Forgiven Forget

Wisdom tells me:

What
I
Should
Do to
Obey
More

We don't try to obey to impress God. We don't obey to earn his love or respect. Obeying God can only follow having seen God, having glimpsed his goodness. Only having seen his and trusted in him, will we 'believe in his commands'. Only when we love him, will we love the path he has marked out for us.

And so wisdom, given by God, is like a flashlight. In the dark, it's not only impossible to see the path ahead, but it's also impossible to see the map. You can't see where you're going, and you can't see where you're supposed to be going!

Wisdom shines like a flashlight. With a flashlight we can see both the map, and the path ahead. With wisdom, we can understand God's commands - his living Word, the Bible - and also see how it relates to our life.

But it is only God who can give us the light of wisdom. We need him to teach us his knowledge, and good judgment.

The Bible says the world around is us in darkness, the darkness of sin. Sin is being blind to God, it's like putting your hand over your eyes and saying "I can't see God, so why should I believe in him?" There's lots of people wandering around saying "I don't need God, I'm going to live life without God." The world is in darkness. The world has shut it's eyes to God.

Yet, when we run into trouble, where do we go for advice? Quite often we go to these people with their hands over their eyes. We're constantly absorbing advice from TV, from our friends. It's like asking people in the dark for directions.

If we listen to the advice from people around us, then we'll start to think like they think. God will get pushed to one side - he'll become a private belief, a hobby, rather than someone to follow, someone to give your life to. His way will seem boring and restricting, instead of being the best way to live.

Go to God for your advice, go to God for wisdom, ask him for knowledge and good judgment. His way is the best way, and he is the best guide.

If you're not convinced, look at Jesus. God's wisdom is seen most clearly in Jesus. Jesus is wisdom - What I Should Do to Obey More - fleshed out. Jesus took advice from one person - God the Father. He chewed over the wisdom in the Bible, he prayed to God daily for more wisdom. The Bible says Jesus learned obedience. That doesn't mean he ever disobeyed God - he was perfect. Rather he didn't stop learning to obey the Father more fully - his thinking was always "What should I do to obey more?" rather than "What can I get away with?"

We need to ask God for wisdom. Without wisdom we'll be stuck in the dark, unable to connect the map of God's way, with the path ahead - we'll be unable to connect God's living Word with our daily life.