How do we live?

Life is sure chaotic at times, isn't it? When things start getting out of hand or I just need to be reminded of how God wants me to live my life, I always go back to the Book of Proverbs. It's just a great way to make sure that I'm staying on the straight and narrow. It's a simple, but profound book that reaches out and grabs my heart.

Today I thought We's take a while to look over this Book in the Bible that I call the owners manual to a Godly existance. I call it that because it's one of those books that are like a roadmap of life, it tells us how we should live, and reminds us when we take the wrong turns. If we want to keep on the road, then we also have to follow the map to keep from getting lost, and this Book is a great map. So, having said that, let's get started.

Today's passage that we'll be applying to our lives will be Proverbs 1:1-7. Let's break it down and live it.

Proverbs 1:1-3 The Proverbs of Solomon son of David, King of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for aquiring a disciplined life, doing what is right and just and fair. First of all, let's take a brief look at who Solomon was. He was the second son of David who later became King. He was known for his incredible writings, wisdom, and wealth. But despite all of these gifts he possesed, he was still just like the rest of us. We see in the verses we just read, that Solomon brings up wisdom and discipline, and we'll see in his later writings that he brings these topics up quite a few times. However, like us, he knew the difference between right and wrong, yet still chose the wrong path in many cases. In order for us to really see what the book of Proverbs is saying about the way we should live our lives, then we need to learn from it (wisdom) and apply it ( discipline). We need to look at the wisdom of this great King and apply it to our lives to have a closer relationship with God.

Proverbs 4-6 says for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young-let the wise listen to add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance-for understanding poverbs and parables, the saying and the riddles of the wise. It's our responsibility to know the Bible and to live it. It doesn't matter how many times you read it, it matters how we apply it. I remember when I attended an evangelism conference in Portland Oregon once, I met a man who had the book of James memorized. I was so impressed, but he wasn't. He told me that that was one book down, but he still had a lot of work to do. It was his goal to memorize the entire Bible. Now many people would consider that outlandish, but I consider that a true search for wisdom. The "wisdom" of the world has now taken place of the wisdom of the Bible. Teachers used to be able to instruct the students from the Word of God, but can't even say God in most cases today. True wisdom is the knowledge of God, which brings us to the next verse.

Proverbs 7 says that the fear of the Lord is the begining of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. This is a pretty blunt verse, but sometimes this is just what we need. Some people may look at this verse and wonder how a loving God would demand us to fear Him. Take a look at a parent-child relationship. The parent loves the child, and knows what is good for him. If the child does wrong, then for their own good, they need to have consequences for their actions. The child doesn't like it, but you know the parent doesn't like it either. But the child will learn form it, and "fear" the consequences enough to not do it again. Growing in a relationship with God involves learning from Mistakes and not doing them again. When we learn to do this, we truly are wise. Those who repeat the mistakes despise wisdom and discipline.

Take this passage today and start your path towards wisdom. Read the Bible daily and start experiencing it by living it. Know it inside and out so you know instantly the difference between right and wrong. When you know the difference, then temptation is easier to conquer. Put the Bible in your heart, Satan can't defeat that.

Be blessed today, and don't stop here, read more of the Bible and pray longer. Live the relationship so you can live the love.

Be blessed today, and we'll see you tomorrow.

In His Service,
Pastor Mike

To find out more about King Solomon, read 1 Kings.