May 16

Proverbs 8 Wisdom in a Relative World

Wisdom is personified in our chapters today .... here is what wisdom says to us:

-Listen, for I have worthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness.
-Wisdom is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.
-Long life is in her right hand.
-Wisdom will be life for you.

The modern day church has come a long way from the words of John Huss the reformer (C. 1370-1415) who said, “Seek the truth, Listen to the truth, Teach the truth, Love the truth, Abide by the truth and defend the truth…Unto death.” There has been a dramatic paradigm change in our culture and the church over the past 20 years. That change has been the rejection of the absolute moral authority of the WISDOM of the Bible. The problem isn’t that the culture has thrown out that authority, the problem is the church has thrown it out. Leading Christian researcher George Barna has warned of a growing crisis in the church. .”When a majority of Christian adults...as well as three out of four born again teens proudly cast their vote for moral relativism, the Church is in trouble," he said. Barna spoke on the release of a report by his Barna Research Group. It revealed that among all adults, only 22 percent believed in moral absolutes, while 64 percent thought truth was always relative to the person concerned and their situation. Among interviewees identified as being born again, just 32 percent believed in moral absolutes. The picture was even gloomier among teen-agers questioned in a parallel inquiry. Eighty-three percent of all teens thought moral truth depended on the circumstances, with just 6 percent believing in absolute truth. Only 9 percent of teens identified as being born again accepted the idea of absolute truth, compared with 4 percent of other teens. We are in deep weeds with these stats.

Here is just a quick list of the benefits of following God’s absolute wisdom in our lives:

Marriages would be saved the divorce rate would plummet
Children would grow up in two parent homes
Violent crime and abuse would stop
AIDS would disappear in one generation
Abortion would not be an issue ,, there would not be any unwed mothers
This would greatly impact poverty in the US and around the world
People would live healthy lives because they would take care of their bodies
Pornography and other addictions would cease
Deaths from siroccos of the liver and various forms of cancer would wane
The US government would not be filled with liars ... we could trust our politicians again.
Wars would come to an end
Greedy investment bankers would not swindle billions
The church would be a place of harmony and grace.
Families and governments would learn sound financial practices and we wouldn’t be in the economic mess we find ourselves today.

This is just a quick list. The point of today’s verses.... wisdom says to all of us, keep my commands and you will live.