June 2, 2013

^"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,  but fools despise wisdom and instruction."  Proverbs 1:7

 

You are prone toward doing foolish unwise things from time to time. So am I?

 

Just to reassure you we are not alone in out foolishness, consider:

 

A psychology student in New York rented out her spare room to a carpenter in order to nag him constantly and study his reactions. After weeks of needling, he snapped and beat her repeatedly with an ax leaving her mentally retarded.

 

In 1992, Frank Perkins of Los Angeles made an attempt on the world flagpole-sitting record. Suffering from the flu he came down eight hours short of the 400 day record, his sponsor had gone bust, his girlfriend had left him and his phone and electricity had been cut off.

 

Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two hapless protesters to death.

 
 

A man in Taormina, Italy was hospitalized after swallowing 46 teaspoons, 2 cigarette lighters, and a pair of salad tongs.

 

The Chico, California, City Council enacted a ban on nuclear weapons, setting a $500 fine for anyone detonating one within city limits.

 

Iraqi terrorist, Khay Rahnajet, didn't pay enough postage on a letter bomb. It came back with "return to sender" stamped on it. Forgetting it was the bomb, he opened it and was blown to bits.

 

John Ortberg says that there’s a simple reason that God put Proverbs in the Bible – it’s because we’re stupid! Let’s face it; we all do dumb stuff, don’t we? This book can help us become wiser in many ways.

 

Proverbs is a concentrated graduate course in the art of living. It’s not enough simply to be educated and have knowledge, as important as education is. We also need wisdom, which is the ability to use the knowledge that we have. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for “wise” is used to describe people who are adept at working with their hands. Those who have wisdom have the ability to face life honestly and to live it so that God’s purposes are fulfilled in their lives. Wisdom is not theoretical but practical. A wise person does not just say wise words, he or she is skillful at living life to its fullest. Here are some of the life skills presented in Proverbs: Training for parents, purity principles, money management, relationship building, the power of words, the honor of humility, the dangers of strong drink, decision-making, the importance of hard work, peace-making principles and how to care for the poor.

 

Proverbs is a survival guide for people like us in times like these.

 

The Proverbs are good to know! Very good! But what you really must know is the God Who inspired them and His wisdom is reflect in them! The only way you can know Him is through a personal faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

 

If you have not trusted Him as your Savior - you REALLY need to wise up!