Higher Education

Shameless plug for any of you reading this....

Buy more books and read as much as you can :)

I got this entire idea for a blog post by sticking my nose into the #bible and a few theology books from my personal library.

O.K., now that I got that out of the way, let's start with a very famous bible verse:

I love the book of James. Some call it the Proverbs of the new testament and for good reason. It's jam packed with incredible advice on how to live a Christ centered life but also, how to survive in today's world. Similar to the book of Proverbs, the big focus is on...Gaining wisdom. Which is what I believe is the main goal of both books.

I was actually reading my personal devotions this afternoon and came across the story of Solomon found in 1 Kings chapter 3. This is the story of the beginning of Solomon's reign as king. And he is presented with quite the question to start his kingdom...

God basically asks Solomon, what does he want......Genie in a bottle kind of question here. And while Solomon could have asked for riches, glory and possessions, here's his reply to his God....

Wisdom.

Solomon asked God for a mind filled with wisdom.

And because of that God actually gave him, wealth, riches, possessions etc....But what was so important to Solomon at the beginning of his reign was to know how to rule his people with wisdom.

Now fast forward that to what James says we should do each and every day....Ask for wisdom. God's got plenty to give us and it starts right smack dab in His holy scriptures.

I was reading a theology book by one of my favorite authors as well and this is what she penned:

"Never think that you have learned enough and that you may now relax your efforts. The cultivated mind is the measure of the man. Your education should continue during your lifetime, every day you should be learning, and putting to practical use the knowledge gained."

• Ellen G. White - Ministry of Healing page 499

As you can see, I'm pretty sure God had a message He was trying to put across to me today lol.

And that is, as a follower of Christ one of my goals should be to 'get wisdom' and then actually put into practice what I am learning. And I can see that through the story of Solomon. Which started out great but then, ego and pride of course got in the way.

And obviously, we don't know the entire story of his fall, but we can see the transition that he made from a king seeking wisdom, to being brought to near ruin and by God's grace, back from the dead per se. And I believe, it happened because he stopped...Seeking wisdom.

That doesn't mean we need to be theological geniuses here. And that doesn't mean we need to be bible scholars. What it does me, at least to me, is that we need to keep our eyes glued to the bible and on our knees in prayer. With all the distractions that are rampant in this world, it's so easy to lose your focus and stop seeking wisdom from God.

For me, this is the highest education we can get. Our privilege to come to the feet of God and learn from Him, 24-7-365 is simply remarkable. I would be foolish to not take Him up at His offer.

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