Proverbs 11:2

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace;
but wisdom is with the humble.”

I think that the Holy Spirit is talking to the Church a lot about pride recently. Pastor Mike Seaver, on his blog “Role Calling” just wrote a blog about purposeful pride killing. While he and I often don’t agree on things, I do agree that, as Christians, we need to purposefully live in such a way that we choose not to promote ourselves, our interests, or our desires, but rather promote those around us.

Paul talks about this in Philippians:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others” (v. 3-4 NRSV).

I like how the New Century puts verse 3:

“When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves.”

Humility is, basically, allowing others to win, to shine, to gain and to take the remnants—the loss, the lesser position or job, the dregs as it were—for yourself. It is to promote a co-worker to your boss when you wanted the promotion or raise for yourself. It is to allow the other person to have the last word or the final say. It is to listen rather than to speak, to minister to rather than to receive, to do what is uncomfortable so that the other person might be in comfort.

There are millions of ways that we can practice this in our own lives on a daily basis. We can eat the food put before us, even if we don’t like it. We can do the activity chosen by our spouse, when we would prefer to be doing something else. We can allow the stranger to have the right of way, even when legally it’s ours. We can allow our friend to have a difference of opinion, even when we are convinced that they are wrong and we are right.

I’ve been convinced for some time that, as believers, we should make a constant practice of saying “no” to ourselves, even when we have the ability and resources to say “yes.” The foundation of the Christian walk is to deny ourselves (Luke 9:23). We cannot follow Christ and hold onto our pride, our plans, even how we define ourselves. In order to follow Christ, we must empty ourselves completely so that we can be filled with Him. I believe that this emptying must begin with our pride.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

1 John 1:5-10

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Forgiveness is everything. Without it we cannot have a relationship with God. Oh, we can talk about being a Christian. We can go to church. We can even be a professional pastor. But without forgiveness, we really have nothing.

There is so much truth in this small passage. The apostle John hits on a number of different, but tightly related, truths:

• God is without sin (is light).
• If we have sin in our lives, we cannot have fellowship with Him.
• If we have sin in our lives, we cannot have true fellowship with each other.
• If we are claiming to have fellowship with Him while we have sin in our lives, we are lying to ourselves.
• Only the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin.
• If we claim to have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves.

These premises are very important because they seem to contradict a lot of current teaching today. The fact is, we don’t talk about sin a lot. We talk about self esteem and salvation and fellowship and dysfunction and past hurts. But we don’t talk about sin.

According to John, it’s not dysfunction or self esteem that is the problem with our relationships. It’s not past hurts or trauma in our lives. It’s sin. Our sin. Plain and simple. We don’t need to learn how to live together nor to learn how to live rightly until we learn how to confront and deal with our sin. Everything else follows.

We have sin our lives. (If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.)

We need to confess our sins to God. Sins, not sin. Sins, not sinfulness. There is a value in learning to confess, to say, the specific sin. When we simply say “sins” without listing the individual sins, it seems that we tend to ignore that something actually is a sin. It’s like selling a house that has “flaws” without actually listing them. When we force ourselves to list we are aware of, one by one, we become even more conscious of our need for forgiveness and how much we have missed the mark of righteousness.

Once we have confessed our sins, God is faithful and does forgive us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (even those sins we were unaware of). And even if we leave the Throne with a strong sense of our unworthiness, we also leave knowing how much we need Him. Without Him, we simply cannot go on.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 11:1

“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,
but an accurate weight is his delight.” NRSV

There was a story out on the news a few days ago about a gas station that was adding a tenth of a cent to each gallon sold and not reporting it to the consumer. Now, that doesn’t seem like much: just 1¢ for every ten gallons of gas. Most of us don’t even pick up a penny off the ground when we see one. But when this gas station was found out, the results were amazing, into the thousands of dollars each month.

A balance, a scale, is a hard thing to calibrate. It can be off a few milligrams and not even show the discrepancy. But over time, that discrepancy can add up to a lot.

It’s the same with sin. There are little sins in my life that just don’t seem that big of a deal: a little lie here, doing personal business on company time, “borrowing” a pen I don’t return, parking on the neighbor’s lot without permission. But what I often don’t realize is that little sins will invariably lead to big sins. Just like the little hole in the dam will eventually wash away more and more of the dam to create a waterfall, little sins unchecked (and unconfessed) will eventually lead to a waterfall of sins, to an attitude that it just isn’t that big of a deal.

Doing something over and over again creates a habit. And we all know that we often do habitual behavior without even thinking about it. We can sin in the same manner. If we do a sin enough times, it will become a habit. At that point, our conscience might not even convict us. (Not even a little). The sin will simply spill out of our lives like a flood. Even as believers, we can become callous to certain sins if we aren’t very, very careful.

Just as a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, so is unchecked, habitual sin. That’s why daily confession is so important. When we are (even brutally) examining our lives for possible sin and then confessing what we discover, we are working to create an “accurate weight” in our lives. Going even further, how many times have I asked the Holy Spirit to reveal the sins in my life that I’m unable to identify? How concerned am I really about living a life that’s pleasing to the Lord?

As uncomfortable as guilt is, it is our indicator that our scale is out of balance and needs to be realigned by Heavenly standards. Rather than avoiding that (very distressing) feeling by doing something else, we should confront it head-on with prayer and confession. Our Father is well able to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But first we have to be willing to confess that sin, to admit that our scale has become a false balance.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:31-32

“The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,
but the perverse tongue will be cut off.
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable,
but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.”

In an argument, in a controversy with someone else, I’m right. Or at least, that’s how I’d like to think about myself. And yet, the fact is, whether or not I’m right (or I win) isn’t really the issue. Whether or not I’m reflecting God’s love to that person is where I should be centered in my thinking. Was I loving? Was I humble? Was I self-controlled?

“The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable.” The NLT says: “The godly speak words that are helpful.” Being right isn’t always being helpful. And being “right” certainly isn’t always being wise. In the end, it won’t matter who was right and who was wrong. What will matter is if we preached the gospel—the good news—to every person we encountered, either by direct words or by our response to them.

I’ve found that, over the years as I’ve matured (and literally grown older), I can control my outbursts in the sense that I don’t scream and yell anymore. My responses are quiet and controlled. But my heart hasn’t seemed to follow my mouth. If I am brutally honest with myself, I find that I’m still arrogant, angry, and wanting to be right. I’m sure that, even through the evenness of my responses, those qualities come blistering through. I know that, in those instances, my mouth doesn’t bring forth wisdom, but that my tongue is still perverse.

Perverse. That word appears twice in this couplet. The KJV translates the Hebrews as “froward.” (Yes, that is spelled correctly.) I’d never encountered that word before as I recall. I had to look up the meaning. It is “habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition.” Ouch! It is the tongue (the heart, the person) who habitually chooses their own way, rather than the Lord’s way; who always has to be right.

The apostle Paul wrote that “if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31 NRSV). God disciplines those He loves. But we have the opportunity to judge ourselves and to discipline ourselves first! I think part of this goes back to the idea of a “sin diary” (or at least some kind of daily accountability where we confess our sins). Dr. Phil often says that we first have to acknowledge something before we can deal with it. We have to confess our sins. The Holy Spirit is there to walk us through the process of regeneration, but first we have to confess where we have sinned, to acknowledge that what we did was horrible in the Lord’s sight and needs His forgiveness and mercy.

But then, we’d have to admit that we were wrong. And that’s a very uncomfortable place to be.

It shouldn’t be (uncomfortable, that is). We know intellectually that we are wrestling with our flesh, with our earthly nature which is opposed to our spirit-person. We need to learn to deny ourselves so that we can follow Him.

Perhaps that is the biggest cross of all.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:23-30

“Doing wrong is like sport to a fool,
but wise conduct is pleasure to a person of understanding.
What the wicked dread will come upon them,
but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
When the tempest passes, the wicked are no more,
but the righteous are established forever.
Like vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes,
so are the lazy to their employers.
The fear of the Lord prolongs life,
but the years of the wicked will be short.
The hope of the righteous ends in gladness,
but the expectation of the wicked comes to nothing.
The way of the Lord is a stronghold for the upright,
but destruction for evildoers.
The righteous will never be removed,
but the wicked will not remain in the land.” NRSV

What do I want? What do I consider to be a blessing? For what do I pray?

I find it interesting that “shalom,” which is translated “peace” in the Bible doesn’t mean the absence of conflict or peace of one’s heart, but rather peace with God. I think that many people long for peace and think that it will come when they finally are rid of their troubles and problems. That’s why we all pray for “stuff” when we pray: enough money to pay our bills, a way out of a foreclosure, a better job, a repaired car, a healthy body, a more compatible spouse, kinder children. But the fact is, the one thing we should be praying for, the only thing we should consider to be a blessing, is often the one thing we shy away from: a closer relationship with the Lord.

“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” Psalm 37:4

“Take delight in the Lord.” In other words, learn that this is what makes you happy, this is what you desire. The Lord never agreed to become our “Santa Claus,” to mold Himself into some kind of cosmic purchasing agent where we could simply speak and He would act. Such behavior would not be in our best interest because it would allow us to indulge the lusts of our flesh (even those that are not sexually driven). The Lord gives us the desire of our heart when He becomes that desire.

Solomon writes a number of parallel thoughts:

Wise conduct is pleasure to a person of understanding.
The desire of the righteous will be granted.
The righteous are established forever.
The fear of the Lord prolongs life.
The hope of the righteous ends in gladness.
The way of the Lord is a stronghold for the upright.
The righteous will never be removed.

There is a chord running through these couplets. And that is that righteousness (living according to the ways of God and pleasing Him) have the end of pleasure and gladness, the granting of desires, and being established forever (long life, protection). But this only comes when first we seek after righteousness. “But strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33 NRSV).

As we add up our blessings, we need to ask ourselves if salvation, shalom, and intimacy with God is our first and really only important blessing? If everything else were stripped away, would we be content with Him and Him alone? Or is our relationship with Him conditionally upon His providing a bunch of (temporal) stuff along the way? If we want to find peace, if we want to find contentment, I think that the first step is leaving everything else behind to simply seek after Him.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:22

“The blessing of the Lord makes rich,
and he adds no sorrow with it.”

Thousands of Americans are losing their homes because of the shaky economy and ill-advised loans. Where many of us thought that our livelihoods would continue status quo, companies are downsizing (and laying off workers), the work that is there is diminishing, gas prices are going up. There’s simply no way to make it all stretch.

I was talking to a lady from poodle rescue yesterday. She was telling me that the requests to surrender poodles (who require monthly grooming) have risen to the point that the organizations cannot meet them. There aren’t enough doggy foster homes, not enough resources.

As a country, I feel that we have turned our eyes away from the blessings of the Lord and created our own “blessings” in the nature of financial prosperity . . . that those “blessings” have a price with them, a price that can bring sorrow.

Like many of us, I watch television. (Probably should turn the thing off, but my husband likes his sports. No reason why I can’t ignore it and I probably should.) One kind of show I enjoy are the “home” shows: decorating your house inside and out, looking at the design trends, etc. It amazes me that television shows—rather than we the people—determine what should be inside our homes. No longer is it okay to have a home that is clean and in good repair to sell. We must reconfigure, redecorate, redesign if someone else is to want to buy it. And why? Because we are being programmed that way through TV. Television producers and real estate professionals have decided that our homes aren’t good enough and that we must spend more money to make them somehow more appealing.

I think about this proverb: “The blessing of the Lord makes rich.” Any way that you emphasize it, it sounds good because it’s so true! It’s not money or possessions or status or fame or job that makes us rich. It’s the blessing of the Lord. And how many blessings we already have!

One morning, several years ago, when studying I was impressed to begin to count my blessings. Oh, I know how cliche that sounds. Like the old hymn: “Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done.” But the fact is, how we look at life—whether or not the glass is half empty or half full—probably has much more to do with the state of our affairs (whether we are rich or poor) than how we look at our bank account. And Father God promises that the blessings He gives have no sorrow in them! Now that’s a promise I can grab hold of!

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:18-21

“Lying lips conceal hatred,
and whoever utters slander is a fool.
When words are many, transgression is not lacking,
but the prudent are restrained in speech.
The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
the mind of the wicked is of little worth.
The lips of the righteous feed many,
but fools die for lack of sense.” NRSV

“If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so” (James 3:3-10 NRSV).

My words get me into more trouble than anything else. I just can’t seem to keep my mouth shut. And it’s not only the usual hoof-and-mouth disease (putting my foot into my mouth when I shouldn’t), but, if I’m honest, I’ll admit that I like to gossip. It hurts even to write that, to admit it. Because gossip is horrible, a horrible sin, a horrible thing to do. As Solomon says, it conceals hatred and makes the person who says it (me!) a fool.

And I am that . . . a fool.

I’ve been thinking about all this since I read these verses today. (Sometimes things need to percolate. For me, sometimes a lot before it really gets into my thick head.) Why do I gossip? What benefit do I think that I will get? For me, I think it boils down to the idea that there is only a limited amount of “good stuff” (you know, God’s blessings, the benefits in life, etc.). How ridiculous is that? To believe that there’s only so much of good that God can give to His children so I need to demean someone else in order to get for myself?

I am a fool!

There are more than enough blessings for everyone who loves Him and trusts Him. I know that intellectually, but functionally? Gossiping is a hard habit to break because I have such a problem with wanting to be better than everyone else. And the fact is, that’s the only level playing field in creation: us all being sinners. Before the Throne there are no successes and failures, only sinners saved by grace or sinners condemned. And being saved only comes because of God’s mercy, grace, and sacrifice . . . not from anything I did (or can do).

Geesh! The more I think on this, the more foolish I seem. To think that trying to make myself better than someone else has any value or worth at all. “Whoever utters slander is a fool.” Yup! That’s me.

“When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but the prudent are restrained in speech.”

I think we often forget that self-control is one of the fruit of the Spirit. We like focusing on peace and joy, but patience and self-control? Those aren’t nearly so much fun nor nearly so fulfilling to the flesh. And yet peace (with God, which is what it means) is impossible without self-control (the decision to put sin aside). And joy is impossible unless we learn patience with those around us. The fruit of the Spirit are inexplicably intertwined; one cannot exist without the other. I need to learn to be restrained in my speech (self-controlled) if I’m going to have joy in my life.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 16:31

“Gray hair is a crown of glory;
it is gained in a righteous life.” NRSV

“But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children . . .” Deuteronomy 4:9 NRSV

When my mom passed away, she had a drawer full of beautiful and frilly hankies. I can remember her carrying one in her purse all the time and . . . (horror of horrors) using it! We, of course, were older and more sophisticated and knew that hankies could carry germs and all kinds of yucky stuff. So we more properly sneezed and coughed into our hands rather than some old cloth carried in a pocket or purse.

Until today.

Last year our school district nurse came around to all the schools, talking about the unhygienic practice of coughing and sneezing into one’s hands. (Hands carry germs, you know, and transfer them to other things, including your own hands). The new “proper” way to cough or sneeze is into your sleeve.

Why not a hankie? Certainly that’s more sanitary. And personally, I’d rather be around someone carrying a hankie in their pocket than sneezing on their sleeve. Seems my mom was right all along . . .

We live in a society where the new, the young, the fresh is lauded and the old, the experienced, the seasoned is, well, yesterday’s news and not very interesting at all. There is, as we all know, a frenetic and almost obsessive interest in being “young.” To the point where we see women with face-lifts that match twenty year olds (while their hands and bodies still reflect the ravages of time). Everything is done to hide one’s age as if being older—being old—is something to disdain. Certainly we no longer value listening to or learning from those older than us. How can they possibly know anything of value? It’s the younger generation that has something to say.

Isn’t it?

It’s too bad that we are discarding our most valuable resource, the wise and aging in our society. Those who have already “been there, done that” have a wealth of wisdom to pass onto those of us who are younger. They have already learned the tricks of the trade and know the pitfalls of the road ahead. We could avoid a lot of pain simply by listening to them.

I can remember my grandmother, her hands particularly. She worked her entire life doing physically difficult work. For years, she worked as a waitress in a Miami hotel, morning and noons in the coffee shop, evenings in the dining room. She could hold all kinds of hot dishes with no pads and balance twelve loaded plates on her strong arms. After they moved to California, she worked as an upholstery seamstress and even made her own couch (which I inherited and used for many years). She wasn’t much on the finer arts of “womanliness,” simply curling her gray hair and wearing neat clothes. But I loved her greatly for her humility and love was as great as her strength. She had wonderfully wrinkled and freckled hands that could hold me tight like no one else. And a determination in her heart that conquered any disaster.

I have had the great blessing of having many wonderful older men and women in my life. My parents taught me to cherish these relationships, to listen to my elders, to learn from them. And, in the end, it didn’t matter how much more trivia I knew than they did (me with my college education and technical knowledge); they always knew a great deal more about life and serving the Lord than I did, knowledge that has continued to serve me well even as each has made that final trip Home.

I think that, as a Church, as a society, we are casting away our greatest resource when we isolate generations and place in positions of leadership those who are still young. We have so much to learn from those who have walked the road before us. Perhaps it’s time we admitted that maybe, just maybe they might have something to offer.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:17

“Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life,
but one who rejects a rebuke goes astray.” NRSV

Do we need to experience something in order to learn from it? Or are we wise enough to learn from the experiences (and wisdom) of others around us?

I’ve heard a number (a great number) of people say that they have to learn things on their own; they can’t learn from the advice of others. I wonder, “Why not?” What is it about us that requires that we stub our own toes, learn our own lessons? Why aren’t we willing to listen to the wisdom of those who have already lived . . . and learned?

Obviously Solomon, in all his great wisdom, believed that one didn’t have to learn by experience but could also learn by instruction, by the advice given by someone else. He also believed by rejecting advice caused that person to go astray. I agree. I’m against this idea that we must learn on our own, that we must “experience” in order to gain wisdom. Wisdom comes through study and application of God’s Word, not through experience. Wisdom comes through the instruction of the Holy Spirit.

I was a home-schooling mom. And while I exposed my son to many topics (including evolution) in the structure of his schooling, I did not believe that he had to experience everything he studied. In fact, I believed that he should study such things within the context that they were sinful, rather than making his own “decision” about them. You see, the decision about those things’ righteousness or sinfulness has already been decided . . . by God. It was important that my son accept those decisions, rather than to decide himself.

It’s important that, rather than deciding for ourselves, we learn to agree with God. Thus, we don’t need to experience for ourselves; we simply need to accept what scripture says.

I think that believing we need to decide for ourselves, to experience for ourselves, comes directly out of a spirit of rebellion, of saying that God isn’t necessarily right and we have to determine for ourselves whether or not what He says we want to accept. Rather, we would do better to humble ourselves and accept what He says (and commands). That is the path to life.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:15

“The wealth of the rich is their fortress;
the poverty of the poor is their ruin.” NRSV

How much money is enough?

California has a lottery. Actually, California has a number of lotteries: daily lotteries, weekly lotteries, scratchers, bingos. It goes on. And it’s common to hear someone say, “When I win the lottery, I will . . . “ Unfortunately, the stories being gathered about most lottery winners (whether in or out of California) aren’t optimistic:

“One Southeastern family won $4.2 million in the early '90s. They bought a huge house and succumbed to repeated family requests for help in paying off debts. The house, cars and relatives used up all their winnings. Eleven years later, the couple is divorcing, the house is sold, and they have to split what is left of the lottery proceeds. The wife got a very small house and the husband has moved in with the kids. Even the life insurance they bought ended up getting cashed in. . . .

“These sad-but-true tales are not uncommon, experts say. . . . ‘In our culture, there is a widely held belief that money solves problems. People think if they had more money, their troubles would be over. When a family receives sudden money, they frequently learn that money can cause as many problems as it solves’” (http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/20041108a2.asp).

How much money is enough?

Matthew Henry has an interesting commentary on this verse:

“[These verses can be taken] as a representation of the common mistakes both of rich and poor, concerning their outward condition. (1.) Rich people think themselves happy because they are rich; but it is their mistake: The rich man’s wealth is, in his own conceit, his strong city, whereas the worst of evils it is too weak and utterly insufficient to protect them from. It will prove that they are not so safe as they imagine; nay, their wealth may perhaps expose them. (2.) Poor people think themselves undone because they are poor; but it is their mistake: The destruction of the poor is their poverty; it sinks their spirits, and ruins all their comforts; whereas a man may live very comfortably, though he has but a little to live on, if he be but content, and keep a good conscience, and live by faith.”

King David, a man who lived at times in his life with both prosperity and poverty wrote this:

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior; you save me from violence.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies” (2 Samuel 22:2b-4 NRSV).

We have to ask ourselves, which would we rather have as our fortress, wealth which is fleeting or God Who is eternal?

“Then he [Jesus] told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God’” (Luke 12:16-21 NRSV).

In God’s economy, wealth is meaningless. Material prosperity is the easiest of all miracles for God to do; it is fleeting and, in the end, means nothing if we die without reconciling to Him.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21 NRSV).

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:6-12

“Blessings are on the head of the righteous,
but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
The memory of the righteous is a blessing,
but the name of the wicked will rot.
The wise of heart will heed commandments,
but a babbling fool will come to ruin.
Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,
but whoever follows perverse ways will be found out.
Whoever winks the eye causes trouble,
but the one who rebukes boldly makes peace.
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
Hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses.”

“Love covers all offenses.”

In more than one way. Thankfully. The Lord Jesus’ love for us, His provision for our sins, covers our offenses. And I’m so grateful. Psalm 19 talks about two kinds of sins, presumptuous sins (those we choose) and hidden sins (those we fall into within knowing):

“Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression” (v. 12-13 NKJ).

Often, in our exuberance for life we run headlong into situations where great hurt befalls others. It’s not that we intended to hurt anyone ever, but the pressures of the circumstance seemed to push us in a single direction without much opportunity for choice. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of others who are angry and hurt at choices that we thought we had to make.

“Love covers all offenses.”

I often think that people are like hundreds of balls let loose all at once in a pinball machine, bouncing against the walls of life and then crashing into each other. In an effort to find the easiest path of survival we often thwart the hopes and dreams of those around us. We never intended to hurt them; we were only looking for the easiest way out of some mess.

“Love covers all offenses.”

The Lord Jesus talked a lot about love. “For God so loved the world . . . “ (John 3:16 NKJ). Not just loved, but “so loved.” I think we often forget about that love, love that covers all offenses, not through tolerance but through the ultimate sacrifice of giving the life of His only Son. I’m learning that the love that covers all offenses is a love that doesn’t tolerate but instead accepts hurt for itself. Someone is going to suffer. The one who loves embraces that suffering so that the one who is loved doesn’t have to. Rather than worrying about my own hurt, my own offense, as a believer I should be embracing the suffering so that those around me will suffer less. This is one way that love covers all offenses. Sin is often that “secret fault,” not in the sense of hidden in the shadows, but rather hidden from us, something we do when we had no idea it was a sin. And yet, we stepped outside of the arena of loving those around us. Only love will cover that offense. The love of Father God who forgives us; the love of others who will choose to suffer so that we don’t have to.

“Love covers all offenses.”

Who will you love today?

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:4-5

“A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
A child who gathers in summer is prudent,
but a child who sleeps in harvest brings shame.” NRSV

We have been “showing off” our town to some friends who are visiting our area for the first time. When we drove by our local bowling lanes, she commented that, in their town, there was nothing for the (high school) kids to do except cruise in their cars. I wondered, silently, why these kids weren’t home doing chores and helping their families, many of whom are farmers?

For some reason, many of us think that we need to give our children a lot of time for amusements and require very little of them in the way of chores, of helping the family around the house. Meanwhile, as adults, we are working our fingers to the bone doing the work of two (or more) people to provide a “nice life” for our family (including those children). When did we decide, as a society, that childhood was to be a perpetual vacation?

Proverbs 22:6 NRSV: “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.”

Children don’t just “grow up” into good habits. They don’t mature and suddenly become responsible. Children must be trained (taught) how to become the kind of adults they should be. Looked at conversely, how an adult child is reflects how they were raised. The two—how a child is raised and how that adult child acts—are tied together.

Now it’s true that there are exceptions to the rule. There are people (as children and then as adults) who had some innate inner push to become disciplined even though their parents didn’t teach them thusly. But, over all, children become what we teach them to be.

The fact is, we are raising (and even have raised) a generation (or more) of children (now adults) who prefer their leisure to work, who abandon their responsibilities in favor of recreational pursuits, and who are even neglecting their own children in favor of their own enjoyment. They are bankrupted spiritually, emotionally, and financially because they would prefer to “sleep” (literally or figuratively) rather than work the harvest.

Conversely, some of these same children are turning to various weird kinds of doctrines and cults because they long for the strict discipline that appears there (e.g. Mormonism) and can’t find anything but fluff and games within many evangelical churches. I think that while many want to simply play games all their lives, within the human heart exist the conscious knowledge (conscience?) that life isn’t just about games.

Teaching our children (even our adult children by our example) about the discipline of work, however, is something that’s difficult for us because it means that we have to deny ourselves. Unfortunately, these days, we have convinced ourselves that age’s reward is playing (e.g. retirement). Rewarded based on age rather than merit (Have we saved enough, stored away enough, to be able to afford not to work?), retirement has become synonymous with self-indulgence: finally doing what we want to do. We need to ask ourselves, as Christians, if the Bible teaches that there is ever a time when doing what we want to do is a choice? Rather our choice is to take up our cross, deny ourselves (and our own pursuits), and follow the Lord in disciplined service. If we ever think we are going to teach our children this, we probably need to begin with ourselves.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:2-3

“Ill-gotten gain has no lasting value, but right living can save your life. The Lord will not let the godly starve to death, but he refuses to satisfy the craving of the wicked.” NLT

An interesting story has emerged in the last week or so, about the love life of Madonna. Now, aside from the fact that her love life is probably no one’s business but her own, an interesting comment was made about her: Madonna’s really only in love with herself. Interesting idea because, the reality is, that’s the state of every sinner, being in love with herself. Our sin nature creates us egocentric, believing that we are the center of the universe (or should be). Living sacrificially, or even living rightly, isn’t something that comes naturally but is, rather, a discipline that as believers we can choose.

“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’” (Matthew 16:24 NRSV).

Denying ourselves isn’t something we do easily or naturally. In fact, if we are truly honest with ourselves, it isn’t something we do . . . period. We only deny ourselves when a thing is impossible anyway. And the fact is, the discipline of denying ourselves should be something we practice on a regular basis.

Why? What does this have to do with the passage in Proverbs?

This passage says: “[The Lord] refuses to satisfy the craving of the wicked.” The opposite of denying ourselves is trying to satisfy our cravings. And such gain is ill-gotten because it focuses on our lusts rather than upon our trust in God. You see, if we believe that God will provide for us then we don’t need to go out and try to get for ourselves. But if we believe that God may allow us to starve (whether physically or emotionally), then we will try to “gain” what we don’t have. Such gain is ill-gotten because it is outside of God’s provision and of His will.

I think that we often live unsatisfied lives because we refuse to trust God to provide and instead try to satisfy ourselves with ill-gotten gains. And whether or not we are starving physically (actually hungry) or emotionally (where we are lonely or starving for affection or attention), it is the hand of the Lord Himself who is withholding our ability to be satisfied. He does this out of love for us because our “nourishment” should come from Him and Him alone, not from anything else. The Lord alone makes it possible for us to walk through life in a spirit of peace and contentment. We can’t be contented (satisfied) unless what we have received comes from Him.

2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

“All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation! For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in suffering, you will also share God’s comfort.” NLT

There have been written a number of books over the past few years dealing with the idea of why bad things happen to good people. In a sense, it is the idea of “why me?” for believers. Why should believers, who love the Lord, suffer? I think that perhaps, as believers, when we ask that question—“Why me?”—we are asking the wrong question. We should be asking instead “Why not me?”

Suffering is the one of the universal guarantees of living in this world. Even those who have (supposed) wealth, ease, and fame are often unhappy and their reaction to life demonstrates some kind of suffering and pain. We often hear of celebrities divorcing, abusing drugs and alcohol, even committing suicide. On the surface their lives might appear to be ones of happiness and comfort and yet, they too use horrible things to try to mitigate their pain, their suffering. Stories abound of people suffering from illness, from accidents, from the hurtful acts of others, from abuse, from neglect, from loss.

Our son is a soldier in the U. S. Army. His second year of service was spent in the streets of Baghdad, driving a Humvee as a combat MP. One time his truck was attacked with an I.E.D. People often asked me how I could deal with the stress and worry of having my son serving in a war zone. Aside from the fact that he is a believer, perhaps it’s because I’m learning to ask “Why not me?” rather than to ask “Why me?” There are families who are losing their sons and daughters everyday to war and violence: mothers in South Central L.A. whose children are killed by gangs, parents whose children are killed by drunk drivers, grandparents whose grandchildren are killed by abortion, and yes, parents whose soldiers are killed in the service of their country. Rather than assume that I should somehow be the exception to the rule (and ask “why me?”), I’m learning to ask “Why not me?” There are other families whose soldiers have been killed. Why shouldn’t that also happen to our family is that is the Lord’s will?

Now, it’s not that I want our wonderful son to die, but more the facts that suffering does happen and will happen to us throughout our lifetime and that death comes to all living things until God recreates the earth. Rather than trying to avoid what is woven into the fabric of this life, I choose instead to trust the Lord for the comfort to endure the suffering that will come my way. And even more, to trust God that there is a point, a purpose to the suffering.

“For when God comforts us, it is so that we in turn, can be an encouragement to you.”

I think that we are often so self-centered in our lives that we fail to realize that some experiences we endure are for the purpose of training us in how to comfort others later. While we can love all those around us, it often takes a shared experience for us to comfort those who are in pain. When we reject the experiences that God permits (and even places in our paths), we may be also rejecting the very tools that allow us to be more effective witnesses and ministers in the world.

Paul once talked about his “light afflictions” (2 Corinthians 4:17). He outlined them (in part):

“I have worked harder, been put in jail more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jews gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea” (2 Corinthians 11:23b-25 NLT).

While there may be worse sufferings in the world, the fact is that few of us have suffered to the depth that Paul suffered. And yet Paul wasn’t one to dwell morosely on the pain in his life, but rather took those experiences and understood them in the context of eternity. After all, whatever promotes the kingdom of God and brings us one step closer to seeing His dear face is truly worth it.

“It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.”
(“When We See Christ” by Esther Kerr Rusthoi)

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 10:1

“A wise child makes a glad father,
but a foolish child is a mother’s grief.”

Parents and children are inextricably connected. Whether parents were good parents or not, there is a connection that never fades. Children want to be able to trust their parents, to depend upon them, to trust them. And likewise, parents want to be able to be proud of their children, to watch their successes, to note their growth and maturing.

The Heavenly Father loves families. Just the fact that He has chosen, as one of His names, to be called “father” demonstrates to us how much God loves families. The Lord’s prayer begins “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9). The Lord Jesus Himself taught that God wanted to be known as our father. Not “the” father or “His” father or “their” father, but “our” father. As our Creator, God understands—better than anyone else—the innate desire within the human heart to have a family.

The very last verses in Malachi (the last verses, in fact, of the Old Testament) are very interesting:

“Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6 NRSV).

It’s interesting that the prophecy about the coming prophet, John the Baptist, is linked with the idea that families will be reunited and that only when families are united will God withhold His hand of judgment. I think that humility toward one’s own household is the most difficult humility of all.

The people who know us best are the ones with whom we’ve lived. They are also the most difficult to forgive for they have the most potential to harm us. We have opened ourselves in the most intimate way to our family and the deepest hurts come from them. It is within the family that we have the greatest tendency to turn our hearts away, rather than toward. With people on the outside (outside the family unit), we can keep up walls of defense. We can also continue to see these people in a “best light” because we aren’t with them 24/7/365. However, within the family unit, defenses and walls come down. People are most like themselves and often the least courteous. It is at home (unfortunately) that we often see people at their worst.

I think that, as believers, we have to make a conscious effort to turn our hearts toward those in our family, both the family with whom we live and the family of God. In this sense, a wise child is one who is willing to see that parents aren’t perfect and is willing to forgive.

I think that one of my greatest surprises in life was to realize that my aging grandmother, rather than being wise about relationships, had a horrible time choosing good husbands. I knew she had been married four times (only one husband died), but I didn’t realize until, when near her death she was considering divorcing her fourth husband, that she had such bad judgment with men. I’d always thought that those older than me should be wiser than me, more adept in the things of life. But that isn’t so. We grow older, but we don’t necessarily grow wiser unless we are particularly sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. And then we still remain sinners (saved by grace).

Wise children are those believing adults who realize that their parents are far from perfect, but still warrant forgiveness because the Lord has forgiven us. Every one of us lives with the mistakes of the elders who have gone before. It’s what we make of our lives and how we look at those mistakes (of others) that determines, I believe, whether or not we are wise.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Joshua 6:1-5

“Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the Israelites; no one came out and no one went in. The Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have handed Jericho over to you, along with its king and soldiers. You shall march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days, with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets. When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and all the people shall charge straight ahead.’” NRSV

Salvation comes from the Lord. But salvation comes to us when we do what the Lord says to do. It’s not something He does and we do nothing. It’s not something we do and He does nothing.

Jericho was a walled city. As such, there were basically two ways to conquer it: (1) set a siege which effectively cut off the city from the outside and starved the inhabitants until they surrendered; or (2) find a way to knock the walls down. God was willing to miraculously knock the walls down, but He required the Israelites to do something: to walk around the walls for seven days with the priests blowing the ram’s (holy) horns and on the seventh day, for the people to shout as loud as they could.

If God told us to conquer a modern day enemy by walking around their country, blowing horns, and on the seventh day shouting, wouldn’t we feel silly? And yet, it was obedience in these things that exactly led to the destruction and conquering of Jericho, to the victory in the battle. God Himself had already secured the means of victory, but it required that the Israelites choose to do what He commanded them to do.

Salvation is given to us in the same way. God provides salvation through the unlikely method of His Son dying on the cross. Just as Jericho wouldn’t have been conquered any other way, salvation is provided by this solitary method: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6 NRSV). As much as people might like to believe there are many ways to God, there is only one way, one method, one salvation and that is through repentance and accepting the Lord Jesus’ death as propitiation for our sins. But Father God created salvation as an interactive process. He saves, but He requires that we participate in our salvation. But there is more to our part than just that initial step. Just as the walls of Jericho came down through a series of obedient acts, so our salvation is garnered through more than a single decision. Each and every day we must again decide to turn to Him, to serve Him (through the power of His Spirit), to yield our will to His. Salvation comes from the Lord, but He will not coerce us to love Him or to serve Him. Those choices He leaves to us.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 9:13-18

“The foolish woman is loud;
she is ignorant and knows nothing.
She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the high places of the town,
calling to those who pass by,
who are going straight on their way,
‘You who are simple, turn in here!’
And to those without sense she says,
‘Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.’
But they do not know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”

Seen in the context of the discussion about wisdom, personified as a woman, Solomon continues with his analogy of “women” as impersonal attributes. Thus, we need to remember that he isn’t talking here about some woman who is foolish (or stating that only women are foolish), but rather comparing foolishness/folly with wisdom. (Matthew Henry agrees: “Folly herself, in opposition to Wisdom . . .”).

The thing is, the emphasis here is on self-indulgence, self-fulfillment, self-desires. Sweetness. Pleasure. And while the scriptural emphasis is often upon sexual desires, we know that lust is more than simply sex. In the NT, the word “epithumia” is often translated “lust” but the connotation is far greater than simply sexual desire: “desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden.”

“But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15 NRSV).

Desire for what is forbidden. There are many things that are forbidden, but as Christians, we don’t really want to focus on those things. We want to focus on the fact that we are free, that we have freedom. And yet, outside of that freedom, many things are still forbidden. Forbidden by secular law, forbidden by good sense, forbidden by God.

One of the things forbidden to believers is the practice of self-indulgence, of listening to the demands of our bodies (our desires, our cravings, our lusts, our emotions) and giving into them. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians:

“Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified” (9:25-27 NRSV)

• Exercise self-control
• Punish my body
• Enslave (my body)

We often forget that self-control is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). Strong’s defines it as “self-control (the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, esp. his sensual appetites).” When I think of self-control, I think of saying no to myself, even when I have the ability to say yes. I can afford it, but why? If it doesn’t promote the kingdom, should I add it to my life? We need to learn to say no to ourselves in easier situations so that, when presented with difficult situations, we have the strength of habit behind our resolve.

I’m dieting. Not just a change in eating, but a massive cut in calories. And as I researched various diets, one thing I learned. The most successful diets—regardless of their content—have one thing in common: journaling. When you write down what you eat, you are more honest about when you cheat! And it’s true. I’m careful about my choices because I know that, at the end of the day, they all have to be recorded in my diet journal.

I think that Christians would be well-served to have lust or sin journals, places where we write down our sins in order to take a good look at them. Many Christians I know blanket their sins in their prayers (“forgive me my sins”) without recounting them. Yet, 1 John 1:9 tells us to “confess our sins.” Not to confess that we are sinful, but rather to confess our sins. Plural. Vine’s defines “confess” as “to declare openly by way of speaking out freely, such confession being the effect of deep conviction of facts.” I think that listing out one’s sins would have a profound impact on the things we choose (and the sins we hide). Sin cannot exist in the open air of God’s grace, but flourishes in the hidden recesses of darkness (and forgetfulness). If we drag our sins out into the light of the Spirit, I think we would be on a better course to root them out of our lives.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 9:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”

I like going to school. That’s probably a good thing since I’m a school teacher. (It would be awful if I didn’t like school and still needed to go everyday!) But I happen to be one of those odd ducks who likes to learn, doesn’t mind studying, and actually will spend her weekend writing papers for some obscure college class.

I like to learn new things.

The problem is, learning new stuff doesn’t always do us rightly. In other words, we can learn facts and theories and procedures all day long . . . and still be as dumb as a board when it comes to actually living life in some semblance of righteousness. Why? Because we focus on the wrong things!

Every venture has a starting point. When you build a house, you begin with the foundation. When you go on a trip, you begin at the location. When you run a race, you begin at the starting mark. Becoming wise is no different. There is a starting point and scripture tells us that the starting point of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

Now think about starting points. You can’t run a race unless you are at the starting mark. No race judge in his right mind is going to let you enter the race at the mid point. It’s the same with a trip. Until we have beaming technology (a la Star Trek), there’s no way that we can get to our destination without beginning at our present location. And, well, if you build a house without a foundation it’s unlikely that you will get the roof finished before the whole thing comes toppling down.

Everything has a beginning point, and, for wisdom, that beginning point is the fear of the Lord. Now, most of us would like to take that phrase “fear of the Lord” and just chuck it out the window. Why? Because we are much more comfortable with the loving, accepting, embracing God than with a God we must fear. I’ve heard all kinds of rationales about how this doesn’t actually mean “fear” but rather respect or some such thing. But the fact is, this Hebrew word means first and foremost “fear.” In fact, not just fear, but the fear that is accompanied by dread. Why is this important? Certainly not because God wants us to avoid coming into His presence. But the fact is, God is God! Creator, Majesty, All-Knowing, All-Ruling! While we are called to be His friends, we are not His pals; we are His subjects, His servants, His children. All of those things bring with them the idea that we are subservient, completely dependent upon Him. And well we should be!

We should have a healthy respect, reverence and awe for Father God and it is this “fear” that is the beginning of wisdom. Why? I think because this fear puts us into a right relationship with God in the sense that we understand then Who He is and we understand who we are. We are not Creator, but creations. We are not God, but humans. We are not the Worshiped, but worshiper. (I think we sometimes forget these things.)

But the proverb doesn’t stop there. If we want to gain more than just the beginning of wisdom, our wisdom is increased as we come to know more and more of God, not just about Him, but the kind of intimate knowledge that comes from being in someone’s presence. It’s not enough just to know about God; we need to know Him. And that comes from prayer, from study, from meditation, and from turning our stubborn wills from serving our own self desires to serving His desires, His commands, His will.

Do we want to become wise? It’s popular in our culture to be unwise, to be foolish, to be reckless and foolhardy. Scripture even describes these kinds of people: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22 NRSV). But that doesn’t change the fact that wisdom should be embraced. If we want to become the kind of believers that will impact our culture and our communities, we must first learn how to walk to path of wisdom.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).