Focal passage: Proverbs 4:11-27
Not long after getting married, I learned a lesson that many married couples before me can testify to – perhaps the most laboriously debated decision a married couple will make is the answer to, “Where do you want to go for dinner?” There are decisions of far greater weight, but none are so rigorously researched and thoroughly deliberated. Even after a decision is reached, the question lingers in the mind, “Did we make the right choice?” The matter typically isn’t settled until about dessert time.
A far more pressing choice is laid out for us in Proverbs. The path of the wicked may entice us. The way of the wicked invariably leads to destruction. Despite all the marketing, they find no freedom. They are enslaved by their wickedness, trapped in addictive cycles of destruction. The wise keep off this path and pursue a different way.
The way of wisdom leads us toward freedom. It is not, as some suggest, an oppressive set of rules.
Solomon pleads that we consider the decision carefully. This is no time for passive decision making. Continuing down the path of wisdom requires daily, active choosing. Choosing to die to ourselves and instead to follow Jesus. Choosing to confess our failings before Him and cast ourselves on His mercy and grace. We are not naturally inclined to be so steadfast. Yet what joy to know that as we traverse the path of wisdom, the path of Jesus, our hearts are continually transformed to look more and more like His.