Proverbs 4:7
"The beginning of wisdom is: acquire wisdom; and with all your acquiring, get understanding"
The beginning of being wise is the realization that you need to acquire more applied knowledge. Knowledge is not sufficient in itself. Notice that the writer of the book of Proverbs wants you to understand that you need wisdom and not wealth, not fame, nor power, or any of the things that people traditionally want. You want wisdom.
Wisdom is the triple-win. It is applied knowledge. It is understanding the goal of life – relationships that God has told us are the point of our existence and the purpose of our existence is to love God and to love others. This makes relationships the most important. We are truly searching for depth of relationships. That is why it takes wisdom to achieve the goals of life. If you have wisdom, then you have the applied choices and information necessary to maintain great relationships. You understand the connections between seemingly random and disconnected events and circumstances.
Solomon yells at us: Understand what the point of life is – go after strong relationships! You can take shortcuts to other activities and goals but when you get there without relationships, then it is empty and hollow. But if you gain the deep connection and love of God and others and also the other things, then you are truly rich.
The beginning of wisdom is to understand what knowledge should be applied to produce—strong relationships – not who is right in a particular situation; not who was funnier; not more money, power, fame, pleasure, etc., but stronger righteous relationships.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz