Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”
Our Bible verse for today: “When I was a son with my father, tender and precious to my mother, he taught me and said: “Your heart must hold on to my words. Keep my commands and live.” Proverbs 4:3-4 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Each generation must teach and guide the next one.”
What are we teaching the next generation? It’s a vital question that we must ask and answer because we are indeed teaching them something. The question is “What are they learning from us?” And also, when I ask “What are “we” teaching them”, I’m referring to all of us – parents, grandparents, adult relatives, teachers, adults in the church, “What are we teaching and modeling for the young people around us?”
Young people learn from the adults in their lives – be that good or bad. And to a very large degree, as adults, they will end up mimicking the conduct they witnessed from the adults in their lives when they were growing up. The overwhelming majority of men and women in prison today were raised, as children and teens, in dysfunctional situations where they witnessed the adults in their lives engage in the very behaviors that ultimately led that child or teen to become an adult in prison.
Here in Proverbs 4 we can see the generational impact of passing the faith on to the young people around us. In verses 3-4 we learn that when this man was a boy his own father instructed him in godly wisdom. Evidently he taught it to his son and then modeled it in his own life, so his son could see it as well as hear it. Now this man, as an adult with a son of his own, is doing the same for his son.
In the verses that follow he explains to his son that obtaining and living by Biblical wisdom is the smartest thing he could do, and that it will serve him better in life than anything else. Essentially he is telling his son that more than a good education, or a high paying career, and rather than striving for success and recognition, he is instead to study the Bible and become wise in the ways of God. All of those other pursuits are admirable and noble and do have some value in life, but they don’t compare in importance to the value of good godly wisdom learned, nurtured, and lived-out in a person’s life.
As the people of God we have a responsibility to teach and guide the younger generations. And we must never lose sight of the fact that we are teaching them something, and they are learning from us (be that good or bad), whether we’re intentional about it or not and whether we realize it or not.
So let’s be committed to developing godly wisdom in our own lives, and then to teaching and modeling it for the young people around us.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 