How does one find knowledge?

Proverbs 2:1-5

"My son, if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God."

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What does the wise son do?

Desire for wisdom that propels one to diligently apply God's Word to his or her life is what makes someone wise of heart. Wisdom says to "receive my words," "hide my commandments with you," "incline your ear unto wisdom," "cry after knowledge," lift up your voice for it," "seek her as silver," "search for her as for hidden treasures." Do these things and you will find the knowledge of God, that is, the fear of the LORD. To increase in wisdom is to increase in fearing the LORD, which is loving Jesus by obeying his commandments. The one who says he loves God, but does not keep God's commandments has not the fear of the LORD and therefore has not received the wisdom of Christ.

How should a wise son value wisdom taught by his parents during family worship?

The wise son is someone who recognizes that having the fear of God is of utmost importance. To value something is to pursue it. Pursuing the fear of God is to value the wisdom of God as revealed in the Bible. So, how does the wise son value the wisdom his parents teach him during family worship? He is to soak up the instruction his parents give like a sponge soaks up water, and he thinks and meditates on the matters day and night anticipating the opportunity to apply the teaching to his life, whether it is thoughts, words, or his deeds. 

Do you struggle to appropriately value the wisdom you hear in church and family devotions?

The struggle to value wisdom is my lack of meditating on the principles that are learned heard. Or are they even learned? To some extent, yes. Maybe I should say heard. The lack of intentionality in applying God's Word reveals the value that one places on the Word of God. To think about circumstances and situations, filtering them at all times according to the Scripture is to meditate on God's Word day and night. Meditation is not simply meditating on Bible passages isolated from life. Meditation is thinking on Bible passages in order to apply the principles of Scripture to your life--every area of life--home life, education, work, hobbies, politics, everything. The struggle is to be consistent and view, engage, and interact with everything from a thorough Christian worldview. Valuing wisdom takes practice.

Do You Reject Wisdom?

Proverbs 1:24-33

"Because I have called and you refused to listen,
    have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
because you have ignored all my counsel
    and would have none of my reproof,
I also will laugh at your calamity;
    I will mock when terror strikes you,
when terror strikes you like a storm
    and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
    when distress and anguish come upon you.
Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
    they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
    and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
would have none of my counsel
    and despised all my reproof,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
    and have their fill of their own devices.
For the simple are killed by their turning away,
    and the complacency of fools destroys them;
but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
    and will be at ease, without dread of disaster."
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What will happen to the fool who rejects the wisdom of God?

God will laugh at the calamity that comes upon the person who has rejected the wisdom of God. The Bible says that God will mock the fool when terror, distress, and anguish come upon him. At this point the fool will want God's help after all the years of rejecting God, but God will not have it. He says, "Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me." The fool will get what he deserves and eat the rotten fruit he has produced. Because the fool does not have the fear of the LORD, he in his simplicity is killed; his complacency destroys him.

What will happen when you listen to the wisdom of God?

Wisdom declares that the person who listens dwells secure from the destructive path of fools. The person who loves wisdom will be at ease, having peace, and not have the dread of disaster that comes upon fools. The wise person is answered upon by wisdom. God does not mock or bring punishment upon the people who love and obey his commandments. Loving and obeying God's commandments is rooted in the fear of the LORD. The Christian wants God's counsel and turns to God's wisdom in search for how to live this life in a way that God calls good and righteous. God pours out his Spirit to those who fear him. The fool will only get God's wrath in the end. Are you a fool? Do you reject wisdom?

Making the Most of Life

Making the Most of Life

The Meaning of Opportunities

Excerpts from J.R. Miller

The real problem of living, therefore, is how to take what the hours bring. He who does this, will live nobly and faithfully, and will fulfill God’s plan for his life. The difference in men is not in the opportunities that come to them, but in their use of their opportunities. Many people who fail to make much of their life, charge their failure to the lack of opportunities. They look at one who is continually doing good and beautiful things, or great and noble things, and think that he is specially favoured, that the chances which come to him for such things are exceptional. Really, however, it is in his capacity for seeing and accepting what the hours bring of duty or privilege that his success lays. Where other men see nothing, he sees a battle to fight, a duty to perform, a service to render, or an honour to win. Many a man waits long for opportunities, wondering why they never come to him, when really they have been passing by him day after day, unrecognized and unaccepted.

"They perish, and are set down to our account”

There is something truly startling in this irreparableness of the past, this irrevocableness of the losses which we have suffered through our follies or our sins. About two centuries ago a great sun dial was erected in All Soul’s College, Oxford, England, the largest and noblest dial; it is said, in the whole kingdom. Over the long pointer were written, in large letters of gold, the Latin words, referring to the hours, “Pereunt et imputantur.” Literally the meaning is, “They perish, and are set down to our account” or, as they have been rendered in terser phrase, “They are wasted, and are added to our debt.”

It is said that these words on the dial have exerted a wonderful influence on the boyhood of many of the distinguished men who have received their training at Oxford, stimulating them to the most conscientious use of the golden hours as they passed, and bearing fruit in long lives of earnestness and faithfulness. The lesson is one that every young person should learn. In youth the hours are full of privileges. They come like angels, holding in their hands rich treasures, sent to us from God, which they offer to us; and if we are laggard or indolent, or if we are too intent on our own little trifles to give welcome to these heavenly messengers with their heavenly gifts, they quickly pass on and are gone. And they never come back again to renew the offer.
On the dial of a clock in the palace of Napoleon at Malmaison, the maker has put the words, “Non nescit reverti”; “It does not know how to go backward.” It is so of the great clock of Time – it never can be turned backward. The moments come to us but once; whatever we do with them we must do as they pass, for they will never come to us again.

"Then privilege makes responsibility."

We shall have to give account to God for all that he sends to us by the mystic hands of the passing hours, and which we refuse or neglect to receive. “They are wasted and are added to our debt.”

A Husband's Part

Just a brief snippet from J.R. Miller's "The Family" (a.k.a home-making) on the husband's part.

"Yet there are men who would not willingly tread upon a crawling insect or worm, who would not injure a dumb animal nor needlessly hurt any of the lowest of God's creatures, who every day bring many a pang to the heart of the tender, faithful, loving wife of their bosom by their sharp words or their impatient looks or acts.

The trouble is that men fall into free and careless habits at home. They are not so in society; they are gentle to other women. They pride themselves on their thoughtfulness. They are careful not even by tone or look to hurt a sensitive spirit. But at home too often they are rude, careless in speech and heedless of the effect of their words and actions. They blurt out in their own houses the ill-humor they have suppressed all day on the street. They answer proper questions in an irritated tone. The speak impatiently on the slightest provocation. They are sullen, morose and unsocial."

Miller evidently experienced what most, if not all, husbands fail in their duty to succumb. He writes so that we may be cautioned and take heed not to fall prey to our hard, impenitent hearts. These are great words of truth that every husband (or future husband) should take to heart.

How Pietism Deceives Christians

Read this article tonight: "How Pietism Deceives Christians"; it's good. I can relate to some of what the author is writing about. For several years I had the mind set that I was a "radical" Christian because my life revolved around evangelism--a daily and nightly thing. Everywhere I went: a gospel tract had to be handed out; had to find a way to interject the gospel into every conversation; had to be reading theological books around the clock; listening to sermons non-stop. As a result, I looked down on Christians who were not like me. I was prideful, and a pietist as the article brings to light. My deception of; "a true Christian is someone who focuses all their energy on evangelism, because that's what God cares about," was beginning to affect other areas of my life. Those areas are as follows: when I should have been strengthening relationships with family members, my head was buried in theology books; when I should have been working diligently unto the Lord at work, rather than trying to read my Bible, memorize verses, and witness to co-workers--I was cheating my employer by not setting a good Christ like fruit of the Spirit example. I was neglecting just about every other area of life, failing to see that Christ has come to remove the curse as far as it is found, as Issac Watts once sang, and this happens by living out the fruits of the Spirit in every area of life, by the grace that Christ supplies. God is just as pleased with me when I spend time with my family, as when I am out evangelizing; God is just as pleased with me when I am at my secular (common) job, as when I am out evangelizing; God is just as pleased with me when I rest from my labors and enjoy life, as when I am out evangelizing. Why so? Because Christ is my justification and my sanctification as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians.

My Westminster Shorter is ruined

This is my beloved Westminster Shorter Catechism after going through the washer and dryer.

When my wife and I go for walks, sometimes I will put this catechism in my back pocket and we will go through some questions and answers. This time I forgot to take it back out of my back pocket when we got home.

Another one will definitely be purchased!