Wise Words With... 

Listening to Wisdom: A Lesson in Trust, Growth, and Faith

When my wife and I were much younger, and houses were much cheaper, we purchased our first home. It was a 70 year old red brick house with 12 foot ceilings, and character in every room. It was genuinely a beautiful house… on the outside.  When inspecting the house, my wife’s father (a carpenter by trade) had some wise words of warning about its structural integrity and the work that needed to be done. Being young and enthusiastic, we listened to none of it and proceeded with the purchase. Wise words fell on foolish ears. That house cost us money and sleep!

In Proverbs 1:7, we are told 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction”. 

Truly wise words and instruction are sometimes hard to hear and harder to apply. Especially when our emotions and hearts are involved. The writer of Proverbs urges his son, and us to listen to wisdom and apply the instructions we are given. If not, then we are considered fools. Let’s seek to be a community that listens to wisdoms and asks for instruction so that we may be wise. 

At Nowra Christian School we are in the practice of instructing students in their learning, their conduct and their relationships. At times, this instruction is hard to hear as we urge students to make wise choices in all areas of their life. Sometimes it is difficult for students to see the wisdom of the instruction because like my wife and myself, their emotions and hearts are so often entangled in their experiences. As such, we ask our students to trust their teachers who often see what students do not. Ultimately, our desire is that they develop a “fear of the Lord”, that they would know Christ, and that the Holy Spirit would help them become wise and humble, so instructions become a delight to follow. Thus, they become wise.