How do you spot a wise person? Is it someone with lots of education, or success in their field? Maybe they just have to be older than you? In this week's passage, James defines wisdom in a way that perhaps we hadn't thought about it before: he tells us there needs to be evidence of our wisdom in the life that we live.
We conclude our journey in Proverbs on the subject of justice, with two short sayings from King Lemuel. Throughout Scripture, God identifies with and concerns himself with the poor and needy. And this proverb says that it is wise for us to do the same, specially to act against injustice. We'll talk about why this is so crucial, and so wise, and explore how we might apply this wisdom to our lives.
Do you ever wonder: What is God's will for my life? And how am I supposed to know that? Maybe you're wrestling with a big decision: What field should I go into? Whom should I marry? Where should I live? When and how should I retire? Even in the smaller decisions of everyday life, how are we supposed to find God's will? And what if we make the wrong decision? Fortunately, the Lord has a ton of decision-making wisdom to offer us in the book of Proverbs. Join us this Sunday as we continue to submit and search for God's perfect wisdom together in his word.
As you read the Bible, you might find that God's word sometimes raises topics that you might otherwise avoid, like sex. The book of Proverbs isn't shy about sex--it devotes multiple chapters to it, in fact--but Proverbs paints a very different picture of it than the culture that surrounds us. Our proverb this week is mysterious and shocking, but meditating on it and applying it to our lives will bring incredible wisdom in how we can treasure this beautiful and powerful gift that God has given us. This Sunday is for married people and single people, younger people and older people, and for all of us who need God's wisdom and grace and healing.
Writer Annie Dillard famously said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” For many of us, a large portion of our days is spent at work. In fact, the average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime, about 1/3 of their waking hours. Fortunately, Proverbs speaks a lot about work -- both the glories and the pitfalls. How can we be wise workers? That's what this Sunday is all about.
The book of Proverbs has more to say about our words than anything else -- more than money, sex, or family. That's probably because the average person speaks hundreds of times every day. Yet it's not only because of their quantity, but also their power. This Sunday we're going to see why our words are so powerful and how we can use them wisely.
The New Year is a time to reflect on the past and resolve for the future. It's a time when many people aspire to improve their lives. We start diets, pack gyms, make reading lists, and set goals. But Proverbs says that our greatest aspiration for this year, and every year, should be to find wisdom: "Blessed are those who find wisdom...for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold...nothing you desire can compare with her" (3:13-15). So what is wisdom? Why is wisdom so valuable? How can we find it? Join us as we dive into a sermon series on Proverbs this Sunday.
