Wise Living

Wise Living

This summer we are going to be studying the book of Proverbs. Proverbs was written by Solomon who has been called the wisest man who ever lived. The Bible in fact talks about his wisdom but it never says that he was the wisest man to ever live. Actually the Bible would imply that Jesus was the wisest man to ever live on the face of the earth.

A proverb is a literary device that has existed for centuries. People were using proverbs long before Solomon wrote and the men of Hezekiah collected what is in the book of Proverbs. (Proverbs 25)

A proverb is not a promise. A proverb is a conclusion from observation about how things most often work in life. A proverb is a short, memorable saying, or a general truth, that condenses people’s common experience into a form that is very memorable.

The purpose for the book of Proverbs is laid out clearly and is in fact very specific. In short form – the purpose of the book of Proverbs is to teach people how to look at life through a pair of glasses that ask the question – What is the wise thing?

Eugene Peterson, the author of the Message version of the Bible, wrote as part of the introduction to the book of Proverbs:

Many people think that what’s written in the Bible has mostly to do with getting people into heaven- getting right with God, saving their eternal souls. It does have to do with that, of course, but not mostly. It is equally concerned with living on this earth-living well, living in robust sanity. In our Scriptures, heaven is not the primary concern, to which earth is tag-along afterthought. “On earth as it is in heaven” is Jesus’ prayer.

“Wisdom” is the biblical term for this on-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven everyday living. Wisdom is the art of living skillfully in whatever actual conditions we find ourselves.

Our study is going to be about Wise Living. We will be constantly asking the question: What is the wise thing?

Bring your Bibles each week. Catch what you miss at www.swag-online.org .

- Pastor Matt