What Is Better

What really sets someone apart: outer achievements or inner character? In today's episode, hosts Richelle Alessi invite us to reflect on what is truly "better" in God's eyes as we continue our journey through Proverbs. We'll explore the profound wisdom of Proverbs 16:32, discussing why being slow to anger and mastering self-control outweighs outward success or visible victories. Together, we'll learn how our daily choices and the condition of our inner lives matter so much more than what others see.

Join us as we pray for hearts that value godly character over earthly accolades, and let’s support one another as a community dedicated to growing in faith and devotion each morning.

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Transcript

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You're listening to My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1357. Today, Stevo is called what is Better? Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Good morning everybody and happy Tuesday. My name is Rachelle Alessi, and I hope that you guys are having an incredible Tuesday, and I pray that your Tuesday becomes even incredible if it hasn't been yet. But we are in proverbs and I really hope that this, this month that we're doing Proverbs is blessing you and it's blessing your family. I hope that is getting to you in some way. It's affecting your family in a positive way or affecting whatever you are doing in a positive way. And I just want to remind you before we get to the next one that we're doing this together as Christians. If some of these proverbs have challenged you a little bit, don't feel bad, be encouraged that we're doing this together as Christians, that we are trying to live a life that is pleasing to God every single day. It does not mean perfection, but it does mean us trying our best to live a godly life. And I believe that these proverbs can help us and guide us in doing so. And so today's Proverb is Proverbs 16, verse 32. And it says, whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than the one who takes a city. And guys, I'm not gonna lie, when I read this, I had to reread this a little bit so I could really get what this means. But back in the day, I guess what was shown as strength and power was people who ruled, people that were kings, people that would fight battles and win and take over cities. We've all seen kind of shows more lately of, of, I don't know, people that take over cities and kind of stuff from back then. I don't even know what to call them. But I realized that when this was written, what it was emphasized was that there was a certain type of person that looked like a success because of what they had achieved. But the word of God here is telling us what truly matters and what is better than having some of these things. It says whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty. And I want you to put this maybe in perspective of your current situation. Maybe you have people you compare yourself to or people that you admire or things that you want to achieve in life. But it says that being slow to anger is even better than that. It is challenges to say our character, the things that we do, the little things in our everyday life, however we handle. We talked about our responses yesterday, how we respond to things, the way that we choose to live our life. It's better than what it appears to be. You might be somebody, you might see people that have great power or, or super successful. But what the Lord is saying, before we look at those things, before we look at appearance, what truly matters is our character. What people don't see behind closed doors saying that it's better to be slow to anger, not just want to react. And maybe you think, oh, I don't relate to this because I'm not an angry person. But think the part of yourself that tends to be a little bit more emotional. What is the area of yourself that you're like? Maybe I'm emotional in this area. Maybe my emotion comes through giving my opinions all the time. Maybe my emotion comes through just sadness or anger or insecurity. Our emotions come out differently. It does not have to be just anger. For how are we slow to these things? Because being slow to anger and these other things, it's better than the appearance of somebody mighty. And then it continues to say and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. And I love because our church we have a. Our pastor has a phrase that says we lead by example and not by parking space. And as was insinuating, is that we lead our own lives first, not by our position or our title. And this it reminded me of that there are people or we think they're so great because of the things that they have accomplished. But what about having self control in my life? What about my inside my soul? The thing where everything actually comes from because the appearance of success or even actual success is not what will keep me and my soul truly refreshed and alive in the way that it should be. My inner self, my at peace self, is that are we having self control over that? Are we taking the right control over our emotions in our self to say I'm going to be better in this area, I'm working to be better in this area. I'm not just going to strive for success, but I'm going to work just as hard on my soul to make sure that it's healthy. That's aligned, that I'm taking personal responsibility every single day for my actions. And sometimes we think we're too busy for that because we're striving for success. We have goals. And guys, those things are amazing. God wants you to have dreams, things to do, to conquer. The Lord wants you to be a conqueror in every area of your life. But that should never become the driving force of who we are, our character, our inner self. Who we are in God needs to be the most important thing. And then we let other, everything else flow from you. And so let this be a reminder today that it's not just about the appearance of things or the striving and conquering, but it is about our everyday action of being slow to anger and taking care of our own soul and our own spirit first before anything else. So let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your promise. We thank you for, for. For your goodness. You promise us that you are with us and that you want the best for us. But Father, we're gonna. We're not gonna let those things get in the way of what matters most and what it is better, which is to have a relationship with you, to live a life with you, to live a life that's full of your spirit and experience you above any anything else. So we thank you for that. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. So there you have it, your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, Leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow. We pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.