How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather than silver!
People will expend blood, sweat, and tears to get something out of life, and most of the time they seem to be motivated by money. The sad fact is that few people value wisdom all that much. Very few young people are seeking wisdom by scanning the pages of the Word of God each day and sitting at the feet of wise masters for hours at a time! It is rare to see young men seeking counsel from the elders in our communities. Why do families rush into all of their money-making activities and household management responsibilities before they spend a few minutes seeking wisdom from the Word of God? Where are their priorities? No matter how much money a society has accumulated, if the people fail to retain wisdom, that society will certainly fall. Wisdom is the principle thing.
Knowledge is also of more value than material wealth. In the hypothetical scenario of the shipwreck where you are faced with the choice between taking a pile of books (the Bible included) or a pile of gold coins off the ship, it would be better to take the books. There is more value to be found in obtaining knowledge, and more dignity to men gifted with knowledge. Yet knowledge sans wisdom is another perversion, and true knowledge is always formed on a foundation of the fear of God.
The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keeps his way preserves his soul.
There are only two possible lives to live. Every person who lives and dies on this planet will either live one life or the other. Either he will live his life content in his depraved state, or he will live his life walking away from evil. All of us are born in sin. There is no escaping that reality, but that is only the beginning of a life. Will we continue in sin, or will our lives be characterized by walking away from sin? As the years go by, are we busily peeling off layers of fleshly, sinful tendencies? As others look at the wake of our lives, will they see the dead carcasses of sinful habits lining the path? For the Christian then, life is truly a departure from evil, an abandonment of an old love.
There is no expectation of sinless perfection here, for if there were an age of innocence or a sinless life, there would be no need to depart from evil! Still there are those who, by faith, heed the warnings and depart from evil, and then there are those who do not heed the warnings and fail to flee the “City of Destruction.” Fleeing the city in a real sense does save the soul of the upright. When the Bible warns us of the destruction that comes upon the heedless, is it somewhat like “Cliff Warning” signs on highways in Kansas? Is there no real danger of disaster for those who fail to run away from temptation and evil? As it turns out, those who are the true believers are those who believe the signs. They will always be the runners. They are the ones who heed the warnings, and when they do so they will preserve their own souls by the grace of God.
1. Where are our priorities as a family? Do we put family worship and family discipleship ahead of our money-making pursuits?
2. As you look at your life, do you see that you are departing from evil? What sins have you mortified lately?