Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Proverbs 22-24; Hebrews 2
I've found reading through Proverbs difficult. It seems to me that every verse is different and there isn't a theme or story to follow. It's hard to concentrate when every sentence is totally different and not related to the one previous.
Then it came to me how this book is special. The theme, to me, is wisdom and how to gain it. The Bible talks many times about how important it is to gain and grow in wisdom. Proverbs gives us many one sentence verses telling us how to gain and grow in wisdom, what better example could we ask for?
I won't remember everything I've read, after reading 3 chapters of Proverbs a day, but there is always a few things that stand out. A few verses found a few times in each chapter of that day's reading, that say the same thing, but in different approaches.
The verses today that stood out to me were about raising our children. In chapter 22:8 it says, "teach children in a way that fits their needs, and even when they are old, they will not leave the right path".
This reminds me of the great parents I have that taught me, and the important job I have of teaching our kids. It's easier when they're young to influence them, and hopefully they see the importance when they're parents.
I'm also reminded in chapter 23:13 - "always correct children when they need it. If you spank them, it will not kill them"- of the physical discipline I received as a child. I'm thankful that my parents loved me enough to spank when necessary. This was done in love and for the purpose of correcting.
3 comments:
The same verse you mentioned stood out for me:
Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
It is the theme verse and it is posted on the wall outside our school. I always think of how cool it is that I get to teach at a school that has that verse as its motto.
verses 22:24-25 also stood out for me
Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
nor go with a wrathful man,
lest you learn his ways
and entangle yourself in a snare.
We are known by the company we keep and it is important that my children realize this. Whether it be anger, or any other negative behaviour, when we surround ourselves with it we tend to become like it.
I found the first verse of chapter 2 fitting with the Proverbs passage. We just finished reading various types of wisdom quotes in Proverbs, and Hebrews begins by encouraging us to hold fast to sound doctrine. By doing so, we will not drift away.
Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child
This verse reminds me of the truth that none of us are good. Our nature is inherently sinful. From the moment life begins we are in need of a Saviour. Thanks be to our merciful God who sent His Son to save us when we had done nothing to deserve it.
Proverbs 24:29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
I will pay the man back for what he has done.”
This is such a typical response from our kids. "She pushed me first!" Our natural (sinful) instinct it to get back at people when they hurt us, and yet the opposite is what Jesus instructs us to do.
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