do not even know what wisdom is, let alone the spirit and means to obtain it.

Conceit is a high and haughty opinion of yourself and your abilities. It is pride and arrogance. It is the New Testament sin of being highminded (II Tim 3:4). It is the curse of the devil (I Tim 3:6), who thought so highly of himself he chose to compete with God.

In this proverb, conceit is of your own thoughts. Once you believe you are a great thinker and usually right, who will persuade you otherwise? You go to bed and rise with the same thought – your opinions are better than anyone else’s. You are hopelessly deceived.

The cure is to humbly admit you now know little more than you did as an infant and you are totally dependent on God and His word to learn anything of value at all. The lesson of wisdom in this proverb is to identify haughty scorners and avoid them. They are beyond hope, so do not waste your time trying to teach them. Get away from them (Pr 22:10).

The only absolute truth in the world is the Bible, but conceited persons cannot give ground even to it. They have convinced themselves the Bible is foolish, hopelessly outdated, or written by religious fanatics. If they say they believe it, they will argue that everyone else misinterprets it: only they truly understand the mind of God. They so love their own thoughts they will not accept correction from God or His ambassadors!

Consider how educators, the media, and entertainers all fulfill this proverb for you to see. Their bloated conceit from learning, power to influence public opinion, and social status cause them to despise and reject truth. So God has blinded them to even basic wisdom, as their dysfunctional lives prove to wise observers (I Cor 1:19-20; 3:18-20).

They hallucinate in their proud minds that men came from monkeys, which came from amoebas, which came from an accidental explosion of cosmic gases. What wisdom! What glory! What an accomplishment! The God of heaven ridicules their thinking as “profane and vain babblings” and “science falsely so called” (I Tim 6:20). They make science their conceit, and conceit their science. They are fools without any hope.

But the Most High God is not amused by their arrogant stupidity. He laughs at their ignorance and coming judgment, but He is not amused by their rejection of the truth He offers (Ps 2:4-5; 37:13; Pr 1:24-27). He darkens their hearts and removes even common sense to commit abominable acts with each that he considers appropriate for their deeds.

He sends them down below brute beasts to sexually defile each other (Rom 1:18-27). Good men will agree with Paul that their base sexual perversion is a fitting reward. Are they ashamed? No way! They glorify it, promote it, and protect it (Pr 5:23; 26:11; Ps 49:13).  They cannot grasp that they have been found out and cursed by their Creator.

The first lesson of this proverb is to identify such people. When you meet fools, you rebuke their folly in order to keep them from conceit (Pr 26:5). But when you realize they are the haughty scorners of this proverb, you should leave them to their wicked fantasies (Pr 26:4; 9:7-8). Further attention, honor, or debate is unproductive and dangerous (Matt 7:6). Let the blind lead the blind into the ditch, as Jesus would say (Matt 15:14).

Children must be taught early that they know nothing and teenagers know less. Do not worry about their self-esteem, for at birth they were all given a double portion of it from hell (II Tim 3:2). They came into this world messing on themselves, and they have not advanced much beyond that before they reach thirty. Teach them that a humble attitude of ignorance is necessary for true learning and wisdom. Knowledge is just around the corner for the man who admits he knows nothing. Such a man can be taught, and quickly!

Children must be taught that only the Bible has absolute truth and wisdom, and only parents and older godly persons have wisdom worth hearing. They must be taught that the rock and movie stars, athletes, and pseudo-intellectuals of today are worse than idiots, for idiots do not have a rebellious agenda of hatred for God, authority, and righteousness.

The second lesson of the proverb is to avoid being such a scorner yourself. Paul warned, “Be not wise in your own conceits” (Rom 12:16). You should follow Solomon, who told the Lord, “I am but a little child, I know not how to go out or come in” (I Kgs 3:7). You should be like David, who said, “LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me” (Ps 131:1).

Dear reader, crave such humility and a low opinion of your own thoughts. It will save you from much trouble. Tremble before the Word of God with a poor, humble, and contrite spirit (Is 57:15; 66:2; Jas 4:10). Do not trust yourself or your thoughts. Suspect your every motive. Question your every opinion. Subject your every idea to Holy Scripture. Hate vain thoughts, especially if they are your own (Ps 119:13; Jer 17:9).

He that thinks he knows something does not know it yet as he should (I Cor 8:2). If you want to be wise, you must start as a fool (I Cor 3:18). A little knowledge is dangerous, for it puffs up the human mind (I Cor 8:1). True knowledge is recognizing and admitting that you know nothing at all. With such a premise, wisdom can and will be easily obtained.

The temptation is great to violate this proverb, for “every way of a man is right in his own eyes” (Pr 21:2; 16:2, 25). The only safety is to allow the infallible Word of God to arrest and condemn your foolish thoughts (Ps 119:128; Is 8:20). How do you know, vain man, that you do not hold a lie in your right hand (Is 44:20)? Turn the searchlight of God’s inspired Scriptures upon your ideas and learn to categorically reject any folly.

Then you must esteem the safety provided in a multitude of good counselors (Pr 11:14; 15:22; 24:6), but the scorner will not be moved even by seven good men giving solid reasons (Pr 26:16). No matter what reasons you give, he will invent all sorts of excuses to justify himself. This is a terrible evil for you to avoid and to avoid all infected by it.

A man hasty in speech is also worse than a fool (Pr 29:20), for his only desire is to belch and bark his ignorance (Pr 15:28). He would rather hear himself talk than learn anything from anyone. Rich men also tend to be wise in their own conceit (Pr 28:11), because they have achieved some measure of success, can buy themselves out of most trouble, and find themselves above the poor in most stations of life. Watch both of these men, and learn.

Now, dear reader, you must consider spiritual folly. Jesus severely rebuked the church at Laodicea for its haughty opinion of itself, and He warned them how much they needed Him and the danger of imminent judgment (Rev 3:17-22). You should carefully heed what the Spirit said to this church and throw off any ideas of spiritual self-sufficiency.

The glorious God of heaven considers self-righteousness smoke in His nose! What is self-righteousness? It is saying, “Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou” (Is 65:5). It is the older brother resenting a celebration for the prodigal’s return (Luke 15:25-32). It is any thought you are not the chief of sinners (I Tim 1:15).

Jesus Christ ridiculed the arrogant Pharisee who prayed conceitedly in self-righteousness about his superiority to the publican (Luke 18:9-14). He rebuked haughty religious pretenders by announcing that harlots went into the kingdom of heaven before them (Matt 21:31). Dear reader, there is nothing more dangerous to the salvation of your soul than conceited self-righteousness. Hate it with a fervent and perfect hatred. Get down!

He who comes to Jesus helpless, naked, and poor will be received into everlasting pleasure above. Those who boast about their good deeds will be cast out! You should say humbly and sincerely with the songwriter, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.” Jesus said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (Jn 6:37).

Proverbs 5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.

 Bastards are a big problem, especially to kings. Solomon warned his son to avoid whores, lest he pollute his family tree. A wise man delights in a legitimate family of children, but one consequence of sexual sin can be the painful difficulties of bastards or stepchildren. Sex is mainly for pleasure, though a church in Rome says different. Sex is also to reproduce, as a husband and wife can create a family by God blessing their lovemaking. Such a marriage is called wedlock, because other spouses or children are locked out! Solomon warned his son against sexual sins (Pr 5:1-23).
 Though the world calls it casual sex, God calls it fornication, adultery, and whoredom, and He will judge every violator (Heb 13:4). As part of the lesson, he exhorted his son to maximize his sexual pleasure with his wife only (Pr 5:15,19-20). He then added the precious incentive of having a legitimate family without any confusion of it by other women or children (Pr 5:16-18). The plural pronoun “them” in the first clause, “Let them be only thine own,” are the fountains and rivers of waters of the previous verse, which are the legitimate children and descendants of a good and noble man (Pr 5:16).
The children must all be legitimate by his lawful wife to maximize the pleasure, peace, reputation, and power of a great family. Godly men, great men, understand the value of a large, happy, and prosperous family (Ps 107:41; 127:3-5; 128:1-6). They know it is one of the great blessings and goals of life. They are not like today’s perverts, who choose other men for their lovers or use women for sex with neither marriage nor children desired. A great family is a valuable motive for godly men to avoid whorish women. Wise parents will include this in their child training. The “strangers” of the second clause are whores (Pr 23:27). Kings have had mistresses from the beginning, because of their power and wealth. King Solomon warned his son to limit sex to his wife (Pr 5:19-20). He used the euphemism “strange woman” often (Pr 2:16; 5:3,20; 6:24; 7:5; 23:27; Judges 11:1-2). She is a stranger in that she is foreign to his marriage bed; he has no right to intimacy with her, for he promised all lovemaking to his wife. Though he may know her well personally, she is outside his sexual territory. God allowed polygamy because of the hardness of men’s hearts (Matt 19:8).
Though He could easily have created many wives for Adam, He chose one wife for each man for a very good reason (Mal 2:14-15) – godly children. Polygamy corrupts families, as the Old Testament history shows, even though polygamy actually involved legitimate marriages. Sarah encouraged her husband Abraham to take a second wife named Hagar. But as soon as Hagar conceived, even before any children were born, the envy and trouble had started (Gen 16:1-6). When each wife had birthed a son for Abraham, the rivalry came out in the open, and Abraham’s polygamous family was ripped apart permanently (Gen 21:1-11). David’s sons fought among themselves, because David had polluted his family tree by polygamy (I Chron 3:1-9). Solomon had witnessed this deadly conflict personally, when Absalom killed Amnon for molesting his half-sister (II Sam 13:1-39). And he had experienced it himself, when Adonijah tried to steal his throne (I Kgs 1:1-53; 2:12-25). Adultery is far worse than polygamy, for there is no commitment or marriage at all. Children conceived by adultery do not have two loving parents, for one parent is missing from the child’s home, and the stepparent may not have strong affection for the stepchild. It is such troubles of a mistress conceiving that Solomon warned his son and you against. But how much worse are children stolen from opposite-sex intercourse to provide children for two men or two women in same-sex sham marriages? Even nature itself condemns such unions and denies them ability to reproduce (Rom 1:24-27,31; I Cor 6:9; I Tim 1:10; II Tim 3:3), yet they want the result of opposite-sex love! Solomon never saw such perversity! The proverb applies even more powerfully against such inventions, for it declares, “Let [your children] be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee” (Pr 5:17). The living and true God, Who limited marriage and sex to one man and one woman, also condemned frivolous divorces – the kind that occur in about 50% of first marriages in America. He hates such divorces (Mal 2:16), and He declared that they are merely a legal fraud to whitewash the terrible sin of adultery (Matt 5:31-32; 19:3-9). These divorces also violate the proverb, for they break up marriages and confuse families with stepchildren. 
The children of God should marry godly and virtuous spouses of the opposite sex for life and build great families with legitimate and loved children, whom they train to love godliness and hate this world’s abominations. May such children see the glory, feel the joy, and know the profit of a godly and real family. May they learn to hate fornication, adultery, sodomy, and unscriptural divorce as enemies of the family. May the fountains and rivers of such godly children increase more and more (Pr 5:15-18; Ps 144:11-15)! The God of heaven has His family of children by glorious wedlock to the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 3:14-15; 5:25-27; Heb 2:10-13). All others outside the electing grace of God are bastards, and He denies them His love and chastening (Heb 12:5-8; Eph 1:3-6; Rom 8:28-33; 9:21-24). Jesus Christ guaranteed eternal life to every one of these children (Jn 6:38-39; 10:27-28; 17:1-4), and they shall spend eternity rejoicing in a new heaven and earth with Him and their Father (Ps 16:11; 36:8; John 14:1-3; Rom 8:17-23; Eph 2:4-7).

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.Proverbs 4:23

  Your heart determines your life. This may be the most important proverb. The favor or grief in your life depends on ruling and training your heart. If you direct and instruct your heart with godly inputs, there is no limit to your potential success before God and men.

Every sin starts in your heart, and your character and speech reflect your heart. You can only pretend to be different than your heart for a short time, for it will quickly regain control and dictate your actions. Others know your heart by your words and choices.

David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). What a description! This should be your life goal! But David guarded his heart by careful self-examination, confession, prayer, friends, singing, etc. (Ps 4:4; 9:1; 15:2; 17:3; 19:8,12,14; 24:4; 26:2; 27:3,8,14; 28:7; 32:11; 34;18; 37:31; 51:10,17; 57:7; 61:2; 62:8,10; 66:18; 77:6; 84:2; 86:11-12; 101:2-5; 108:1; 111:1; 112:7-8; 119:11,32,36,63,111; 139:23-24; 131:1; 141:4-5).

Your heart is your greatest asset, for it can do more for you than anything else. It is much more than the muscle beating 70 times a minute in your chest. You need to consider and prize the inner, decision-making part of you that loves certain things and chooses to do them over other things. Learn to set your affections on good things (Col 3:2; Matt 6:21).

You can keep your heart good, or you can let it become bad. You can be diligent in this project, or you can be lazy. God’s children have an old man that tempts them to evil, but their new man calls them to godliness. Your heart must decide between the two often. Every person makes a series of choices each day. What are you going to do today?

Whatever is in your heart comes out in your life. If your heart is full of good things, your life will show that goodness; if your heart is full of sinful thoughts, your life will show them. The large tests and decisions you will face many times in life are dependent on your heart, and so are the small choices that you make hundreds of times a day.

Is your heart pure? Are you working to keep it pure today? Do you know that laziness in this matter will bring severe trouble and pain to your life? You must eliminate negative inputs to your heart e.g. Hollywood entertainment, foolish or sinful friends, and worldly music. You should feed your heart with godly music, the Bible, prayer, and holy friends.

Jesus Christ condemned the Pharisees for emphasizing man’s outward appearance; He emphasized man’s heart instead. He said the following in two different places:

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Matthew 12:34-35

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:  These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

Matthew 15:18-19

Sin begins in the heart. Lust for a sin attracts your heart, so you think about it. If you think about it enough, you will do it. The result of this choice is death. Protect yourself by keeping your heart diligently from sinful thoughts (James 1:13-16). God sent the Flood to drown the earth for their wicked imagination (Gen 6:5), so hate any evil fantasies.

Think about an evil heart and how it affects the various issues of life. Sexual fantasizing will lead to filthiness, fornication, adultery, or defrauding your spouse – all because you allowed sinful thoughts in your heart. The same is true of bitterness toward others, coveting things you do not have, pride, excess ambition, envy, and other sins like them.

How can you keep a pure heart? Protect it from influences toward sin (Ps 101:3; I Cor 15:33), and supply it with influences toward holiness (Ps 119:11,63; 101:6). Get away from evil things, and spend your time with good thoughts and things (Phil 4:8). This is actually quite simple, but it takes strong personal commitment and discipline to do it.

Since even thinking about foolishness is sin (Pr 24:9), and desiring another woman is adultery in your heart (Matt 5:28), you must often examine your heart with the Lord’s help (Ps 139:23-24). Hiding scripture in your heart by reading, meditation, and memorization will further protect you from sinful thoughts (Ps 119:9,11,15,105).

Jesus Christ sees your heart clearly and fully (Heb 4:12-13), so He will reward diligence if He sees a faithful heart (II Chron 16:9), and He will punish folly if He sees a heart with idols set up in it (Ezek 14:3-8). It is foolish to think He does not see every idea and thought of your heart (Jer 17:9-10; Rev 2:23). He knows you better than you know you.

As David kept his heart, you can keep and perfect your heart. Remember, he was careful and faithful to examine himself, to confess his sins, to pray, to delight in God’s words, to choose only godly friends, to give thanks and sing praises to God. These heart exercises will keep your heart noble and righteous, and keeping it like this will bring God’s favor.

Solomon taught you to work at fearing God each day. He wrote elsewhere, “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long” (Pr 23:17). The apostle Jude put it this way: “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 1:21). You can and will stop loving and fearing God, if you allow sin to harden your heart (Heb 3:12-13). Never forget this proverb, and with God’s help and strength, keep your heart diligently.

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:Proverbs 1:20

  

Lady Wisdom wants to help you. She offers knowledge and understanding day after day to all men. She will not always be available. If you reject her long enough, she will ignore you when you are in trouble. Make sure you accept and obey her offer today.

Why do you keep hurting yourself? When will you get tired of pain? What will it take to make you try a different approach to life? Why do you listen to fools calling (Pr 1:10-19)? You must love death, because you make your choices in that direction (Pr 8:32-36).

Lady Wisdom offers a happy and successful life to you. This glorious woman cries for your attention and affection. She is near you now. Can you hear her in the streets? She asks for you. This lady is Solomon’s powerful personification of wisdom as a woman.

Lady Wisdom wants your attention. She will give you wisdom, which leads to the best possible life in this world and the next. All you have to do is take her offer! How does she state her offer? “How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you” (Pr 1:22-23).

Most people suffer some sort of pain and trouble, year after year, generation after generation. They must love fear, grief, dysfunction, and destruction, because they never change. Parents divorce; the children say they will never divorce; the children end up divorced. A father commits adultery; his son vows he will never do such a thing; he commits adultery. Sin and suffering are endlessly perpetuated from one fool to the next.

A grandfather is a drunkard; his children, grandchildren, and nephews swear they will never abuse alcohol; but several end up being drunkards like the grandfather. A foolish rebel argues and fights with his parents, finally being thrown out to fend for himself. He fights at school; he fights in the military; he fights with employees and employers. His wife leaves him; his children hate him; but he fights on to the very last breath.

A little Hindu girl wonders why a million gods do nothing, why the neighbor’s cow is uncle Rahul, why her religion once encouraged widows to burn themselves to death at their husband’s funeral, why her nation worships the filthy Ganges, why she could be burned to death if her family does not pay a big dowry to the groom’s family, and why nations and people worshipping Jesus Christ are free from such terrible superstitions and live prosperously. Yet she grows up to be a big Hindu and teaches it to her daughters.

A little American girl wonders why there are so many churches and why both pledge and money mention God, when her schools deny Jesus Christ, the Bible, or prayer; why laws protect Pit Bulls but kill unborn children, why she must study hard but the nation supports a welfare class of “disabled,” why two men or two women marry but nature denies reproduction, why she must pay back her school debt but the government does not pay back theirs, and why many of her classmates are on prescription drugs for life. Yet she sends her daughters to the same schools and does not attend any of the churches.

The Creator God offers wisdom through the heavens He created (Ps 19:1-6), through the Bible He wrote (Ps 19:7-11), and through gospel preachers He sends to teach the Bible (Jer 3:15; Col 1:28-29; II Tim 3:16-17). Hear the proverb again: “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets” (Pr 1:20). But even Christians today have turned away from sound doctrine that brings wisdom to fables and entertainment (II Tim 4:3-4).

The Bible is the ultimate library – 66 priceless books handpicked by Almighty God. It is a divinely-inspired and perfect manual of wisdom. Its books include most genres of literature and cover every aspect of life, provide a complete worldview, and answer every philosophical question and dilemma considered by sane men. God gave it to turn simple men into wise men and to declare the truth about His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Lady Wisdom, Solomon’s personification of wisdom, calls for you to take advantage of God’s gracious offer. But most men choose to believe Darwin, Nietzsche, Spock, Freud, Gandhi, or Oprah. What does God do? He rejects their prayers, blinds them to truth and wisdom, and rewires their brains to do inconvenient things like sodomy (Pr 1:20-32; Rom 1:18-32). Lady Wisdom calls in earnest. What will you do today to learn wisdom?

Proverbs 30:15The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:

   

Leeches, or blood-suckers, can teach you wisdom. Leeches are never content or satisfied. They always want more. No matter what is given, it is never enough. Leeches will gladly suck the lifeblood out of a host. How content and satisfied are you? Or are you a leech?

Proverbs can be dark sayings (Pr 1:6). They are often not plain (Jn 16:25,29). They are to make you think, to enjoy interpreting them correctly, and to remember the lesson. The inspired prophet Agur used a creative metaphor to teach an important lesson. God created leeches, or blood-suckers, and He can perfectly apply their most unique trait to your life.

Why is it common to call discontent or greedy people leeches, or blood-suckers? Because that is what God called them in the Bible! Agur wrote these words at least 3,000 years ago, and the Bible has carried this lesson to most languages and nations. Lady Wisdom’s offer of wisdom is very available to men (Pr 1:20-21; 8:1-5; 9:1-6). Will you learn it?

You know the lesson of this proverb by its words and context. Its words introduce four things in life that are never satisfied or content, four things that always want more. Its context lists the four things – the grave, a barren womb, dry ground, and fire. You can easily know the lesson is about things that are never content, full, pacified, or satiated.

What is a horseleach? It is a blood-sucking leech. It is an aquatic sucking worm larger than common leeches, and it fastens on the tongues and nostrils of horses when they drink stagnant water from marshes or pools in the Middle East. Some of them can store blood of their victims up to five times their body mass! When fully tanked, they fall off.

God and Agur are not teaching veterinary science here, so you know they are introducing never-satisfied, always-wanting-more, and never-content persons and things. Agur is starting one of his lists of four things, which occupy much of this chapter (Pr 30:11-31). The bloodsucker is a great introduction, for men still use it to describe insatiable people.

What are the two daughters? They are more things or people of the same character, which the Bible indicates by references to children (Ezek 16:44-45; Matt 23:31; John 8:44; Acts 7:51). The two means no more than does the three, though Agur plans a list of four!  Unless the noun or context requires its importance, the number is irrelevant (II Kgs 9:32).

This obscure proverb teaches a powerful rule for life. Here is fabulous wisdom from God. If you learn this lesson, you can be happy and thankful from today forward, you can avoid the world’s advertising traps, you can keep yourself from many sins, you can rise above the world’s rich and famous, and you can be satisfied with life day and night.

Contentment is a choice and a command (I Tim 6:6; Heb 13:5). It is a choice to trust God that you have what He wants you to have and to be thankful. He commands it because He wants you happy with His plan for you. No one can take contentment from you, once you choose it; and it has nothing to do with circumstances, because it is a chosen mindset.

Hear Paul’s instruction to Timothy, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (I Tim 6:6). Do you want great gain in your life? You can achieve it right now, this very minute. Choose to be content with your height, your parents, your job, your spouse, your looks, your nation of birth, your children, what’s in your refrigerator, your car, and so forth.

Contentment is learned behavior. It is a mindset that you choose and then work at making a habit. Paul learned to consider himself full, even when hungry (Phil 4:11-13). Instead of wishing you had a different house, make the house you have the most happy and pleasant home you can. Instead of wishing you had a different spouse, love the one you have.

Covetousness is the opposite of contentment. It desires what you do not have so much that it upsets your heart and mind and/or leads to considering sin to get those things. The sins of greed and lust will never let you be happy, because they make you think about things you do not have to the hatred of things you do have that could make you happy.

A man fantasizing of sex with the neighbor or porn models he looks at is a masochistic fool! He cannot have the women of his lusts (they would not have him either!), so he is perpetually frustrated. This causes dislike and irritation with the woman God gave him, who is more than enough to satisfy him, if he would but choose to love and invest in her.

Your sinful nature from Adam covets and lusts for everything you do not have so that you lose enjoying what you do have. Young children rip into one present after another hardly grasping what they received, only asking, “What’s next?” Advertising and mass marketing is designed to enflame those lusts, and peer pressure in school only adds to it.

Your flesh has many lustful daughters with insatiable greed, which you must put to death (Job 15:16; Eph 4:17-19; Col 3:5-7). Riches will not satisfy the man who desires them, until it has destroyed him (Eccl 5:10; I Tim 6:7-10). Women will not satisfy the man who craves them, until they destroy him (Judges 16:16-17; I Kings 11:1-11; Eccl 7:26-28). Hate all complaining in yourself and others, and learn contentment with thanksgiving.

The only insatiable appetite you should have is for God’s glory and spiritual blessings (Gen 32:26; Mat 5:6; Rom 9:1-3; 10:1; I Cor 12:31). If God Himself is your desire and portion in life, He will cure your lustful cravings and bring contentment and satisfaction like nothing else in the whole world (Ps 73:25-26; Pr 3:13-18; Phil 3:8; Heb 11:24-26).

Proverbs 29:25

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

Do you care what others think of you? It is a dangerous trap! You can be pushed into sin by fearing others. If you let them affect decisions, you will be tempted to compromise. Put your trust in God and His word only, and you will be safe (Pr 18:10; Ps 119:128).

Fearing man is the opposite of fearing God. It is worry about pleasing men and obtaining their agreement, friendship, and favor, rather than God’s. You are afraid of their displeasure or rejection, so you do what you can to keep their approval and stay friends. Instead of measuring your life by Scripture, you are concerned about popular opinion.

We often call this fear of man peer pressure. The source of it is your peers – your equals in similar positions in life, the same age group or social set. It is pressure, because the approval they give or withhold forces you to alter your beliefs or actions in order to keep your standing with them. Peer pressure pushes you to live like the world (Rom 12:1-2).

The fear of man can come from many sources. Employees can fear their bosses beyond the basic respect of employment. Pastors can fear their members disapproving of a sermon and reducing support. A person can fear a spouse and the domestic tension he or she can create. Scholars or church councils can intimidate a pastor to compromise truth.

Aaron feared the people in Moses’ absence and made the golden calf (Ex 32:22-24). King Saul lost the kingdom for fearing the people and sparing Agag (I Sam 15:24). Herod feared the people, his wife, and his friends, so he killed John (Matt 6:6-11). Pilate feared the people and his political relationship with Caesar (John 19:11-16). Peter denied Jesus Christ by fearing others (Matt 26:69-75) and also compromised the gospel (Gal 2:11-13).

On the other hand, David was not discouraged by his oldest brother’s accusation (I Sam 17:28). Daniel did not fear the lions’ den, for he kept up his daily habit of prayer in spite of the new law (Dan 6:10). His three friends were not afraid of Nebuchadnezzar or his fiery furnace (Dan 3:16-18). Peter and the apostles boldly defied the Jews after Pentecost (Acts 5:29). And Joseph of Arimathaea boldly asked for the body of Jesus (Mark 15:43).

Most Christians today fear men more than God. They are like the weak rulers of the Jews. The Bible says, “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (Jn 12:42-43).

It is impossible to be a true believer and have fear or respect for the approval of men. Jesus warned His hearers, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? (John 5:44.) There were many like these, who were intimidated by the opinions or persecution of others (John 7:13; 9:22).

What are remedies for the fear of man? Be confident in Scripture over men (Job 32:6-14; Ps 119:98-100; Is 8:20). Avoid corrupt or sinful friends (Pr 9:6; 22:24-25; Ps 101:3; I Cor 15:33). Trust the Lord to protect you (Dan 3:16-18; Heb 13:6). Consider the ignorance and incompetence of natural man (Ps 39:5; 62:9; I Tim 6:20). Do not enter associations, as an individual or church, which will bring pressure (II Chron 18:1; II Cor 6:14-18).

Remember that God or truth will never be popular. In fact, anything the world accepts and does not despise is an abomination in God’s sight (Luke 6:26; 16:15). Think about Noah! Would you rather be popular or dry? Think about Daniel! Would you be willing to eat bean soup and water while your peers are gorging on the king’s meat and wine?

Recognize and embrace persecution. It is evidence you are following Jesus Christ, and it is the means of His great approval (Isaiah 51:7-8; 66:5; Matt 5:10-12; John 16:2; Acts 5:41; II Tim 3:12; I Pet 4:12-16). If they hated Jesus Christ, they will surely hate you (John 15:18-25). But no weapon formed against you will succeed (Is 54:17). Believe it!

Young person! You are the most vulnerable. Do you understand and despise peer pressure? It is the young fools of this world pushing you to turn away from God and holiness to pursue their folly and sin. Can you mock their speech, their habits, their dress, and their fads? Do you hate their fornication, rebellion, and cliques? Fear the Lord!

Are you ashamed to be known as a Christian? Can you boldly carry a Bible in school? To work? Do you eagerly give thanks for food before the heathen? Can you easily turn down invitations to join them in worldly amusements? Are you confident to explain that Sunday is the Lord’s Day? Do you confidently wear modest clothing?

Parent, do you fear your children? Do you fear their faces, their moods, or their rejection? Stand up for righteousness and trust the Lord! Eli compromised for his sons and lost everything (I Sam 2:30; 3:13). Joshua put his foot down for his whole house, and he has been quoted for 4000 years for his courageous zeal as a father. Do your job (Pr 29:15,17)!

Husband, do you fear your wife? Does interrupted domestic tranquility cause you to compromise? Abraham was God’s friend for commanding his household to keep the way of the Lord (Gen 18:19). You are to rule over your wife (Gen 3:16). She has neither your office nor ability to know the will of God (I Cor 14:34-35). Do the consequences of Adam listening to his wife, or Abraham to his, cause you to tremble? They should!

Christian woman! Are you intimidated by fashion trends? Do you keep pace with society’s rush to conceal less and reveal more? Can you dress up and cover more, even when others dress down and cover less? What is it that keeps you from valuing a meek and quiet spirit over well-set hair and a new outfit and accessories (I Pet 3:3-4)? Is it peer pressure that keeps you from dressing less than your most flattering in order to be holy?

Pastor, preach the word (II Tim 4:2)! Do not look at the faces of your people for approval (Jer 1:17). Be insistent, pressing, and urgent, both in and out of season (II Tim 4:2). Many men have gone before you that were not afraid of rack or stake. Are you worthy of their noble company? Let them be the witnesses that mold your ministry (Heb 12:1-4).

Pastor, reject the “seeker sensitive” compromisers. The time has come when men will no longer endure sound doctrine, but you are to insistently preach the word anyway (II Tim 4:1-5). God has not called you to grow your church numerically. Do not do anything to increase your membership that even approaches compromise. God has called you to grow your church spiritually. You are to please God, not men (Gal 1:10).

Do you fear enemies, teachers, or ancients? Or all three? By meditating on and keeping God’s precepts, the psalmist was confident against all three kinds of men (Ps 119:98-100). These verses should be required memorization for young men and ministers. Or is it friends that intimidate you? Then make sure your friends all love the truth (Ps 119:63)!

Trust the LORD by esteeming every word of God (Ps 119:128) and knowing no man can harm you (Pr 16:7; I Pet 3:13). You will give an account of your life to God one day, not man (Eccl 12:13-14; II Cor 5:10-11). Fear Him, Who can do real harm (Luke 12:4-5).

Proverbs 28:11

The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out.

Riches and success can be blinding. They cause pride leading a man to think foolishly. A poor man with wisdom can see the rich man’s errors and prove he is wrong. It is better to be poor with wisdom than rich without it. Buy wisdom today, and never sell it (Pr 23:23).

Results prove very little, for many contrary factors often contribute to the end result. A man with understanding, no matter how poor, can dissect and condemn a rich fool. Wisdom is the principle thing for you to get, and it includes sober skepticism of all ideas, regardless of the accomplishments, wealth, or popularity of the source of those ideas.

Riches and success cause some men to think they are great or invincible, though God made them as certainly as He made their poor neighbors (Pr 18:11; 10:15). They must put on their pants the same way, and they generally die about the same age (Pr 22:2).

The rich man in this proverb is a fool – he thinks he is wise by the false value he puts on wealth. He cannot hear the instruction or warnings of wisdom, for he is deaf by a bloated ego from success (Pr 26:16). This makes him worse than a fool (Pr 26:12). He arrogantly assumes he is righteous by his positive results and assumed financial invincibility.

The poor man in this proverb is a wise man – he has understanding. He can look at a rich fool and easily see the vanity of his life. The rich man’s wealth, success, or position does not deceive or distract him. He is able to clearly analyze his actions and identify his errors and sins (Pr 18:17). Prudence and wisdom are not affected by economic status.

Rich men are generally treated reverently, which deceives them into thinking too highly of themselves (Pr 14:20; 19:4). Rich men have many business or financial victories, so they arrogantly conclude they are winners (Pr 18:11). But the poor man, without such blinding influences, is able to discern the flaws and transgressions of the rich man’s life.

Results are deceiving. Moses got water by striking a rock, but God told him to speak to it (Num 20:7-13). You will meet children who seem civilized enough and were never spanked, but their parents are fools (Pr 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15). Men may get rich with speculative ventures built on debt, but they are wrong (Pr 13:23; 20:21; 22:7).

Results are deceiving. Consider them well. What appear to be successes may be God merely using you (Is 10:5-15), the curse of prosperity of fools (Pr 1:32), incredibly temporary (Ps 36:1-2; 50:21), just your limited view of a matter (John 19:15-16), wishful thinking, a placebo effect, or the initial payment of “profits” in a Ponzi scheme! Beware!

Gain is not godliness (I Tim 6:3-5). Godliness with contentment is great gain (I Tim 6:6). This profound wisdom is an essential and valuable rule for life. A poor man with contentment can easily have greater joy and peace than a rich man without it. Christians should be the most content, for they have God as their portion (Heb 13:5-6; Ps 73:25-26).

Do not let riches blind or distort your judgment. Do not envy the wicked for apparent prosperity (Ps 37:1-3; 73:1-24). The truly wise man is able to see past appearances and judge righteous judgment (John 7:24). Never let apparent success in any area ever distract you from “thus saith the Lord,” for that alone is wisdom. The rich shall soon be laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; they cannot redeem anyone from death (Ps 49:6-14).

God chose to save more poor of earth to eternal life than He did of the rich (Matt 19:23-26; I Cor 1:26-29; Jas 2:5). Poor believers should rejoice in this wonderful news (Jas 1:9)! At the moment of death, the rich fool will pass eternally into the bleakest poverty and greatest torment imaginable, but the poor man with faith will pass into unspeakable wealth and pleasure forever. Have you believed on Jesus Christ as your portion in life?

Proverbs 25:12

Proverbs 25:12

As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.

You can make fine jewelry – two ways! This jewelry exceeds anything sold in stores! God perpetuates His truth and wisdom by those who teach it and those who obey it. Are you good at both? It is a beautiful thing for a wise man to teach an obedient hearer.

It takes two to fight! It takes two to tango! Human relations require at least two people. For God’s rare truth and wisdom to remain in the earth, there must be a teacher and a follower. Are you good at both? Do you obey God’s truth fully? Do you teach it well?

It takes two to make fine jewelry. If a wise reprover corrects and instructs a submissive hearer, a beautiful combination occurs that spreads truth and increases wisdom. Do you see the beauty? Do you comprehend the power? Are you a good hearer and teacher?

You have opportunities to be an obedient hearer, like reading and practicing this and other proverb commentaries. This is the first half of making beautiful gold jewelry. You also have opportunities to be a wise reprover, like sharing this and other proverb commentaries with other persons. This is the second half of making beautiful jewelry.

Do you rejoice at the thought of perpetuating God’s truth and wisdom in the world? You should! What a privilege! You first must be an obedient hearer, so you can acquire the truth and wisdom of God to convey to others. Then you need to apply yourself to be able to teach and defend them from God’s word (Pr 22:17-21; Heb 5:12-14; I Pet 3:15).

Think about the effort, expense, emphasis, and honors placed on learning man’s wisdom at universities. Think about it! Only lies and folly are taught at universities in all matters of morality, origins, philosophy, etc. Think about the effort and years to get a Ph.D., so you can be foolish and ignorant enough to believe evolution, global warming, same sex marriages, corporal and capital punishment do not work, deficit spending does work, etc.

Fathers have the fabulous opportunity to teach children God’s truth and wisdom, and God sends those children to fathers as infants with blank slates and obedient ears. Fathers are encouraged to think of four generations they can affect (Ps 78:1-8; Joel 1:1-3; Deut 4:9; Job 42:16; Ps 34:11; Is 38:19). Beautiful! Fathers could change the world, but most have not even learned God’s truth and wisdom to convey to their children, and most cannot think or invest past sending their children to a university to become fools. Terrible!

A simile compares two things by “as” or “like.” A wise reprover giving correction to a submissive hearer is like a gold earring or piece of decorative gold jewelry. Gold earrings are beautiful, and so are other pieces of jewelry in fine gold. Likewise, a careful reprover speaking faithfully and kindly to an obedient hearer is similarly a beautiful thing.

A wise reprover knows how to rebuke and warn those out of the way of righteousness. He is discreet and prudent. He chooses the occasion and his words carefully. He is neither too harsh nor too lenient. He does not enforce personal preferences, but he does apply and defend the Word of God. He approaches the encounter with humility and affection, truly desiring the best for the hearer (Lev 19:17; Gal 6:1-3; I Thess 5:14; II Tim 2:24-26).

An obedient ear is a submissive and ready hearer – ear being synecdoche for a person who hears obediently with their ears. As the noble Bereans, these gladly receive reproof and instruction with ready minds (Acts 17:11). As Cornelius, they want to know what they should do to please God and men (Acts 10:33). They are exceptional persons in that they appreciate the value of rebukes and instruction (Pr 1:5; 9:9; 12:1; 27:5-6; Ps 141:5).

Nathan the prophet and David the king were beautiful! David was guilty of aggravated adultery and murder. Nathan, an inspired wise reprover, came discreetly with a sad and provoking story of cruel oppression by a rich man over a poor man. David, an obedient ear, was righteously indignant at the cruelty and confessed his own sin (II Sam 12:1-14).

The Day of Pentecost was beautiful! Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, was a wise reprover indeed, as he rebuked the Jews for crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:14-36)! Three thousand hearers, pricked in their hearts by this glorious message, were obedient ears indeed, as they immediately wanted to know how to repent (Acts 2:37-41)!

Elihu is one of the greatest reprovers ever! The Bible book of Job tells how God sent terrible calamities on Job to test him. Job and his three friends, four old men that were the wisest men on earth, got into a terrible debate that misapplied truth and wisdom and showed no humility or compassion. The young man Elihu set them all straight in Job chapters 32-37. Every young man should memorize Job 32 for its courage and wisdom.

Wise reprovers are often frustrated by disobedient ears! There is no beauty when haughty, stubborn, or rebellious hearers reject wise and skilled reprovers. Though they approach the offender with care and love, they are rebuffed and hated for daring to correct them (Pr 9:7-8; 23:9; 29:1; Matt 7:6). Jesus Christ, always a wise reprover, was rejected by His hometown, in spite of being overwhelmingly gracious (Luke 4:14-30).

Obedient ears are often frustrated by foolish and lazy reprovers. Sometimes the reproof is poorly given, so the hearers are offended (I Kgs 12:1-19). Other times the reproof is not given at all, so the needy hearers, craving correction and instruction in righteousness, go their way without any help (Jer 23:22; Ezek 33:7-9; Matt 9:37-38). This is terribly true today, when effeminate pastors smiling like politicians never tell them anything of value.

Faithful pastors have labored hard with little fruit due to stubborn and rebellious hearers – disobedient ears that refuse to obey (Jer 25:4; 29:19; Ezek 33:30-33). The blood of the hearers will be on their own heads. Submissive hearers have starved due to foolish and lazy pastors (Jer 23:25-32; I Tim 4:16). The hearers’ blood will be on the pastors’ heads!

Are you good at both? Are you both a wise reprover and submissive hearer? You must be both to please God and men and fulfill a godly destiny. Wisdom is measured by the ability to receive a rebuke or warning and learn from it (Pr 1:5; 2:1-5; 5:1-2; 8:33-36; 15:5,31-32; 22:17). But wisdom is also measured by the ability to give a reproof or instruction to those needing it (Pr 24:26; 25:11; Ro 15:1; Gal 6:1; Ep 4:29; Heb 5:12-14).

Are you a piece of fine gold in God’s sight and in the sight of good persons? Or are you dross in His sight, which is the impurity removed from gold or silver by refining? Take heed how you hear and speak! You will give an account for the truth and wisdom you have heard and the truth and wisdom you have given to others. You have been warned.

The churches of Jesus Christ are the most beautiful ornaments and things in the universe. There you will find a group of God’s children committed together to help one another be obedient hearers. There you will find men that God chose and Jesus charged to faithfully and fully preach His gospel. See the gathered hearers and ordained reprovers! Beautiful!

The combination, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, is gloriously beautiful and powerfully life-changing. Each church is the pillar and ground of the truth until Jesus Christ returns to burn up and destroy this wicked world and all ungodly men (I Tim 3:15). If you are foolishly not part of a true Bible-preaching church, you have chosen to be neither an obedient hearer nor a wise reprover. You are a loser today and in a day to come.

Proverbs 24:19

Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;

Hollywood lies. Do not let glamorous lives of the wicked bother you. Sinners appear to prosper. They look happy. They think they will get away with sin. But their end is coming. God will laugh at them and destroy them. Do not envy their temporary success.

There is a God in heaven, and He punishes such sinners severely (Ps 58:6-11). He will have the last laugh at their rebellion against Him and His word. Their happiness is feigned; their success an illusion, their long-term prosperity a delusion. They experience trouble here; they often die young; then they face an angry God! Do not fret about them.

The verse before you is only half of the proverb. After warning you not to fret about the wicked or to envy them, Solomon wrote, “For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out” (Pr 24:20). This is wisdom! Instead of being confused or frustrated by evil and wicked men, you know their terrible ruin is coming.

Due to television, magazines, and the Internet, you have to see the faces, homes, cars, and sins of the wicked much more than Solomon did. Their escapades are published around the world every day. But his inspired words are still true. Do not envy them, because you know their future; they do not know yours, and your future is much better than theirs!

It is a common and foolish expression to describe sinners as getting away with murder. But no one gets away with murder. Ask Cain. Ask David. Ask Jezebel. Ask the Jewish leadership that crucified Jesus Christ. Ask Hitler. Men will not get away with even the idle words of foolish talking and jesting (Matt 12:36; Eph 5:3-6).

Prosperity proves nothing. Do not envy sinners who seem to prosper. God may allow or send prosperity to encourage fools in their foolishness (Pr 1:32; Ex 9:16). David taught that if you wait long enough, they will be completely gone, and you will not be able to even find them (Ps 37:35-36). Do not envy a soap bubble. It will soon pop and disappear!

Wise men walk by faith and knowledge. They believe all God has said against sin in the Bible, and they reject worldly advice or examples that pretend sin might be profitable. They know better. They know all men are liars, especially in Hollywood, and God is true. They know a day of reckoning is coming, in which all the wicked shall give an account of their lives and be rewarded with eternal torment for their folly and evil (II Cor 5:9-11).

Faith looks constantly to the future. It knows there is much more than meets the physical eye here on earth. Therefore, the righteous walk by faith, not by sight (II Cor 5:7). They know a great reversal of fortune is coming, for both the righteous and the wicked. They know the pleasures of heaven far outweigh any trouble here (Rom 8:18; II Cor 4:17-18; Heb 12:1-4). Like Moses, they look ahead and laugh at Egypt’s riches (Heb 11:24-26).

Fearing God and keeping His commandments are the greatest things you can do for yourself (Pr 1:7; 8:13; 9:10; 10:27; 19:23; Eccl 12:13-14). This is true wisdom. You fully trust God’s written revelation for your life. You know He exists and His words are absolute truth, and you know there is great reward for obeying Him (Ps 19:11; Heb 11:6).

The apparent pleasure and prosperity of fools cause you to question if there is profit in obeying God and His word. David and his song leader Asaph wrote about such foolish and short-term thoughts (Ps 49:1-20; 73:1-20). These ideas are fiery darts of doubt from the devil to overthrow your faith and commitment to wisdom (Gen 3:1; Eph 6:16).

The whoremonger seems to enjoy many women, but God will destroy him (Heb 13:4). God lets him think he is getting away with adultery (Ps 50:16-23). In the meantime, he has no committed, loyal, or loving wife for a family of children to enjoy (Pr 5:15-23). These wicked players are lonely now, and they will soon be cut down forever (Pr 24:20).

God warned you not to fret (Pr 23:17-18; 24:1; Ps 49:1-20). David wrote, “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb… Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.” (Ps 37:1-2,7).

Let the wicked have their fun in this world, and you can laugh at them in the next one (Ps 17:13-15; 49:14-15)! You have a reward coming that will put their deceitful pleasures to shame, and remembering this reward fills the Christian with hope, no matter how difficult his existence here might be (Ps 73:1-20; Rom 8:16-19; I Cor 15:19). God will laugh at their calamities now and declare condemnation later (Pr 1:23-31; Matt 7:21-23).

Minutes of the general debate: Personnel management for effective parliamentary services, Quebec session, October 2012

Minutes of the general debate: Personnel management for effective parliamentary services, Quebec session, October 2012

Mr Marc BOSC, President, invited the three rapporteurs to make brief presentations on the deliberations of each of their working groups.

Mr Alphonse K. NOMBRÉ (Burkina Faso) gave an account of the work of the francophone group, which had considered the issues of recruitment and career management together. This group had looked first at whether the parliamentary administration was sufficiently special to justify the recruitment of a particular kind of staff. The response had been largely positive because parliamentary staff work with all of the political affiliations represented in Parliament and must have the confidence of each of them. It is also responsible for a Parliament’s continuity.

At least three different methods of recruitment had been identified: open advertisement of vacancies to the public, the secondment of civil servants to the parliamentary service and staff recruited through political channels. Three risks were identified as emanating from this last method: the risk of over-recruitment, the risk of recruiting staff who do not have the skills to carry out their functions, and the risk of a loss of continuity. In parallel with parliamentary staff, there were also in most Parliaments politicians’ personal staff, who were not the Secretary General’s responsibility.

As for career management, several systems envisaged well-defined career management plans, involving the circulation of staff, both horizontally and vertically, to diversify careers and improve motivation. Remuneration was also crucial to staff loyalty. The recruitment of managers raised serious questions: it was usually conducted internally but it was difficult to choose between potential candidates. There was often political involvement in the choice of the most senior staff. In other cases, however, open recruitment was used, to bring in new blood. With the number of senior posts being reduced, long-term staff motivation was a major challenge.

Finally, the question of gender and the integration of women into the workplace was a delicate issue which needed to be taken into account.

This group concluded that the subject would benefit from more in-depth study by the Association.

Mr David ELDER (Australia) reported on the work of the English-speaking group which had chosen to look at career and succession planning. It had found operating through working groups to be a very useful way of proceeding. This group had felt that parliamentary services were different from other organisations, and that they required precise competences and aptitudes, distinct from other administrations. A key factor was to be equipped with a solid competence-based framework to bring on and evaluate staff. Some countries had put in place programmes for developing competences. Circulation policies could be put in place, as for example was the case in the United Kingdom, where a great deal of job mobility was demanded, every three years, including for senior management. That could lead to problems of every kind, with some members of staff not wanting to change job. Sometimes, equally, this mobility could run up against the inclinations of politicians, such as Committee Chairs who wanted to keep the same Committee clerks working with them.

Keeping good staff could also prove difficult. To achieve this, you first of all had to be a good employer, who offered opportunities and challenges, and training, but also financial reward, even if that was difficult during the period of budgetary restrictions being experienced by many countries. In effect, staff who felt that they were going to rise no further in their employment lost their motivation. At the same time, young people these days tended not to stay on if there were no tangible prospects for them.

Gender equality was approached differently in different countries. In some places, quotas had been instituted. Women’s representation in positions of responsibility was very varied but generally evolving.

Mr Mohamed Kamal MANSURA (South Africa) reported on the work of the English-speaking group which had looked at the issue of recruitment. On the question of political influence, this group had noted that as a general rule, the Secretary General and (where appropriate) his deputies were appointed by a process that involved politicians, most commonly by means of the executive body of the Assembly. As for other staff members, it was only in a few rare cases that political influence had been mentioned.

 One issue that had held the attention of the working group was that of the transparency of the recruitment process, which was generally open, by means of public advertisement. Some Parliaments had work experience programmes.

Some parliaments also had to follow the affirmative action policies in place in their countries, for example with respect to disabled people, or to ensure that the different linguistic or cultural minorities were represented. Recruitment sometimes took place through personal interviews, but that was forbidden in some countries such as Brazil and Canada, where recruitment followed a written test based on key competencies. The written test or interview was often followed by a psychometric test and/or an evaluation of the candidates’ judgement skills. Parliamentary procedure or mechanics were not part of induction training, but were learned on the job, but this demanded a number of basic competencies. The issue of impartiality had come up: in many Parliaments, staff had to be apolitical.

Mr Marc BOSC, President, opening the debate to the floor, thought that the issue of mobility was particularly interesting, especially as several years before, to leave the parliamentary administration had been perceived almost as a kind of treason. He thought the Swiss system, which encouraged movement outside the administration, to be interesting, noting that in Canada, the system was less flexible, especially for younger staff, who wanted to make faster progress or change job more often.

Mr Wojciech SAWICKI (Council of Europe) thanked the President and rapporteurs for this initiative. He queried the definition of a career plan, noting that it was a significant challenge for administrations to implement in the classic meaning of the term, which involved having increasing responsibility and a growing salary, as few senior posts were becoming available and cost restrictions did not allow for the creation of additional ones. It was therefore necessary to know how to deal with the frustrations of staff, given that these traditional routes were often blocked. One solution could be to encourage parliamentarians to thank employees more publicly or to invite staff to special events. It was also sensible to allow more motivated staff to take part in activities which represented a change from their usual work, as a form of reward. It was also possible to envisage conferring state honours on long-serving employees. As far as women were concerned, and the specific duties to which they were subject (childcare etc.), he judged that it was worth changing point of view, in particular by considering that men could also play their part in fulfilling these “duties”.

Mr Alain DELCAMP (France) noted that their seemed to be a consensus between the three groups on recognising the special nature of parliamentary administrations. He saw this as signifying a development. Several years previously, many Parliaments had relied predominantly on staff from other parts of the public service. Today, there seemed to be a shared goal of having a separate administration and of limiting the influence of politics on recruitment. He noted misgivings at the idea of public recognition: parliamentary staff should not become a technocracy thinking that they had a wider purpose than that of serving parliamentarians. Moreover, it should not be necessary to be thanked to do one’s job well. Career mobility was a strong desire of the current generations, which it was better to channel than to reject. Moreover, the ability of staff to move on showed that people recognised the quality of the parliamentary service.

Mr Daniel Dyowo OMALOKOHO (Democratic Republic of Congo) (non-member) noted that political interference in recruitment could cause serious problems, especially in terms of staff competence, and could make it difficult for the Secretary General or Director of Human Resources to fulfil their role.

Mr Alphonse K. NOMBRÉ (Burkina Faso) said that another form of reward, especially in developing countries, could be to improve job security. In these countries, political change could sometimes be brutal. In Burkina Faso, for example, between 70% and 80% of staff had been replaced when the parliamentary majority changed. There had therefore been no job security up until the recent passing of a law making the parliamentary public service a part of the State administration. The detailed provisions of this law had come from the Assembly itself. He thought that this represented considerable progress.

Mr David ELDER (Australia) noted that the aspirations of the new generation and its desire to have a faster career development was noteworthy in Australia, where internal mobility was much encouraged. He thought that those who really wanted to stay put could be rewarded. He described a system of prizes awarded to very productive or long-serving staff. These prizes were given out during a ceremony led by the Clerk of the House. This ceremony was much appreciated by staff members.

Ms Beverley ISLES (Canada) felt that recruitment was a very delicate exercise, always involving an element of risk for the organisation. Financial reward was important, but not sufficient, as people increasingly also wanted to be given more varied responsibilities. As for women, she thought that there was sometimes an element of self-censorship by women themselves, some of whom were uncertain about taking on very senior posts.

Mr David NATZLER (United Kingdom) took the view that it was very important to uphold the independence and special nature of the parliamentary service, to allow for the development of particular competences. In a democracy, it was important to avoid too great a degree of collusion between the legislature and the Executive, but it was also important not to fall into the opposite trap. In the United Kingdom, parliamentary staff had the same salary arrangements as the general civil service, and the whole of the public service was undergoing pay cuts. As a result, non-pecuniary rewards were taking on a greater importance. Staff surveys showed a degree of frustration, but staff at every level of the organisation by and large remained proud of working for the House of Commons. He thought that, despite certain differences of practice, it could be worthwhile for the Association to try to enunciate basic principles or guidelines for recruitment and career management which would be acceptable to all.

Mrs Emma LIRIO REYES (Philippines) thought that the working groups had been very productive. She noted that parliamentary staff in the Philippines were governed by a law on the public service and that managers regularly completed evaluations of their staff, who could only be sacked for serious misconduct.  

Mrs Jane Lubowa KIBIRIGE (Uganda) thanked the rapporteurs and asked for the views and feedback of colleagues on the recruitment of staff on the recommendation of politicians. She thought that such staff were in fact often isolated in their departments and thought themselves at a disadvantage in terms of internal promotion.

Mr Ayad Namik MAJID (Iraq) raised the idea of providing rewards in the form of certificates, degrees or prizes, which could be internationally recognised, for example the award of an annual prize which could be an opportunity for tribute to be paid to the work that staff had carried out.

Mr Hafnaoui AMRANI (Algeria) replied that, in his view, it was worth doing as much as possible to avoid giving in to political pressure, recognising that this depended also greatly on the political position of the Secretary General himself.

Mr Sompol VANIGBANDHU (Thailand)  said that motivation was very difficult to manage, because it was inspired by different things in different people. There were many issues around stress and unpredictability to manage in parliamentary work, which could explain the difficulty sometimes experienced in staff retention. It was undoubtedly worth making certain adjustments to motivate the youngest staff members to accept positions of responsibility, for example by improving the working environment and providing greater stability at work.

Mr David ELDER (Australia) agreed that it was not always easy to find managers, but noted that in Australia, there were more women than men who wanted to take up these posts.

Mr Mohamed Kamal MANSURA (South Africa) noted that in his country there was a strict divide between the recruitment of the staff of the administration and that of political staff. Management carried out exit interviews with staff who were leaving to try to understand their reasons for doing so.

Mr Habtamu NINI ABINO (Ethiopia) thought that parliamentary work was not the same as the work carried out in other parts of the public sector and that it required specific competencies. He raised other avenues for further reflection, such as the possibility of learning from the good governance rules applied in the private sector, Secretaries General being a little like the directors of private sector businesses.

Mr Iftikhar Ullah BABAR (Pakistan) replied to Mrs KIBIRIGE by saying that he thought that all staff should be treated in the same way.

Mr Mohammed Abdullah AL-AMER (Saudi Arabia) thought that the Association could try to compile a roadmap for staff recruitment. For his part, on the subject of motivation, he added that beyond financial reward, it was worth thinking of moral reward, so that staff were recognised not only within the parliamentary service but also outside. It would be a good idea especially to promote staff exchanges between Parliaments, allowing staff to do work experience in other Parliaments or within international institutions.

Mr Jiri UKLEIN (Czech Republic)  explained that in his country, recruitment in the Upper House had been frozen because of budgetary restrictions. He noted that he had been taken on in January 2012 without any experience of parliamentary work, as he was originally an expert in recruitment in another sector. He took the opportunity to thank his counterparts for their support in helping him to understand the workings of the parliamentary world and he indicated that he was at their disposal if they wanted any advice on recruitment issues, especially where it came to defining, as was essential, selection criteria.

Mr Kileo NYAMBELE (Tanzania) (non-member) found the idea of drafting a set of guidelines very interesting as a way of standardising the vocabulary and of finding points in common regarding the method of recruiting parliamentary staff. In his judgment, the Association could lend itself further to these questions.

Mr Daniel Dyowo OMALOKOHO (Democratic Republic of Congo) (non-member) also supported the idea of setting out guidelines, especially on the issues of the independence of the parliamentary administration in its recruitment practices and of the position of the Secretary General with regard to politicians. It would be particularly useful to pay attention to defining objective criteria for recruitment and to the way in which these could be made acceptable to and adopted by the relevant political authorities.