Fatherly Advice

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Proverbs 1:1-7

On Father's Day let me remind you that the Bible teaches that men are responsible for the home.  Men are not superior to women and women are not superior to men.  God made us to compliment each other.  How do we as men and fathers know how to lead?

It seems to me we have two ways to learn.  One way is from trial and error and the other is from listening to God and our elders who follow God's teaching.  Trial and error is the hard way and God's way eliminates the hard way.

The Bible tells us that Solomon was the wisest man ever to live and he wrote the book of Proverbs which some scholars call, a manual for living.  Think of these 31 chapters as fatherly advice and I believe it comes straight from our creator God through the pen of Solomon.

We all want success but do we choose to seek God's definition or the world's definition of success?  Hollywood dominates our culture and sadly most people want what the stars have. We want fame, fortune and power.  But look at their families.  Look at their marriages and look at their parenting and what becomes of so many of their children.  What seems beautiful on the outside is so often rotten and dying on the inside.

What kind of father do you want do be?  Do you want what the world offers or what God offers? Solomon tells us here in the first few verses how to get started on God's plan for our lives.

The Message translation reads:  These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David's son, Israel's king--Written down so we'll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where its going; A manual for living, for learning what's right and just and fair; To teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality.  There's something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn--Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate, the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.  Start with God--the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.

Solomon says, we are to do what is right, just and fair.  Other translations say we are to seek righteousness, justice and equity.  We are to do the right thing even though others are not doing right.  Martin Luther King said, "let us judge a person not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."  Strong character guides us to do the right thing and we only learn what is right by either making a mistake or by following God's way.  Most of us spend most of our lives making mistakes on our own and eventually, over time and after a great deal of pain, we turn to God for help.

The child who is told not to put their hand on a hot cook top will often disobey and try it to see what it is like.  The burned hand then teaches the child that his father was right and that he should heed his father's warnings about problems and pain.  However, we humans are arrogant and think it best to try all sorts of activities that end up burning, breaking and sometimes even killing us.

What is your choice?  The world or God?  How do you want to proceed toward knowledge, insight and wisdom?  Want to keep learning from pain or avoid pain and seek God's way?  God's way eliminates the hard way.