Day 8: WISDOM—Are You up to Living a Life of Reverence?
'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.’—Proverbs 1:7
'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.’—Proverbs 1:7: Wisdom—Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash
Blog #010
Living wisely
Living wisely starts by orienting our lives towards reverence for the LORD—first and foremost. Everything else springs from that.
Have you ever looked at someone and wondered what choices did they made to get them to where they are today? Where was their heart when making those choices?
Picture this
A 45 year old man, living on his own, surrounded by mess, empty alcohol bottles, and drowned in debt due to his gambling addiction. Over in the corner of his room there is a picture of 3 young girls, a beautiful mother and a father.
What kind of choices do you think this man made in order to get himself here?
Now let me give you some context, this man is a father to 3 precious girls and a husband to a beautiful woman. He is also an alcoholic that left his family to chase other pleasures in life. He broke the promise he made when he first committed to his wife and he left his girls with nothing but memories from when they were young.
Did this man make wise or foolish choices?
Now picture this:
A Father sitting on the living room floor leading his family in prayer to find guidance and direction from our God.
What kind of choices do you believe the father of this family has made in order to get himself and his family here?
Now let me give you context, this family has had a lot of highs and a fair amount of lows, they’ve come together to ask their Dad in heaven for guidance and fruitfulness into the next chapter of their lives.
Wise choice or foolish?
It’s no surprise that the man I first told you about hasn’t been seeking the Lord, it becomes obvious after hearing a bit about his story that God isn’t one of his priorities and that he doesn’t respect Christ.
Choices
Every choice that he has made has lead him to where he is now. The priorities and desires of his heart that he chased after and are what had put him in the situation he is now in.
He was chasing things of this world, his eyes were fixed on himself and what he could have to please himself.
He valued the taste of alcohol and the possession of money over his family.
The second family
I want you to think about the choices the father and husband of this family has made.
He has a clear conscience and consistently orientates his life's choices to honour Christ.
He has stuck by his morals and figured out his priorities in order to have his family in the situation they’re in now.
Focus on Christ
Our true hearts desires reflect our choices and steps. To make wise choices we need to maintain our focus on Christ, and fear the Lord.
When we value Him and His plans for our life, our choices and steps align with His. If our eyes and hearts are focused solely on God then the choices we make and steps we take should consistently be His plan for us.
Just like this man, we should seek Our Father in every decision. To live wisely, we also, need to make Christ our priority and begin to orientate our lives in respect and honour of Him.
When we maintain our focus on Jesus, then we will start to see our selves, our families and the people around us thrive.
Only then will we be able to see what it means to live a consistently wise life -- with fruitful and honourable outcomes.
Today's call to action
Is there an area in your life where you're living your own desires over the plan God has for you?
Join the conversation
Take a moment to leave a comment below. Your observations may be just what someone else needs today to help them return to a life of reverence.
