Proverbs 4-5

It’s important for parents to teach wisdom, and to have the right attitude when they teach. There should be an urgency and tenderness that accompanies teaching, which all teachers (not just parents) should embody. I’m sure Paul had Proverbs in mind when he wrote, “You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4, WEB). As important as wisdom is, forcing it down someone’s throat doesn’t work, and the person on the receiving end needs to have a desire to learn too! And that desire helps us to understand the four “laws” of Proverbs set forth in our passage:

• We need to accept the words of wisdom.
• We need to walk in the way of wisdom.
• We need to keep to the path of wisdom.
• And we need to avoid the way of the wicked.

The way of the wicked is seductive and compulsive (4:16), and its path grows darker and darker the more we’re on it. In contrast, wisdom’s path grows brighter and brighter the longer we walk it! Wisdom’s path should keep us from the seductiveness of an adulteress. But the words here are not just for young men. Anyone can have a problem with sexual immorality. Sex is seductive and destructive. It can affect not just the mind and the spirit, but the body as well. No matter how strong we think we are, we can be pulled in and suffer because of it. That’s why Paul’s instruction is so important: “flee sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18).

We’re reminded here that unfaithfulness is easy. Unfaithfulness is the default setting of the human heart. Even believers have their old nature that fights against their new nature (which is given by the Spirit of God). Faithfulness is hard. Faithfulness requires discipline! And we are to be faithful to our spouses. We need to discipline our minds and hearts to have single minded devotion. We aren’t to cheat on them. We aren’t to turn them in for a new model when they get older. Instead, we should rejoice with them as we grow old together and not seek sexual or emotional satisfaction elsewhere.

Thought for the day: Wisdom teaches us that we need to be careful what we put inside our hearts and our minds. What we take in will eventually infect our thoughts and show up in our actions.

Matthew 5:19 (WEB) “But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.”