Wise Not That You Be Not Wised

(Proverbs 9:12 KJV)  If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

As I was reading this today it again was puzzling.  I finally realized it might be a version of the admonition of Jesus,

(Matthew 7:1 KJV)  Judge not, that ye be not judged.

My thinking was not in just the first verse of Matthew 7 but in the full teaching which we usually ignore.  The key to understanding Matthew 7:1 is to keep reading until you get to verse 5.

(Matthew 7:5 KJV)  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Our greatest criticism, aka judgment, is to be of ourselves.  When we read what the Bible has to say we should be applying it to our own lives first.  That is so we are staying on track. 

But it does not stop there.  We are then in a place where we can share God’s teachings with others.  The same is true of wisdom.  To be “wise” (2449) we need to be applying it to ourselves first.

So?  Maybe if people see us applying wisdom to our own lives they will be more teachable themselves.  It won’t hurt to try it that way.  What do we have to lose?