Feb. 12, 2007

Proverbs 1

20Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

21She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Where can you find wisdom? Ever ask yourself where wisdom can be found. Many think it can come from college or reading some book. Many will even tell you that it can be found in the Bible. But the Bible teaches us that wisdom in out in the streets, and she cries to us to find her. If we continue to act as simpletons, we will never get wisdom as we will not want it.

So what does it mean that wisdom is out in the streets. In every day life, wisdom will speak to you in ways that may not make sense. Your children may say something wise. Maybe a spouse or co-worker will say something that you need to hear. If you are not ready to hear it, you will miss it. Put yourself in a mode that you can learn from others. As a part time instructor of computers, I will tell you the hardest to teach students are the ones that think that they know it all. From the 1st class I tell them, you will learn something new in this class, and after 2 weeks I ask the ones that say I can not teach them anything new if they have learned something new. About 99% of them do, and I have got them hooked for they now know if they listen they will learn something new.
This came to me one day as I was watching an Anime show my step-son introduced me to, Full Metal Alchemist. The quote is as follows:

Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth.

While not a Christian show, there are many central Christian concepts that can be learned in a show. As a Christian, what can I learn from this quote? The wisdom here is the basic premise on the show, in order to obtain, something of equal value must be lost. In order for me to gain salvation in heaven in my sinful state, something of equal value had to be lost. In order for me to go to heaven, I had to have a substitute, there had to be an equivalent value for me for me to have my sins removed. There is only one equivalent for my sin fill life to be wiped clean of sins, one who had no sins. That one is Jesus. Have you accepted Him as your equivalent exchange? If you have what does it mean to you?