wisdom

Title: Joseph, a dream come true
Aim: To note that God’s wisdom can enable us to help others.
Scripture: Genesis 41:25–40
 
Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, Genesis 41:25–32
 
Most of the narrative in the last 14 chapters of Genesis concerns the life of Joseph. The faith this favored son of Jacob showed amid distressing circumstances has encouraged believers down through the centuries.
 

Years ago I encountered a word of wisdom: "At the end of our lives, what we will regret is far more about what we didn't do, than what we did." And then recently, in a conversation about what "youngers" want to learn from "olders," a colleague said he wanted to know what we regret so he can learn from our lessons the wiser way (observation) instead of the hard way (personal experience).

We have all heard the saying, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too,” but most of us don’t really live like we believe it. There are so many areas of our life where we try to live life without any consequence. That is after all the implication. If you eat the cake now, the end consequence is that you won’t have it later. Could there be an area of greater need to believe this truth than the area of our imaginations? I think not.

The best BFF is one who will help you pick a life time of good ones!

 “A person who has friends may be harmed by them, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24 (NET Bible)

Many of the children grow up in the church only to leave it as adults. Those who are true believers will return but what set them up to leave in the first place. So much lost time in lives wasted on frivolous friendship with the world. Can it be prevented? I think so.

In a world of instant everything, a third world country appears to be backward, deprived, even antiquated. They seem slow in their thinking, in their decision making, and especially in their everyday living. A person who visits these countries where living is harder, might verbally give thanks for modern advances while they secretly enjoy the slower pace.

Today I'm happy to introduce guest blogger Katherine Alumbaugh, my former intern, who holds a ThM degree from Dallas Theological Seminary.

Let’s start at the beginning of Proverbs 31. Here are verses 1 and 2: “The words of King Lemuel, an oracle that his mother taught him. O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows.”

New Year’s Day inherently brings with it the proverbial “clean slate”- a chance to start over, a chance to review, refresh and begin again - 365 new days. Looking back in order to move forward is a reasonable way to begin this New Year.

So, before rushing fast lane mode into the 2014 take a deep breath, set aside a few moments to review/examen and a few moments to determine. Notice both God and His hand in your life in 2013. Determine - how do you want to move forward? What soul-nourishing practices will you continue or add? What is God inviting you into in this New Year 2014?

How can we encourage children to seek wisdom? Wisdom is vital for children to have in order to fulfill God’s plan for their life…especially in today’s world. But only God can give true wisdom and help a child apply it to daily life. Thus, we want to encourage children to maximize God’s truth by helping them understand biblical wisdom.