Watchword
(Ezra 9.1-15; Matthew 13.24-30)
Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’. Ecclesiastes 12.1
Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4.12
Proverbs 24: 3,4
By wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
By knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.
This proverb would give us the building blocks of a solid and beautiful house: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. “House” is an oft-used biblical metaphor that encompasses the foundation, passages, and shelter of our existence. It denotes who we are, but more: it describes what we are making of our time here.
Of course we are always making decisions, little and big. Part of the task of Proverbs is to cajole us to choose wisdom. For a small example, today you could eat a bunch of sugar at mid-day and in the afternoon….forgettaboutit! That’s a small choice, and Proverbs says to us: choose wisdom! Don’t eat as to become sleepy. Order your lunch menu with understanding.
Another example: you could choose to not be a learner. “Just enough to get by and live comfortably for me. All that book stuff isn’t for me; I’m just a regular guy.” But Proverbs pipes up and directs you to knowledge: this is what makes a life valuable and even beautiful. Don’t be a dud!
Do you see? Proverbs is giving us a way of life. Diligence rather than laziness. Tempering your speech instead of running your mouth. Planning rather than knee-jerk reactions. Knowledge of the world rather than gazing at your navel. Saying no to outbursts of anger and s l o w i n g down your reactions. Here is a way.
And now the words of Jesus: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
Jesus too is giving us a way - a way not opposed to the wisdom of Proverbs but with an increased knowledge. Whatever else you get, get that wisdom!
Bible Reading: Romans 11: 28b, 29
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