Posted on 02/04/2020 6:03:04 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many” (Proverbs 4:7, 10 KJV).
“Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness,” and he said, “and with all thy getting get understanding.”
Now, that was a man that knew what he was talking about. He wasn’t some foolish professor sitting in a chair in some school earning thousands of bucks every year who never worked a day of his life in the business field or some job in the real world, all he knows is the books that he learned out of. Some people go off to Bible college and are taught how to win souls by a professor that probably never even led one soul to Christ all his life. What are you going to learn from a guy like that? The best way to learn soul winning is to go with a guy that wins souls. The best way to learn the business field is to be around somebody that participates in it. The best way to learn the medical profession is to be taught and be trained in it by people that are in the profession day in and day out.
“Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings,” some people hear you, even smile at you—it gets to one ear and maybe, just maybe gets over to the other ear, but you can tell they are not receiving it. They hear sound, some noise, but they really aren’t listening. A lot of that happens in church. Nice sermon, preacher. Oh yeah, what did I preach about. “Oh, I don’t remember, but it was sure good!”
“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:21-22 KJV).
“That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (I Thessalonians 2:12-13 KJV).
It is one thing to come and hear something, and an entirely different thing to receive it. It is something else to take it in and to apply it to your life, and to learn from it, and to live with it.
“Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many,” another good Old Testament promise that is also good for a Christian. You live the way that God wants you to live, and you’ll live as long as God wants you to live.
Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.
If anyone would like to be added to the ping list, please let me know either by post or by p.m.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.