The Good Wife

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The Fodder:  Proverbs 11-12

The Thought:  Only a stupid or brutish person refuses to learn the lessons about life that bring peace and happiness.  Life has no permanence if filled with ignorance and sin.  But it will find purpose and stability if it is righteous.  Good can come to us in this life if we will follow these wise and helpful instructions.

A good wife, one who is virtuous and righteous, makes man a king.  Her holy and regal qualities are the crown that bring blessing.  In this I’m immensely blessed.

The Path To Wisdom

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The Fodder:  Proverbs 8-10

The Thought:  How does someone gain wisdom?  With age comes experience and experience, when observed correctly, can lead to wisdom.  There’s not a three year old in the world who understands the instant feedback touching a hot stove reports until it happens.  Add a zero, and you couldn’t pay that person enough to get them to hold their hand on a burner for ten seconds.  Why?  They’re much too wise and experience tells them they’ll get burned.  Everyone knows getting burned hurts both physically and emotionally.  Experience, either our own or another’s, is one of the paths to wisdom.

Ideally, wisdom is total perspective – seeing an object, event or idea in all its pertinent relationships.  God makes every effort, short of force, to make the way to wisdom clear and appealing.  He places wisdom at life’s junctures where no man can avoid seeing it.  Wisdom is as near as our next decision or observation.

The opposite of wisdom is folly.  Unlike wisdom, folly does not require experience to come to fruition.  To find folly, all one has to do is ignore experience.  While their final destinations lie in opposite directions, the path to wisdom and the path to folly often seem to run parallel.  However, we can always know which path we are on if we follow the wisdom of God, the Bible.  It will point us to the wisdom of knowing Christ and save us from folly.

It Never Ends Well

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The Fodder:  Proverbs 5-7

The Thought:  Few deeds are as tempting as infidelity to marriage vows.  Few acts are as damaging as adultery to the family.  This sin degrades all persons related to it.  Contrary to popular and worldly views, it does not bring happiness.  Children, wives, husbands, parents, and friends are all shamed and hurt.  It never ends well.

I’ve heard all of the classic defenses:  “It’s my own life and I’ll do as I please,” or “It’s not my fault.”  Actually, it’s not just your life and it is your fault.  All attempts to justify immorality finally come “in full view of the Lord” who knows and sees all things.

The wise person looks ahead to ascertain the consequences, both positive and negative, of his or her traverse.  I’m marveled every time modern society thinks it can violate God’s decrees and escape harm.  They’re sure that whatever has happened to others will never happen to them.  Sad to say, their ignorance and insolence can never neutralize adultery’s tragic aftermath.  It never ends well.

The commitment of marriage is like the banks of a river that keeps the water from becoming a swamp.  God’s holy law confines the waters within the banks, and this produces power and depth.  Extramarital affairs simply don’t satisfy because they’re shallow, and it doesn’t take much to stir shallow water.  A man and a woman, pledged to each other in marriage, can experience the growing satisfaction that comes with love, commitment, depth and purity.

When a husband and wife are faithful to the Lord and to each other, neither of them will look for satisfaction anywhere else.  If they love each other and seek to please each other and the Lord, their relationship will be one of deepening joy and satisfaction.  This ends well.