on Proverbs 4

The word of God is very relevant to our society and our current culture. Proverbs' overarching message: pursue wisdom, understanding, and discernment speaks volumes in a time when it seems that we all hear is noise. Our desire in this journey is that you would take the words of Proverbs to heart and learn to seek wisdom, ask questions, listen before you speak, and follow Jesus passionately.

Proverbs 4 brings out an incredible habit that all young people should follow: listen to your parents.

Vs. 4:1- Begins the chapter listen to your father's instruction. Now, I will say that a mother's instruction is just as valuable and sometimes even more so than a father's. But, what I'm getting at is we need to be teachable people. No one has fully arrived in terms of having a perfect character, ability, or spiritual life and trust me this list can go on and on. Have the humility to be teachable, admit a mistake, and learn from others it will go a long way in building a satisfying, spiritual life.

4:5- "Do not forget my words or swerve from them. . ." If you've ever read the book Pilgrim's Progress it is a great allegory of our spiritual lives as followers of Jesus. Christian is on a journey to the Celestial City, and on his journey he is tempted by many different people and events that try to swerve him off his journey and goal. Our life is the exact same way. We are all tempted by various events, people, and things and we begin to lose sight of wisdom and understanding when we allow these temptations to cause to swerve. Recognize what tempts you and begin to pray powerfully that the Holy Spirit would equip you with the courage to resist the temptation.

4:24- "Put away perversity from your mouth. . ." Wow! What a nugget of wisdom. Proverbs has many abstract ideas and metaphors, but the book has very concrete things to do. This is very concrete as the verse finishes by saying keep corrupt talk from your lips. Words are powerful. They can heal, destroy, build, and tear-down. One big step many of us need to make is to have our speech be filled with life giving words of hope. Let's hold each other accountable to that.