Dear Reader,
I hope this finds you well. Today is the last day in January 2023. This month has gone by and many things have happened. One thing for me is the constant learning and growing in my faith and practice. The Holy Bible, the Sacred Scriptures, has been such a blessing to me. Yes, I am a minister of the good news about Jesus Christ, but that does not mean that I cannot continue to learn and grow in my understanding of the Biblical text and also learning and growing in how to use it or live it out in this sin-cursed word that we live in today. This morning I read Proverbs 4 and want to share some encouraging thoughts from it with you all.
This wisdom book, the book of Proverbs, is full of principles for life. These principles are guideposts or signs that point us to the path that we are supposed to follow or be on in life. Don’t get me wrong; there are some principles that are difficult to follow but, when we put are hearts and minds to living them out in our lives, blessings from God flow – “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” you may be singing like me at the moment.
Here is a reflection using the entire chapter from Proverbs:
Proverbs 4
Pay attention and gain understanding!
There is life when the words of wisdom and commands are kept.
The beginning of wisdom is to GET WISDOM!
Cherish and Embrace wisdom!
Following wisdom leads you on straight paths.
Don’t let the wisdom instructions out of your sight.
These instriuctions are life to those who find them and health to your whole body.
Guard your heart, keep your mouth free of perversity and corrupt talk, fix your gaze directly before you, be steadfast in your ways, and don’t turn to the right or to the left, keep your foot from evil.
This was a snapshot of the text. I hope it gives you a glimpse of what wisdom is and what wisdom offers. As you have read this, you may be wondering why the cross in the background. As you seek wisdom from above, in the words of the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthian Believers, “but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, CHRIST the power of God and the WISDOM of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). And Paul writes to the believers at Colossae, “SInce, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1). And one of my favorite texts in the Holy Bible, the writer of Hebrews writes, “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
SEEK JESUS, the POWER and WISDOM of GOD!!
Peace to you all,
Keith Mitchell