Wisdom will save your life… and soul

Proverbs 4:1 AMP

Hear, O children, the instruction of a father,

And pay attention [and be willing to learn] so that you may gain understanding and intelligent discernment.

Matthew Henry concise commentary

We must look upon our teachers as our fathers: though instruction carry in it reproof and correction, bid it welcome. Solomon's parents loved him, therefore taught him. Wise and godly men, in every age of the world, and rank in society, agree that true wisdom consists in obedience, and is united to happiness. Get wisdom, take pains for it. Get the rule over thy corruptions; take more pains to get this than the wealth of this world. An interest in Christ's salvation is necessary. This wisdom is the one thing needful. A soul without true wisdom and grace is a dead soul. How poor, contemptible, and wretched are those, who, with all their wealth and power, die without getting understanding, without Christ, without hope, and without God! Let us give heed to the sayings of Him who has the words of eternal life. Thus our path will be plain before us: by taking, and keeping fast hold of instruction, we shall avoid being straitened or stumbling.

Miyagi’s commentary

As Matthew Henry stated “a soul without true wisdom and grace is a dead soul.”  How many people in the church today are truly hungry for wisdom, or God, or Jesus?  Acquiring wisdom is a life-long journey.  It does not happen overnight.  For one to seek wisdom, he must value knowledge, understanding, and discernment.  These are the things that feed the soul and causes the soul to grow.  A soul without these things is just as good as dead.  

Even today, many people seek wealth, power, and position in society.  They put value in these temporal things because they want to get praise and recognition from man.  But these things does not feed the soul.  It feeds the flesh. And God sees them as rubbish.   And even though a person may obtain all this, at the end of his life, he will still be empty if Christ is not in his life.  So true wisdom is really placing value on the things that are truly important… such as Jesus, wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  And those who shun these are fools at best.  

Proverbs 9:10 AMP

For the Lord gives [skillful and godly] wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Miyagi’s commentary

So true wisdom, knowledge and understanding can only come from the Lord.  God is the only source of all this.   People can be street smart and clever in the ways of the world, but this cannot even begin to compare to the wisdom that God has and want to give to His people.  God desires that we walk in wisdom, His wisdom.  So we do well when we seek after God’s wisdom. It will save our souls and prolong our life on earth.  People without the wisdom of God tend to die before their time and lose their souls.  

Questions:

• If wisdom, knowledge and understand are so important to have, why isn’t everyone seeking earnestly for them?
• What will make a person desire wisdom?
• Are all people who go to church wise?
• Do you value the wisdom from God?  

Application:

We obtain true wisdom when we seek God’s word and guidance from the Holy Spirit.  When we pray, meditate and study the Scriptures, that is how we acquire wisdom.  It is not from watching TV and surfing the internet.  It is from daily sitting at the feet of Jesus, and drinking from His well.  

Colossians 1:9-14.  

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about it, we have not stopped praying for you, asking [specifically] that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [with insight into His purposes], and in understanding [of spiritual things], 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord [displaying admirable character, moral courage, and personal integrity], to [fully] please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing in the knowledge of God [with deeper faith, clearer insight and fervent love for His precepts]; 11 [we pray that you may be] strengthened and invigorated with all power, according to His glorious might, to attain every kind of endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints (God’s people) in the Light.

13 For He has rescued us and has drawn us to Himself from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption [because of His sacrifice, resulting in] the forgiveness of our sins [and the cancellation of sins’ penalty].

Know that this prayer is from the Word of God.  We know that His Word goes forth and does not return void.  To those who can receive this prayer, it will effect those who are being saved.

Summary conclusion:

Wisdom is for the asking.  God tells us in James 1 that He will give it to anyone who asks Him for it.  With wisdom comes blessings, happiness, long life, peace of mind, and safety in Christ.  Without it, one becomes open prey to the devil…. causing him to lose money, relationships, valuable opportunities and even his own soul.

The big picture:

The soul becomes alive and thriving when it is filled with the wisdom of God.  Without it, a person becomes the walking dead.

The byword:

The wisdom of God is that important….don’t leave home without it.

"Mr.  Miyagi"

The Righteous vs. the Wicked

Proverbs 29:27   AMP

An unjust man is repulsive to the righteous,

And he who is upright in the way [of the Lord] is repulsive to the wicked.

Matthew Henry concise commentary

The just man abhors the sins of the wicked, and shuns their company. Christ exposed the wickedness of men, yet prayed for the wicked when they were crucifying him. Hatred to sin in ourselves and others, is a needful branch of the Christian temper. But all that are unholy, have rooted hatred to godliness.

Miyagi’s commentary

A righteous person in Christ will hate the presence of sin.  And a wicked person will hate the righteous.  The two are at its polar opposites.   The two serves a different God.  They are of a different spirit.  While the righteous serve Jesus Christ, the wicked serve themselves because they are their own gods.  So the two have nothing in common.  That is why the Bible tells us that there can be no fellowship between light and darkness.  

Matt 12:30 AMP

He who is not with Me [once and for all on My side] is against Me; and he who does not [unequivocally] gather with Me scatters.  

Either a person is for Jesus or he is not.  It is one or the other.  A person who is not for Jesus hates God and the things of God.  He finds the Word of God repulsive.  He finds believers repulsive.  He cannot stand the Scriptures nor worship songs unto the Lord.  These things irritate him.  Instead, he is attracted to the things of the world…. anything that is of the flesh, carnal, that appeals to the senses….those things he will gravitate to.  In other words, he loves to sin.

A righteous person in Christ will find that he cannot even sit to dine with the wicked.  For what can they talk about?  The wicked hates the topic of God and the righteous are not interested in the things of the flesh.  Therefore, they cannot associate with each other.  It would be against their nature.  So if you are righteous and the wicked hates you, know that they hate you because they hated Jesus first.   So rejoice and be glad because that means you are where you need to be….with Christ.  

Psalms 34:21  AMP

Evil will cause the death of the wicked, And those who hate the righteous will be held guilty and will be condemned.

So here is the good news.  The Lord is for the righteous and will protect them from the wicked.  In other words, the righteous wins in life.  And the wicked is destined for total destruction.  They will not last long on earth.  They are “held guilty and will be condemned” as Psalms 34:21 says.

Questions to ponder on:

Do evil exist in the churches today?  

Can the wicked ever be saved from their wickedness?

Besides shunning the company of the wicked, what else can the righteous do regarding the wicked?  

Application:

Have nothing to do with the wicked except expose them.  Stay clear away from them.  They are of the devil and is being used by the devil.  They want nothing of God and thus hate God’s people.  They are not the ones you would want to witness to.  They are bloodthirsty and may even take your life. Unless God calls you specifically to reach out to them, stay away.

How do we expose the wicked?

By cross examination using the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.  What did Jesus do?  He went about proclaiming and declaring “repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  We have to make the rounds and expose darkness and proclaim to others to “repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  If you are not called to witness to the wicked and you do it on your own, you will cause division.  But if you were given the power of God to do this, you will be effective, liken unto a visiting prophet who is allowed to speak in the churches.

So why are there so much disagreement, contentions, and arguments in churches today?  Is it not because of a different spirit?   If you have the Holy Spirit, is that not enough to bear witness that we are the children of God?  The devil loves discussions, contentions and arguments between believers.  That is his playground.  He is please when the pastors argue with each other.  He loves to see the brethren contend with each other.  The devil’s work is about details.  The major point is to focus on the big picture.  These minor points and details are the works of the devil.  The Word of God and Holy Spirit bear witness to the truth.  So look to heaven to see the bigger picture.  

Summary conclusion:

If you are righteous in Christ, you would despise the company of the wicked.

If you enjoy the company of the wicked,  it is an indicator that you are one of them.  

The big picture:

Holiness and sinfulness cannot coexist.  They are polar opposites.   They have nothing in common.  And they will stay away from each other.  

The byword:

If the world hates you, rejoice...because that means you are of God.

If the world loves you….then “Houston, we have a problem.”  

Miyagi

Discipline for Holiness

Proverbs 23:13-14

13 Do not withhold discipline from the child;

If you swat him with a reed-like rod [applied with godly wisdom], he will not die.

14 You shall swat him with the reed-like rod

And rescue his life from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).

Matthew Henry concise commentary

Here is a parent instructing his child to give his mind to the Scriptures. Here is a parent correcting his child: accompanied with prayer, and blessed of God, it may prove a means of preventing his destruction.

Miyagi’s commentary:

Have you ever been to the supermarket and see a parent running frantically after her child, catering to his demands….and the child is only 3 years old?  When a child lives without discipline and correction, he becomes like a wild animal.  He will do whatever he wants whenever he wants and he will scream and kick to get his way.  And when parents fail to discipline their child, their child begins to run the show.  They become little monsters.

God requires His people to not only walk in discipline themselves, but to discipline their children so that “they will be rescue from Sheol.”  A child who is not discipline grows up to be an adult who is not discipline.  And that is a scary sight to behold.  Have you ever seen a grown woman cry and whine  because she couldn’t get her way and her husband gives in because he doesn’t want her to make a scene?  Here is a woman who learned to get her way through crying and whining since childhood and was never corrected.  So she grows up and continues her obnoxious behavior.  It is really, really sad to see.  Why?  Because just like Peter Pan, she never grew up.  She is a just a baby in a big body.  

Summary conclusion:

A child does not know the right way to live.  He needs to be taught and trained and disciplined.  When a parent allows a child to have his way in life, that child is being set up for destruction.   If a parent loves his child, he must enforce discipline.  

Heb 12:5-8 AMP

“My son, do not make light of the discipline of the Lord,

And do not lose heart and give up when you are corrected by Him;

For the Lord disciplines and corrects those whom He loves,

And He punishes every son whom He receives and welcomes [to His heart].”

You must submit to [correction for the purpose of] discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 Now if you are exempt from correction and without discipline, in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate children and not sons [at all].

Matthew Henry concise commentary

God may let others alone in their sins, but he will correct sin in his own children. In this he acts as becomes a father. Our earthly parents sometimes may chasten us, to gratify their passion, rather than to reform our manners. But the Father of our souls never willingly grieves nor afflicts his children. It is always for our profit. Our whole life here is a state of childhood, and imperfect as to spiritual things; therefore we must submit to the discipline of such a state. When we come to a perfect state, we shall be fully reconciled to all God's chastisement of us now. God's correction is not condemnation; the chastening may be borne with patience, and greatly promote holiness. Let us then learn to consider the afflictions brought on us by the malice of men, as corrections sent by our wise and gracious Father, for our spiritual good.

Miyagi’s commentary

Just as we are commanded to discipline our children for their good, God disciplines us too when we are astray.  He will bring correction because He loves us and desires that we live and walk in wisdom.  If we were not legitimate children of God, He would not bother.  But because we are, He takes the time to bring correction.  We do well when we embrace God’s correction.  For when we receive God’s correction and we learn from it, we will become holy in His eyes.  Holiness is the goal in this life.  It far outweighs happiness.  

How to live a disciplined life?

Start by daily prayer, meditation and study.  The Word of God is the best place to start.  When we spent time with God and His word on a regular basis, we shall live a disciplined life and holiness will be the fruit of that discipline.  

What affects holiness in a person?

The company he keeps, the choices he makes and the lack of the fear of the Lord.  These are some things that affects a person’s holiness.  

Summary conclusion:

Discipline is absolutely necessary to generate holiness.  It is for our benefit.  God desires that we live with wisdom.  And discipline is required to bring forth wisdom.  

The big picture:

If you are part of God’s family, then discipline will come.  Embrace it.  

It will save you from eternal damnation and it will make bright joy to your Father.

The byword:

Receive God’s discipline and grow in wisdom and holiness.

Reject it and become a wild animal.

So what will it be?  

Miyagi