The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.

To know wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding, to receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice and equity.

To give prudence to the naive, to the youth knowledge and discretion.

A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel...

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:1-5, 7, NASB

 

If you could change the world in one generation, would you do it? Sadly, the answer for most people is that they would not - but why? For many of us the answer can be summed up in four basic categories: The lack of faith, the lack of patience, the lack of a willingness to put in the hard work, and the lack of love.

 

Let's start with faith - do you believe that you have the ability to change the world? I'm not talking about a complete makeover in your image, but I am talking about leaving it in a vastly superior condition than it would be in if you were to do nothing. Most of us simply do not have that depth of faith. We believe that great men were born that way, so when we read about men like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, and the apostles, when we read about women such as Miraiam, Esther, Elizabeth, and Mary, we think that they were born with greatness. The fact is that they were likely very much like you and me at one point in their lives. Like you, they did their best to live a righteous life before God but, like us, they probably had the humility to understand that they were not "special". 

 

So, if they were just ordinary people, what made them become capable of great things? It was, in a word, faith! They believed God when He told them what they could accomplish with His help. They understood that the great tasks they were called to perform were not possible on their own, but they also believed that with God's help nothing that He wanted them to do would be impossible. So, Noah built an ark, Moses led the Israelites out of bondage, David slew the giant, and Mary became the mother of the Son of God!

 

What could God accomplish through us, if we had the faith?

 

Then, there is the problem of patience and hard work. We live in a world where we can cook a meal in 30 seconds in a microwave. If we want to find the most obscure of information, we "Google" it. If we want an in-depth piece of research, we command A.I. to get it for us - and it does in about five seconds or less. Since we live in such an instant world, the prospect of doing something as mundane as reading the Proverbs of Solomon or the teachings of Jesus, simply looks like too much work to most of us. And don't fool yourself: It is! But we are not talking about heating up a "hot pocket" or discovering what some computer search engine "thinks" about the meaning of life: We are talking about becoming an informed servant of God who is steadily acquiring the knowledge and wisdom to serve Him in the way He has prescribed.

 

If we want to change the world from the chaotic cesspool it has become, we are going to have to put in the time and effort such a noble task will require.

 

Which brings us to motivation: Why would we want to put in the hard work it will take to gain the knowledge that God has for us? After all, the knuckleheads that the world seems so densely populated with are the ones to blame, not us! 

 

This is where love comes in. First, we must love God enough to find out His will and become obedient to that will because He is God! He loved us so much that He gave us life. We might not think that this is such a great gift, but such a conclusion can only be arrived at by one who is ungrateful, ignorant, or both. This life is a precious gift, and the more we can discover about it from God's holy Word, the more we will come to appreciate that gift. Speaking of great gifts, God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins! If this does not well up in us an overwhelming sense of love towards God and Jesus, then we are not worthy of anything good in our lives.

 

The next important part of love is that love which we are to have towards our fellow man. Maybe we don't see that much to love, but you love your family, don't you? Don't you want the best for your parents, for your spouse, and for your children? Aren't there wonderful people in your life whom you have tremendous respect and affection for? Aren't they worthy of the time and effort it will take for you to gain the wisdom and knowledge that God has for us?

 

The point of all this is that if we are going to put in the lifetime of effort to continually read the Word of God and then go to the next level of applying it to our lives, we are going to have to be motivated to do so. We are going to have to be "sold" on the message of the Bible ourselves before we can encourage anyone else to put in the hard work that gaining a knowledge of God's Word will require for them. We are going to have to love God enough to realize that anything He wants for us to do is in fact the least we can do - even if that means spending a lifetime of studying His Word so that we can then live it. And we are going to have to love our children and our friends enough to encourage them to do what it takes to gain the wisdom and knowledge that God has for us - and that is not going to be an easy task!

 

But understand this: This world needs help! Our children are going to turn out to be selfish, worldly individuals who take everything from society that they can and give nothing at all back if they fail to read God's Word. If we fail to do our part during our lifetime, then the world is going to continue its steady descent into depravity, becoming more wicked as the days go by. The Lord's church will continue its steady decline that we are already witnessing as more and more churches close their doors forever. Our society will become even more perverse, more substance dependent, and more hateful than it already is.

 

If you are content to let this happen, if you lack the faith to think that you could make a difference, if you lack the patience for the time it will take, if you are unwilling to put in the extremely difficult work that such a change will require, then all you have to do... is nothing at all. And, if you do not love God or your fellow man, that is exactly what you will do. However...

 

We are better than that! We have a higher calling for our loves and that calling is made by no one less that our Creator! We have it within us to meet this call and meet it we must if the next generation is to have any chance whatsoever. We can, with God's help. absolutely change the course of the world in one generation. It will take us becoming obedient to the Gospel and committing to follow Christ in all that we do. It will take the effort of reading the Word to acquire things like knowledge, wisdom, discipline, and prudence. It will be the greatest thing that you have ever committed yourself to doing.

 

In a way, it will be like Noah building and ark, like David bringing an entire nation back to God, like Esther saving a race of people, and like Mary doing her part to raise the very One who would give the world a chance at salvation. Are we up to such a work? If so, let's get to that work before it's too late. We do, after all, have a world that desperately needs such a change. Let's do our part, shall we?