Wisdom for the Way: For Me and My House

For Me and My House

“Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
pay attention and gain understanding.
I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.
For I too was a son to my father,
still tender, and cherished by my mother."

Proverbs 4:1-3
In chapter 4, the author reveals that the wisdom he is trying to pass down to his children contains wisdom that was passed down to him by his parents.

This tells us that wisdom isn't just some special knowledge we receive from God in a dream. It isn't some esoteric wisdom belonging to the guy on the mountaintop. Wisdom comprises the lessons we learn in life and which we pass down to our children. 

We focus on the individual in our society. We focus on what we might call "personal wisdom." The lessons I learned in my life. And we do typically make an effort to tell our kids about what we learned, but the kids can take it or leave it.

There's an urgency in Proverbs. There's a science to wisdom. We are meant to gather the wisdom we glean in our lives and pass them on to the next generation. They, in turn, will acquire wisdom in their lives and pass it down. And this is one of the ways we improve the quality of life in our family trees.

I'm not out to get wisdom just for me.

Wisdom is an inheritance, more valuable -- Solomon might tell us -- than an inheritance of money or property.

Pass it on.

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