Monday, September 26, 2011

Living an Ordered Life

October 2, 2011


Background Scripture: Proverbs 28:1 – 29:27
Lesson Passage: Proverbs 29:16 – 27

Today’s lesson closes out our study in the book of Proverbs. These are the last verses recorded in Proverbs that are attributed to Solomon. The last two chapters in Proverbs are attributed to Agur and King Lemuel. In this text, Solomon notes several characteristics that are important for living an ordered life. It is not suggested that these things will bring peace and harmony but it is intimated that the absence of them will surely bring disappointment and hardships.

Discipline is described as necessary for proper child rearing. Sometimes words must be reinforced with action to be effective. An undisciplined child will bring disappointment to his parents but a child who has been trained properly—including discipline, will bring joy to his parents. People need a positive plan for the future to help propel them. Without this plan, or vision, people will become disorganized, confused, and lost along the way. Achieving goals in life helps establish a sense of well-being and wholeness. Having a plan for the future is important to achievement. Whereas a vision is useful to a person’s well-being, anger will destroy it. A person who is angry is often blinded to circumstances around them. Anger can quickly turn a person into a destroyer of good things. If one is to live an ordered life, then the instructions given in the bible must be embraced that says be angry and sin not. The bible also warns us to not allow anger to fester or last into the night. If anger can destroy us in a negative manner, then pride can do so in a positive way. It is easy to become so proud of ourselves that we forget the God who reordered our lives and made this transition possible. Pride can cause us to feel self-sufficient. When we feel self-sufficient there is no thought concerning God’s place in our lives. A healthy dose of humility is the remedy needed for such a condition. Humility in the heart and mind can be attained when a person properly evaluates himself in the light of God’s word. God’s word is like a mirror for the soul. It reflects all there is to know about us in any situation. Anyone who looks into the perfect Law of God with an open mind and receptive heart will quickly ascertain an attitude of humility. We should also strive to remove fear from our lives. This is especially true of fear as it relates to following after God. Too often many of us are so afraid of failing that we refuse to try and allow our faith in God’s promises to prevail. Fear is a tormentor. Fear tortures us emotionally. Faith on the other hand gives us a holy boldness to follow after God and His ways.

Finally, we are admonished to know that there is no communion between wickedness and righteousness. Righteous people are as much of a problem for the wicked as the wicked are a problem for the righteous. Our only place of meeting is at the cross of Jesus Christ.


Robert C. Hudson
September 21, 2011

Monday, September 19, 2011

Acting with Discernment

September 25, 2011


Background Scripture: Proverbs 25:1 – 28
Lesson Passage: Proverbs 25:1 – 10

There are two ways to experience an environment. The first way is to be familiar with the environment and hence have a sense of where the dangers lie and what areas are relatively safe. The second way to experience an environment is to be carefree and throw all caution to the wind and behave as if every area is completely safe. In the wild where some animals face life and death situations every day, being carefree is a sure recipe for a short life that will likely end violently. Therefore, in the wild, animals rely on their instincts and keen physical senses to sense the presence of danger and thus avoid the area. However, if that environment changes drastically in a short amount of time, both keen physical senses and instinct will quickly become useless and an entire breed of some wild animals can become extinct. On the other hand, humans are not equipped with unnaturally keen physical senses or with instincts that can be relied upon for survival. Instead, God gives people a sense of discernment. Discernment is only operative when we have wisdom to apply to a situation. Discernment allows us to quickly assess our environment and to apply discriminating judgment to any changes that occur within it. We are able to constantly adapt based on an ever-changing environment. Today, people are rarely in a predicament that is considered “life or death” or that can affect their physical wellbeing outside of war or acts of terrorism. Yet discernment still has its benefits. How people interact and react socially is often dictated by discernment. Our adaptation may be based simply upon who enters or leaves a room that we are in. Once we are made aware of who is in our presence, we quickly adjust our behavior to fit the situation. It is normal for people to avoid confrontation or situations that can prove embarrassing. Our training starts early (literally before we can walk) as to how we are to conduct ourselves in various types of environments. As we mature, our friends and colleagues at school or work begin to serve as our mentors to teach us the social graces that should govern our behavior in these new and unfamiliar environments. But still, we never forget what we were taught at home. We refer to that teaching as our home training. Our background text contains some of the proverbs that Solomon wrote. These proverbs sound very much like some of our home training or “mother with”. It is better to be asked up than to be asked down. Don’t start a fight because you might not be able to finish it. Too much of a good thing can be bad for you. Don’t overstay your welcome. We should remember that these are more than just Solomon’s ideas. Solomon prayed and asked God to give him a heart of discernment so that he could properly lead God’s people, Israel. These proverbs were given to Solomon by inspiration of God. These proverbs teach us to act with discernment. I often remember the instructions given to us before we left home as children, “Act like you got good sense.” This simply meant that we should use all that we had been taught to determine what we say and do as well as how we say and do them. Our parents were admonishing us to act with discernment—or else!


Robert C. Hudson
September 19, 2011

Monday, September 12, 2011

Teaching Values

September 18, 2011


Background Scripture: Proverbs 10:1 – 15:33
Lesson Passage: Proverbs 15:21 – 33

It is much easier to pass on material goods to our children than it is to pass on our values. Estate planners who strive to do both find that it is indeed a very difficult yet worthwhile endeavor. Before we can pass on either material goods or values, we must be diligent to teach our heirs how to appreciate and cherish what we leave in their possession if there is to be any hope of it being protected and eventually passed on to future generations we may never know. Part of our background scripture states that a good man leaves an inheritance for his grandchildren. This is extremely difficult to accomplish if our children are not properly instructed. In spite of the difficulty, nothing is more precious than our values. Our values define who we are, what we live for, and what impact we wish to make in this world. The greatest value we hold is our personal relationship with God. It defines who we are. It defined who our parents were. In fact, our spirituality was instilled in many of us early in life when we had little or no appreciation for it. As we grew older, we discovered that the quality of our lives revolved around our relationship with God. When we are submissive and obedient to His guidance and counsel, our lives are enriched with the things that really matter in life. Our relationship with God defines our relationship with our fellowman. When we consider the abiding virtues of faith, hope, and love, love is the only one that is demonstrated through relationship with our fellowman. Therefore, the bible teaches us that love is the greatest of the virtues. Love propels us to win our friends over to God that they too may enjoy the quality of spiritual life that we do. Proverbs admonishes us that he who wins souls is wise. All of the faith and hope in the world would never be enough to enhance and enrich the quality of our lives on a level comparable to what happens when we dare to walk in love towards each other. Hope keeps us hanging on so that we never quit or despair. Faith opens doors that seemed impossible to enter or exit at some point. Through faith we can indeed have much of this world’s material goods. But what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? So Solomon advises that he that is greedy of gain will eventually bring trouble to his house. Life does not consist of the abundance of goods that one may possess. Rather, advice and instruction are sought after by the truly wise. This puts the wise in the company of the wise. Through this affiliation his wisdom increases. Those who follow fools do so to their own destruction. The wise build houses but the foolish tears them down. The tragedy of the foolish is that their way seems right to them although it is leading them to destruction. Again, Proverbs teaches us that having a work ethic is profitable to all. God sees all things that transpire in this life both good and evil. There is nothing hidden from Him. He will bring everything into judgment. There is no greater joy for a father than to see his son walk in the way of wisdom. This is an indication that the values he has taught have been received and are being practiced by his son.


Robert C. Hudson
September 10, 2011

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Making Right Choices

September 11, 2011


Background Scripture: Proverbs 4:1 – 27
Lesson Passage: Proverbs 4:10 -15, 20 – 27

It seems that more and more today youth and young adults are bent on making poor decisions in spite of wise counsel from many sources being made available to them. How do we convince our children or those we mentor to make right choices? Perhaps a better question is how did we come to make right choices? Some call it experience and others call it luck. Many of our decisions that turn out to be right choices are the result of instructions and counsel passed down through many years. Our responsibility as adults then is to continue to pass on to others what has been entrusted to us. We want our children and understudies to have the benefit of the wisdom we have now but did not have when were much younger. Solomon declares that wisdom then is the principal thing. In our lesson today, wisdom is personified—that is to say wisdom is spoken of as though it has a personality and mind of its own. Certainly the impact that wisdom has on one’s life will also suggest the same. Having wisdom is like having your own personal mentor following you around and providing constant consultation on everything where a decision is called for or a choice has to be made. Wisdom speaks of the company we keep. Wisdom suggests that we avoid wicked and evil people; some people are not satisfied until they have caused trouble, stirred up dissension, or slandered someone. They work the agenda of Satan who Jesus said comes to kill, steal, and destroy. His agenda is simple and never changes. He never comes to do what is good or to rectify any wrongs. Satan works through many individuals. Some participate willingly because they know not God and others are deceived. Those who choose to follow the devil do so out of ignorance or because their minds have been darkened and they cannot see the light. The issues of life flow from the heart of people. All wars, fights, and jealous activities are conceived in the heart of man. Man’s heart is evil in its unregenerate state; therefore we need to be born again so God can give us a heart which desires light and not darkness. If we are to allow wisdom to govern our lives, then we must guard our hearts against all manner of evil.

The redeemed of the Lord are commanded to pursue after righteousness and to use wisdom to guide us to make right choices. Life is filled with choices. Every day we make many decisions without giving much thought to them but we just follow whatever is in our hearts. Many make decisions that they spend the rest of their lives regretting because they paid no attention to what was coming out of their own hearts. When we pursue wisdom and understanding we do so that we might obtain what we need to make right choices. This is not because of what’s in our heads but because of what’s in our hearts. We study that we may learn and obtain knowledge in our heads. We meditate that whatsoever is on our mind might move into the realm of our heart. When we pursue righteousness because of what’s in our hearts, we will often make right choices. Right choices propel us into an abundant life that reflects God’s glory in us. The father who has learned these things surely wants his children to know them as well.

Robert C. Hudson
September 2, 2011