As we continue our series going through each book of the Bible, we arrive at Proverbs, the book of practical Christian living. Although we all may sometimes wonder what the Bible has to say to us in our modern day-to-day lives, Proverbs answers this by teaching us simple truths that we can savor, as we make decisions. Proverbs calls to us to evaluate situations in our lives in the light of who God is and who He has redeemed us to be: a transformed people who are sent to transform others.
The beginnings of a foundation for being wise is to know God. Proverbs 9:10 starts the building process for us: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This fear is not one of terror but of awe. It is recognizing that God is greater than us not simply in terms of power but in goodness, and that awe ought not to scare us but compel us, beckon us with an inviting hand to say “God is good. Trust Him”. From that solid base we begin to build how we view everything in the world, and we also begin to grow in grace and in holiness.
There is one point to make about Proverbs. They are insights about life and the world around us, and they reflect the belief that God has placed an order in the world around us. Sadly, this world is also broken by sin, throwing the order haywire, but God’s grace has always kept it from collapsing. As such, many Proverbs are not “guarantees” as much as they are increasing the odds of getting the desired result. It is as though the authors are saying to us, “Heed our advice, and this probably will work. Fail to listen and this certainly won’t work”. At the same time, however, we ought to live wise lives because we are thankful to God rather than only being worried about the results. Leave the results to God. He will take care of all of it.
If you think this living wisely is a nice but unattainable goal, God has given us an example of a human doing just that, living in perfect wisdom because He is wisdom: Jesus Christ. God became human in the person of His Son to free us from the power of sin and restore our relationship with Him. For this to happen, Jesus Christ needed to be sinless. As such if we look at His life, we see how a human being should live as God intended: to be wise. Jesus is wisdom from God, and so to become truly wise is to embrace Jesus, to surrender and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us down to our very thinking (Rom. 12:2). When we are shaped by Christ’s Spirit, we get the wisdom God desires because we become like His Son. To become wise is to become like Jesus. In Him we have both the power and the example to live as God intended us to live, to bear His image clearly, and to live our lives for the sake of others. In short, we have both the freedom and the strength to live as the church God intends for us to be: a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, bringing God to people and people to God.
Your Brother,
Craig