My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
listening closely to wisdom
and directing your heart to understanding;
furthermore, if you call out to insight
and lift your voice to understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it like hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and discover the knowledge of God.
What is the purpose of your life? Is it to accomplish something? Build a family, save some money, educate your kids, get a second home, retire and travel? All good things. Is it to know who God is? Also good… but if you don’t actually live different, what’s the point of your life? What will be different because you were here and what makes the world better? Having kids who have successful careers won’t mean much if they simply mail it in at church and put more focus on sports or school. If they don’t have a genuine relationship with Jesus, if he’s not really the center of their life (what the Bible calls ‘Lord’) then how comforting will it be to know they retired a millionaire with a great sports career that paid their way through an Ivy League school, yet Jesus says “depart from me, I never knew you” Accept the words of the Scriptures. Don’t just know what the Bible says, live by them. Seek the hidden treasure of God, store up his commands for action. Live as though it is true. It doesn’t help you one bit to know the good news, if you live the same as before you heard it. Listen closely to wisdom, direct your heart to understanding, not just knowing… doing. Be different.
