The glass half-full approach to wise living

Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
    and be attentive, that you may gain insight,
² for I give you good precepts;
    do not forsake my teaching.
³ When I was a son with my father,
    tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
⁴ he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
    keep my commandments, and live.
⁵ Get wisdom; get insight;
    do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁶ Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
    love her, and she will guard you.
⁷ The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
    and whatever you get, get insight.
⁸ Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
    she will honor you if you embrace her.
⁹ She will place on your head a graceful garland;
    she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” – Proverbs 4:1-9

Prize what is prizeworthy. Cherish what will allow you to live life to its fullest.

Do you approach life as a glass half-full or half-empty? Too many Christians approach life from the perspective of those things that will harm them. Don’t do this or that. I agree that there are things that are best left out of our lives, but this is the half-empty approach to life. It focuses on what we ought not to do.

Maybe it is just an aspect of my personality that I prefer to approach life from the half-full perspective. I really don’t think it is a matter of personality alone. I believe Scripture teaches this approach.

Notice the way to value wisdom.  “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.” Holding fast to Daddy’s words of wisdom will allow you to live life to its fullest, really live!

Then there is the exhortation to prize wisdom:

Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
    she will honor you if you embrace her.
She will place on your head a graceful garland;
    she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.

This puts the focus on what one should do, that is on wise behavior, not on what one should not do. Loving wisdom will produce honors in our lives. It only makes sense. Wisdom is doing things the right and skillful way. It does include making wise moral choices also.

Christ is made unto us wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30), not only wisdom in the philosophical sense but in the practical sense as well. Let Christ be the object of our ultimate affection. Prize him highly. In him, we will find wisdom. When our love is focused on Jesus, wise behavior comes easy. Anything that will cloud our love affair with Jesus will be distasteful and not desired.

Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
    love her, and she will guard you.

It’s a love affair with wisdom and a love affair with Jesus. Be faithful to the object of your love, and we won’t have to worry about doing too many foolish things. You see, this love affair involves reading and meditating on God’s word where you find the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the object of our affection.

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
    and whatever you get, get insight.