The Way of the Wise

20 My son, be attentive to my words;
    incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not escape from your sight;
    keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
    and healing to all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
    for from it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away from you crooked speech,
    and put devious talk far from you.
25 Let your eyes look directly forward,
    and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet;
    then all your ways will be sure.
27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
    turn your foot away from evil. – Proverbs 4:20-27 ESV

All this talk of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding could easily leave the impression that Solomon is obsessed with intelligence. It sounds like he is simply trying to encourage his son to get a good education, learn all that he can learn, and apply all that knowledge to living a good life. But Solomon is wise enough to know that there is more to this picture than increased intelligence or a high IQ. He is talking about a way of life that is based on much more than just book learning. All throughout the Proverbs Solomon contrasts two ways of life or two lifestyles. One is marked by wickedness and foolishness. The other is marked by wisdom and righteousness. But the difference isn't just about one person knowing more than the other. It is the fact that one knows God better than the other. At the end of the day, this is a heart issue. When Solomon pleads his son, and all young people, to “get wisdom” and “don't turn your back on wisdom,” he is really telling them to pursue God, because He is the source of all wisdom.

In this Proverb, Solomon repeatedly refers to “the way.” He describes life as a journey that offers a variety of different paths to take along the way. He says, “Don’t do as the wicked do, and don't follow the path of evildoers. Don't even think about it; don't go that way. Turn away and keep moving” (Proverbs 4:14-15 NLT).

He compares the way of the righteous with the way of the wicked. One ends in light, the other in darkness. But then Solomon provides us with the key. He says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Proverbs 14:23 NLT). It is our heart that will determine whether we go the way of the righteous or the way of the wicked. It is our heart that will determine whether we seek God’s way or that of the world. So, we need wise hearts, not brave hearts. We need heart knowledge, not head knowledge. God wants to renew our hearts and change the way we think, act, speak, and live.

Without heart change, all efforts to live wisely will be short-lived and end up in nothing more than behavior modification. When Solomon says, "Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech" (Proverbs 4:24 NLT), he knows he is asking the impossible unless our hearts are changed by God. We will gravitate toward perverse talk and corrupt speech without wise hearts. And only God can give us wise hearts. Only God gives us the ability to make wise choices. Solomon closes his Proverb with these words: "Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil" (Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT). Without a wise heart, that is impossible. God gives us the capacity to know right from wrong, good from evil. He equips us with not only the knowledge to make good choices, but the ability to do so. He changes our hearts. Head knowledge is not enough. Heart knowledge is what we need. Wise hearts and brave souls – men and women living life according to God’s terms and in the power of God’s Spirit.

But even those with wise hearts need to be on constant alert because life is not only a journey that features two different paths, but it comes with a wide assortment of dangerous and, even deadly, distractions. Every day, we face circumstances, situations, and even individuals that can easily distract us from what really matters in life. And before we realize it, we can find ourselves on the wrong path and headed in the wrong direction.

There are fires to put out, problems to handle. difficult people to deal with, deals to close, opportunities to take advantage of, and a myriad of other things, both large and small, that can get our eye off of the prize. We can easily lose focus. We can become distracted and even disoriented, losing touch with what really matters. So, Solomon warns us to keep our eyes straight ahead. He tells us to not lose focus and allow ourselves to get distracted by all that life has to offer.

Look straight ahead,
    and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
Mark out a straight path for your feet;
    stay on the safe path.
Don’t get sidetracked;
    keep your feet from following evil. – Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT

And he is speaking from experience. Remember, he was the wisest and wealthiest king that the nation of Israel ever knew. Yet, consider how he describes his own experience with a loss of focus.

1 I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. 2 So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?” 3 After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world.

4 I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. 7 I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. 8 I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire!

9 So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. 10 Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. 11 But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. – Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 NLT

Wow! Talk about distractions. Pleasure, wine, palaces, vineyards, gardens, parks, reservoirs, slaves, flocks, silver, gold, singers – but it was all like chasing the wind. Fleeting, ephemeral, meaningless and, ultimately, unfulfilling. Solomon had allowed himself to look in the wrong places for what he hoped would be the right solution to his problem. Instead of keeping his eyes focused on God, he got sidetracked and, ultimately, sidelined. And Solomon’s lack of focus wasn’t just a short-lived event, but a lifelong obsession that cost him dearly. Take a look at this recap of the last days of his life.

1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.

4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. – 1 Kings 11:1-4 NLT

Solomon didn’t listen to his own advice. He refused his own counsel. He failed to look straight ahead and keep his eyes fixed on the Lord. He strayed off the straight path and found himself wandering around in the high weeds along the road of life. And the same thing can happen to us as believers. We too can lose our focus and become distracted by the cares and comforts of life. We can allow the things of this world to entice and entrap us, leaving us ineffective and a far cry from the victorious conquerors God intended for us to be.

So, Solomon warns us to maintain our focus. He encourages us to keep our eyes on the prize. “Don’t let God out of your sights” he pleads. And for Christ-followers that translates into making our pursuit of Christ our highest priority and greatest joy, because nothing else matters in this life or for eternity.

The author of the book of Hebrews provides us with advice that mirrors that of Solomon. He calls us to fix our eyes on Jesus and walk the same path that He walked.

…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. – Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT

Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong. – Hebrews 12:10 NLT

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Stay Focused.

Philippians 4:1-9

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. – Philippians 3:8 NLT

As Paul begins to wrap up his letter to the Philippian believers, he summarizes his thoughts and gives them one last set of directives. He had a special affection for these people and wanted to see them grow and prosper in their relationship with Christ and one another. They were under constant pressure from the Judaizers to compromise their freedom in Christ and submit to Jewish laws and rituals as a means of earning favor with God. Paul vehemently stood against that heresy. But on the other end of the spectrum, they were being encouraged by the antinomians (anti-law), to reject any kind of moral law whatsoever and give in to self-indulgence. Both extremes were wrong and dangerous to the well-being of the church. So Paul urges them to maintain their focus. He doesn't want them to get distracted from what is truly important.

First of all, he calls for unity, and he uses two specific individuals as examples of disunity within the local body of Christ. He appeals to them to settle their dispute because they belong to God. Their mutual disagreement with one another was to take a back seat to their common bond in Christ. Loving one another as fellow believers was more important than being right. They were to find their joy in the Lord, not in winning a dispute or being proven right. He would rather they be known for their reasonableness and consideration than their resilience in winning an argument. Paul reminds them, and the other readers of his letter, not to forget that the Lord is going to return some day. They were to stay focused on what was really important, because on that day, all disputes and arguments are going to seem petty and unimportant.  And they were to replace their worry and anxiety with prayer. If they had a need, they were to take it to God. If they had anything happening among them that was disrupting their unity, they were to bring the matter to Him, praying for one another and thanking God for all He had done for them. As a result, they would experience the peace of God, a supernatural calm in the midst of the storm, protecting their hearts and minds from harmful influences. I can't help but think that Paul had in mind Isaiah 26:3, which says, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!"

That seems to be the point of this entire section of Paul's letter, because he goes on to say, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise" (Philippians 4:8 NLT). It would seem that Paul is encouraging his readers to keep their minds focused on God and all that He has done and is going to do for them. Rather than worry about the things of this world, they were to focus on the world to come, the one that God had promised and was preparing for them. Rather than argue over worldly issues and concerns, they were to fix their thoughts on heavenly ones. It was a matter of focus and priorities. This world is full of distractions and plenty of things to take our eyes off of God. We can easily be persuaded that He is not enough and that this world offers us the things we really want and need. But Paul would argue that the things of this earth are nothing compared to what is to come. Materialism is no match for what God has in store for us. This temporary world can't compare to the eternity we will spend with God and His Son. So keep your focus. The author of the letter to the Hebrews shared this same sentiment. "…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne" (Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT). When Paul tells us to fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable, he is telling us to stay focused on God. Nothing in this world has those attributes. No one in this world shares those characteristics. They are the essence of God Himself. What is true is to be found in God alone. What is right will be found in Him who is righteous alone. Whatever is to be admired in this life will be found in the one who is the source of all life. He is to be our focus in this life, not just in the one to come.

Father, this world can be a distracting place. It is so easy to fix our thoughts and our attentions on the things of this earth, and lose sight of You. Material things can become our fixation. We can end up placing our hope and trust in things that won't last and can't deliver. We can try and find fulfillment and satisfaction in the temporal rather than the eternal. Keep us focused on You. Help us learn how to keep our eyes fixed on Christ. We need the capacity to endure and to finish strong, keeping our eyes on the goal. Amen.

A Matter of Priorities.

1 Corinthians 7:25-40

But let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short. So from now on, those with wives should not focus only on their marriage. Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions. Those who use things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away. – 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 NLT

As Paul continued to answer the questions he had received from the believers in Corinth, he summarized his response with a call to reconsider their priorities. Most of their questions had to do with whether certain things we worth doing or not. Should they get married or remain single? If they were married to an unbelieving spouse, should they leave them? Should a believing couple abstain from sex in order to make their marriage more holy? Paul's advice, considering the growing persecution they would face, was simple and direct: "I think it is best to remain as you are" (1 Corinthians 7:26 NLT). If you're single, stay that way. If you're married, remain so. But then he told them something incredibly significant that seemed intended to refocus their priorities. He informed them that the time was very short. They needed to have more short-term, rather than long-term goals and objectives. They needed to understand that there was going to be a day when the Lord returned. No one knows that day, but it is inevitable and unavoidable. Paul had no idea when the exact date of Christ's return would be, but he knew that his own time on earth was limited. He understood that this world is a temporary reality and has a limited shelf life. Most of the questions he had received from the Corinthians were evidence that they viewed this world and their life in it as a high priority. Paul was trying to give them a more eternal perspective.

The words of Paul is this passage are difficult for us to hear and even more difficult for us to agree with. He tells the married men, "So then those who have wives should be as those who have none" (1 Corinthians 7:29b NET). This sounds radical and even unbiblical. What is he saying? It would seem that Paul is trying to tell married men to not focus all their attention on their married state. He is not suggesting that they abandon their responsibilities as husbands or that they no longer love their wives as Christ loved the Church. He is telling them that nothing in this world – marriage, singleness, sorrow, happiness, material things or physical pleasures – should demand all our attention and distract us from our true calling as Christ-followers. "For this world as we know it will soon pass away" (1 Corinthians 7:31b NLT).

Paul wanted them to be free from the concerns of this life. He was not suggesting that they abandon their responsibilities and live some kind of ascetic lifestyle, denying themselves any kind of enjoyment or pleasure from this world. He was simply trying to get them to rethink their priorities and refocus their attention on what was really important. For Paul, it was simple. A single man or woman had more available time to serve the Lord. They could dedicate more of their life to Kingdom causes, without having to feel guilty that they were neglecting their marital responsibilities. The more earthly ties we have, the more difficult it will be for us to focus our attention on the things of heaven. This world has a way of distracting us from the things of God. It isn't that the things of this life are evil or wrong, but if we're not careful, we can end up focusing all our attention on temporal issues and lose sight of the fact that we are eternal beings and this world as we know it is not our final destination. At the end of the day, Paul just wanted the believers in Corinth to set the priorities of their lives so that they could serve the Lord as successfully as possible. "I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible" (1 Corinthians 7:35 NLT).

One of the constant risks for us as followers of Christ in this fallen world is to find our value and meaning from the things of this world. We cannot afford to let whether we are married or not define who we are. We cannot afford to let our possessions, or lack of them, define who we are. We cannot afford to let our sadness or happiness determine who we are. We must constantly remind ourselves that we are, first and foremost, disciples of Christ. We are His ambassadors. We are citizens of His Kingdom, not of this world. We are temporary residents in this temporal environment. This world is not our home. We must constantly protect ourselves from divided interests. Again, Paul is not encouraging the Corinthians or us to abandon our earthly responsibilities, but to manage them wisely. Our problem is that we tend to add more and more responsibilities and earthly distractions that keep us from focusing our attention on the spiritual aspect of our lives. We live under the delusion that this world is all there is and that we must grab as much of it as possible while there is time to do so. But the end result is that we become burdened down with distractions that take our eyes off the Lord and absorb all our time, preventing us from serving Him effectively. For Paul, serving God was priority number one. That objective had to be considered at all times. Anything that distracts us from making Him our highest priority has to be evaluated and re-prioritized. That does not mean that we have to leave our spouses, quit our jobs, abandon our friendships, sell all our possessions, or dedicate our lives to full-time Christian service. It simply means that we must never allow anything to become more important than our relationship with and dedication to God. The truth is, when we make Him our highest priority, we become better husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, employees and employers, friends, neighbors, and citizens. It is when we understand that we are to have no other gods, no other idols, no other sources of worth or worship, that we are able to live in this world, but not be absorbed by it.

Father, reset our priorities. Make us Kingdom people who live with the future in mind. Don't let us buy into the lie that this world is all there is and that we must grab as much of it as we can while we can. Don't let us lose sight of what is of real importance: Our relationship with You. Amen.

Focus.

Proverbs 4

"Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil." – Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT

The other day I got a text from my son who is a freshman in college. In his message, he talked about how difficult college was proving to be. One of the things he said to me was very insightful. He simply said that college was full of distractions. Oh, how true. And the same thing can be said of life in general. Every day, we all face circumstances, situations, and even individuals who can easily distract us from what really matters in life. There are fires to put out, problems to handle. difficult people to deal with, deals to close, opportunities to take advantage of, and a myriad of other things, both large and small, that can get our eye off of the prize. We can easily lose focus. We can become distracted and even disoriented, losing touch with what really matters. So Solomon warns us to keep our eyes straight ahead. He tells us to not lose focus and allow ourselves to get distracted by all that life has to offer. And this guy is speaking from experience. Remember, he is the wisest and wealthiest king that the nation of Israel every knew. Listen how he describes his experience with lost focus:

I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless.So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?”After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards.I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees.I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire! So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. – Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 NLT

Wow! Talk about distractions. Pleasure, wine, palaces, vineyards, gardens, parks, reservoirs, slaves, flocks, silver, gold, singers – but it was all like chasing the wind. Fleeting, ephemeral, meaningless and, ultimately, unfulfilling. Solomon had allowed himself to look in the wrong places for what he hoped would be the right solution to his problem. Instead of keeping his eyes focused on God, he got sidetracked and, ultimately, sidelined. Solomon's lack of focus wasn't just a short-lived event, but a lifelong obsession that cost him dearly. Take a look at this recap of the last days of his life.

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, ‘You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’ Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord. In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. – 1 Kings 11:1-4 NLT

Solomon didn't listen to his own advice. He refused his own counsel. He didn't look straight ahead. He didn't keep his eyes fixed on the Lord. He strayed off the straight path and found himself wandering around in the high weeds along the road of life. And the same thing can happen to us as believers. We can lose our focus. We can become distracted. We can allow the things of this world to entice and entrap us, leaving us ineffective and a far cry from the victorious conquerors God intended us to be. Don't lose your focus. Keep your eye on the prize. Don't let God out of your sights. Make your pursuit of Christ your highest priority and greatest joy. Nothing else matters.

Father, this world can be a distracting place. We can be like kids in a toy store who find themselves surrounded with all kinds of tempting, tantalizing treasures that promise to bring us joy. But they can't deliver. Only You can bring us true joy, fulfillment and worth. Help us keep our eyes on You. Amen