In years past, before the printing press and the Internet made information so readily available, people memorized—precisely, word for word—anything they considered helpful. With the mass production of books, memorization steadily declined. Today, with the Internet in everyone’s pocket, the discipline of memorization has all but died.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Christian Living
Bound to Memorize
Solomon offered several insights about the value of placing God’s Word at the center of our lives. Let’s begin with Proverbs 4:4, where the wise king recalled the instruction of his own father, David: Then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live.” Take note of the words hold fast.
Read MoreFacets of Integrity
David’s song, Psalm 15, opens with a probing question about our experience of fellowship with God in the temporal realm, our relationship with Him in daily life. He wanted to know what characteristics mark the person who is able to enjoy unencumbered, uninhibited association with the almighty Creator of the universe. Inspired by the Holy Spirit in his writing, David received and then recorded the Lord’s reply.
Read MoreFellowship with God
If you read Psalm 15 carefully, you will discover the entire song all hangs upon the first verse. Verse 1 is crucial in that it asks a probing question. That’s today’s devotional. David’s answer forms the rest of the psalm. He then arrives at a wonderful promise. These we’ll look at over the next couple of days.
Read MoreThe Supernatural Benefits of Wisdom
Obviously, behaving wisely or sensibly prepares us to respond constructively to difficulties and conflicts. Consider again the examples of Harper Lee and Truman Capote. I don’t know if either of them professed belief in Christ. Regardless, we see how the presence or the absence of wisdom led them to experience life very differently.
Read MoreThe Benefits of Wisdom
Wisdom is its own reward. Even so, Solomon predicted that the person seeking divine wisdom will enjoy significant advantages. Today we will consider the benefits of wisdom from within. [Tuesday], the benefits of wisdom from above. 1. Benefits of wisdom from within: further wisdom plus knowledge and understanding For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. (v. 6)
Read MoreDeep Impact
Our image-conscious, hurry-up culture celebrates people with broad appeal and shallow character. Just look at the proliferation of reality shows featuring people who are famous for being famous. They do nothing, contribute nothing, stand for nothing, and accomplish nothing, yet television and tabloids can’t get enough of them. This is nothing new, of course.
Read MoreThe Purpose of the Proverbs
As we open the book of Proverbs in order to discover divine wisdom for ourselves, an appropriate question to ask is, why? Why has God preserved these sayings down through the centuries? If we go back to the preamble of the book, we’ll find the answer. You might want to glance back over Proverbs 1:1–9. As I reflect on those words, I find five reasons God gave us this book of wisdom:
Read MoreA Life beyond Compare
The central lesson in Psalm 1 is this: there is not the slightest similarity between the spiritually accelerating life of the righteous and the slowly eroding life of the wicked. Take time to ponder the bold contrasts: Godly: Happiness many times over Ungodly: Not so! Godly: Uncompromised purity Ungodly: Driven by the wind
Read MoreThis Means You
While we are getting better acquainted with the ancient sayings, I should mention that this is a book full of various kinds of people facing a variety of common challenges. Years ago I completed an in-depth analysis of Proverbs and was surprised to discover that the book includes more than 180 types or categories of people.
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