Walk Of Life – Day 04, October 2021- Thoughts From The Book Of Proverbs – Opt For
Opt To Hold Instruction Firmly
Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life. – Proverbs 4:13
Instruction is your life. Everything you know you had to learn. Everything you need to know you must learn. Everything right and true that you learn must be kept securely. Your life depends on being corrected from error and taught truth to know how to live.
If you love and retain instruction to obey it, you will be blessed; if you ignore or reject it, you will be cursed (Ps 50:16-17; Pr 6:23; 8:32-36; 15:32). Learning wisdom should be more important to you than anything else you can desire (Pr 3:13-14; 8:10; 16:16; 23:23).
You cannot know anything without being taught, which means humbling yourself to teachers, whether they are God, parents, pastors, or others. A wise man craves instruction so he can be wiser (Pr 1:5; 9:9; 19:20). The proverb teaches you how to listen to instruction. You must grasp with understanding what you hear and not let it slip away. The instruction of wisdom is what will save you from dilemmas and dangers of life. You must hold it tight and not let it go. You must retain what you learn. You must remember it. Do not sell it for any price (Pr 23:23).
Jesus described good hearers as those who took His sayings and built their lives on them (Matt 7:24-27). He told of two men, one who built his house on the sand, and one who built his house on a rock. The storms destroyed the house built on sand, but the one built on a rock easily withstood the storm.
Why must parents, pastors, and other teachers use so much repetition? Most hearers are lazy, stubborn, and easily distracted. They do not appreciate instruction, and therefore they do not make the effort, or take the steps, necessary to keep it. Effective learning requires attention, submission, retention, and application.
Instruction is a great blessing from heaven, for most men have been left without much of it by the sovereign judgment of the true and living God (Ps 147:19-20; Is 44:9-20; Matt 10:6; 15:24; 13:9-18; II Thess 2:9-13). God says His ministers have beautiful feet for the instruction they bring you about eternal life and your duties to Him (Rom 10:15).
Jesus said those who are given much will be accountable for much (Luke 12:47-48). If you have had godly parents and/or pastors, you will be judged according to this blessing of instruction. Have you retained and kept it for the salvation of your life? In the great Day of Judgment, God will examine how you responded to the instruction He sent you.
opt to hold fast instruction.
