The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom pt 1

Why is the fear of the Lord the beginning of Wisdom?

I have been thinking about Proverbs the first few chapters for a while and I realized that it is the truth. I know it is the truth because it is the Word, but it had never actually hit me that it is true, though I always knew it was true. I don’t know if I am making any sense but it is like being taught to do something and going through the motions, though not quite understanding why you’ll be doing it. If you are new at a job and being trained, you are told what and what not to do. Sometimes you don’t always fully understand why you shouldn’t do something until you do it and certain things happen as a consequence of your actions.

Proverbs Chapter 3 talks about why it is for our own good to fear God. There’s benefits  to fearing God and trusting in His Word and doing as He would have us to do. The Word is instruction to guide us in every aspect of our lives.  It is like those instructions at that new job, some of which might seem tedious or even ridiculous, but there’s a reason for them.  It is always better to understand without making a mistake but sometimes we learn best when we make mistakes.

There’s a lot of instructions God has given in His Word which I have found in the past to be inconvenient or that He is too picky about “insignificant things”. I am thankful that I have now begun to understand why He has given these instructions. God does not waste His Word, as is written:

[11] So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:11.

His Word accomplishes its purpose in our lives if we allow it to. If we choose Wisdom which is His Word, to abide by it in our lives, we reap the benefits. As tedious, as picky they might seem, as inconvenient, as boring, as ridiculous (might seem to some) even, God’s instructions are there for a reason. When we choose His Word, we choose Wisdom and with it is life, as is written:

[4] He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Proverbs 4:4.

Above all else, God’s desire for us is life. He desires that we have life to the fullest not only now but beyond the present. If we take heed of His Word, His instructions for daily living while we are here, He not only preserves us for the present from the devil’s snares but also prepares us for eternity. This is summarized in these verses:

[10] The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10.

[44] …He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44.

There’s a reason why He gives it and it serves a purpose if we are willing to hear and take heed. When we ignore God’s instruction in His Word, we become vulnerable to the devil and his devices to steal, kill or destroy some aspects of our lives, or our very lives, as is written:

[8] Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 1 Peter 5:8.

Will have to stop hear for now but will continue next time on how fearing God and putting Him first is real Wisdom.

Making promises that we can't keep

I have been thinking of what people think of me when they interact with me. What kind of impression do they get? Is it good or is it bad? I profess to be a Christian but I wonder whether they get that impression or otherwise.

If I talk about the Word and quote verses all day long, and sing His praise, does that make me a Christian? If they spend but a moment with me, they might think that I am a Christian just because I might have said a few verses, sang a hymn while at it or putting Jesus in every few sentences. But does that make me a Christian?

Is a Christian identified by these things that I mentioned above? Actions speak louder than words! Just as spouses can express affection to each other by saying it, it's more meaningful when actions speak the language of love.

Love is a word we use often whether in relationships or with Christ but what language are your actions speaking? Do we carelessly say we love God but our actions contradicting our words. I have been thinking a lot about this, lately. At the end of the day it doesn't mean anything after all, they are just words. It is like promising to do something but never coming around to doing it. I don't know about you, but i don't like it when a person promises something that they cannot honor or make the effort to honor.

I myself however, make promises that I don't always keep and have made a few that I have broken. I try not to, but sometimes I find myself doing the very thing I don't like done to me, to others.  There are some who enjoy promising knowing that they won't keep them but I think for most of us, we promise in the hope that we will be able to keep them but fall short most of the time. We don't intentionally play with words, at least I try not to.

As Christians, when we are baptized, we make a public commitment, a promise to follow the lamb whithersoever He goeth. We promise to live a life different from what we have been accustomed to which was not according to God's will. We promise that the old man is dead, and it is now the new man living the new life in Christ. We promise to love God for richer or for poorer, in sickness or in health, in plenty or in poverty. We promise to love God even unto death which even that cannot separate us from His love.

The promise or oath to walk a new walk with God is a promise to love Him and put Him first from then on, as is written in the verse:

[37] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
[38] This is the first and great commandment.
[39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
[40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40.



We make all these promises on that day hoping to keep them but soon realize that they might have been empty promises. Soon we realize that it is not as easy to love God and put Him first no matter what as it is to say it. Soon we realize that it is not as easy to love our neighbour as it is to say it.


The language of love is a language of action not words. Words do not mean anything when it comes to love, though they may sound good and be impressive. For a loved one it can be expressed through a bouquet of flowers, maybe a rose, art, poetry, notes, letters, etc but it is best and truly expressed through actions. One can write a beautiful poem about how much he loves his spouse today, but turn around and divorce them next week. Was it really love then or were they empty words that meant something for that moment?


I have promised God to love Him no matter what, but my words and my actions are the opposite. I find myself daily in situations where I might doubt His promises and ability to provide and deliver in the time of trouble no matter what the circumstances. I find myself in situations where I do not react as appropriately as I should have in hindsight in my interactions with others. I find myself regretting having said words which I cannot take back now which did nothing but crush the other person's spirit.


I find myself in situations where my pride gets the better of me and which could have been easily solved if I had just humbled myself and done what the Lord would have done in my place or would have me to do. I find myself being selfish when I know better not to be. I find myself doing things and saying things in my heart that I cannot express here. Our situations are best expressed in the following verses:

[18] For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
[19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
[20] Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Romans 7:18-20.


This is not love. Though I can talk about it and quote verses, though i have a desire to be a better man, I find myself many times daily having fallen short of the promise I made to God to love Him no matter what and to love my neighbour as myself. They are words and mean nothing unless if they are matched by my actions. I know what I am supposed to do performing what I say or know better to do, I cannot.

I am speaking about my own struggles here and I am sure there are many out there who agree. Just as Paul said:

[21] I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
[22] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
[23] But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
[24] O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
[25] I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 7:21-25.

This language of love can not be expressed through words. Words are just empty promises we make to God to love Him and our neighbour. Love is a spiritual language and therefore cannot be expressed by mere words but by actions through a spiritual connection to Christ as is written:

[14] For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. Romans 7:14.

The Ten commandments, the law are a summary of love. Love for God and Love for man (our neighbour). The Law is spiritual but we are carnal or fleshly. How can we worship God who is spiritual when we are in the flesh, as is written:

[24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24.

We can promise God to love Him and keep His law, but to love; to keep His law is only possible by a living, daily, spiritual connection to Christ.

To express love through our actions, to truly put God first and to love our neighbour as ourselves, it is written:

[24] Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Matthew 16:24.

By self denial, carrying the cross and dying to self daily and following Christ, we mantain a connection to Him through the Spirit and that is how we can truly love through actions and not just words, as is written:

[18] My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18.



Christ told us to do these 3 things daily because He knew that if we let our guard down and don't do things daily, we will just promise to love Him and others but not be able to keep our promises. Love is the fulfilling of the Law, as is written:


[8] Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
[9] For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
[10] Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13:8-10.

So, love is spiritual because it is the fulfilling of a law that is spiritual, and fulfilling that law is a part of worshiping God who is spiritual. Love is only possible through a daily living connection to Christ through the Spirit. To be connected to Him daily through the Spirit, we must deny self daily, crucify self daily, and to follow Him, daily.


So it is impossible to love without this daily connection to Christ. When we lose that connection is when we fail and mess up. The good thing is that when we fail and do mess up, we can carry our crosses and die to self by asking christ for forgiveness and asking for His help because we are frail and weak. We cannot love in the flesh and on our own. Only by His Spirit dwelling in our hearts by faith can we do it.

It is true! We definitely cannot keep these promises on our and in the flesh. Christ has to help us through the dwelling of the Spirit in our hearts. Only by His help can we do the Lord's will which is love.

So promises made to God to love Him and our neighbor as ourselves can only be kept by striving to maintain a daily connection to Him through the Spirit. So, let us carry our crosses daily and by the Spirit's help we can keep our promises to love God and our neighbor.

Walking the talk

When the going gets tough, oftentimes it is hard to trust in God and to believe that He will deliver. Naturally, we are inclined to move by faith and not by sight. It is not natural for us to move and do things based on faith because faith requires us to believe in something which most of the time contradicts logic or our senses.

Faith requires us to believe in things which seem impossible or to do things which do not make sense to the natural mind. Faith requires us to go against the grain of what society considers to be normal or rational at times if not quite often.

So when we are afraid to be different for God's sake, we are being afraid to please Him for it requires faith to please Him as is written:

[6] But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6.

To please God we have to have faith. Faith is how we do His will and desire to do His will. Without it we cannot please Him or desire to please Him.

The path that we have to take on this earth as His followers oftentimes requires us to go at odds with the world or the world's ways of doing things. The more we desire to be like Him, the more likely to go against the world's way of doing things. Being selfless in this world is an example I can give of something we have been called to be by our Father, but it is increasingly being viewed as self defeating if everyone is selfish. It is even ridiculed nowadays when one looks out for others in a world where people only care about themselves and how they can gain or further their goals at the expense of others. Only by faith, however, can we be truly selfless. Sometimes it is done with a selfish motive in itself of being noticed for the "good deed" but true selflessness is only possible with a real connection to the Father

What the world considers strange is what God calls faith. Rather be called strange for the Lord's name than to be called that for other reasons, as is written:

[14] But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

[15] But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
[16] Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
[17] For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 1 Peter 3:13-17.

It is tempting to hide like Peter did when Jesus was being tortured. Of all the disciples, he had proclaimed his loyalty the loudest. But in the heat of the moment, he forsook his Master and for someone who had been so loud, it was a painful disappointment. Sometimes we can profess faith when the times are good and it is easier to do it then but when we go through trials, do we hold fast to our profession and continue to proclaim His name through our lives? When there seems to be no help in sight and you seem to be in trouble because of the very fact that you are trying to do what God would desire you to do, do you still hold on? If it brings ridicule, shame, poverty, can we still proclaim His name the same way, or will we hide or even join the persecutors in cursing His name?

Faith is easy to talk about but not to walk it. I must confess that I personally fall into this category. There are many times when I go through a test and dismally fail because I become self confident and start to trust in myself instead of God. When it counts the most I become afraid to stand up for him when I ought to, out of shame of being the odd one out or the weird one, or something. 

Like Peter there has been many times when I've said one thing and done another when it was crucial for me to back up my words with action. It is easier said than done brothers and sisters, and I don't know if you go through these situations sometimes but I definitely do. It is unfortunate because our actions speak louder than our words.

God measures us based on our actions and not on our words. Anyone can talk but it is the actions that count. It is just like a couple that are married. Either can say "I love you" all day long but love is expressed in action not in words. If they say but don't show it, then they don't mean it. Wouldn't you want for a person to actually say they "love" you and actually mean it and prove it through their actions?

It is the same for each and every one of us. We are all in a relationship with God and most of us profess to love God but that love is only and truly expressed in our lives when we do His will. Doing God's will is loving Him and so as Christians professing all day and all night, and being a self proclaimed "Jesus freak" as some call it  doesn't cut it unless you mean it and know the weight and count the cost of being His disciple.

People can know that I am a Christian and see me go to church on Saturday, but unless I actually walk the talk, it doesn't mean anything. In fact it probably does more harm to talk without walking the talk because it gives people the wrong impression of who God is. Unless I show it through my actions and daily dealings with other people, it doesn't mean anything. Paul said it well in the "Love" chapter. Even if we profess and make major sacrifices and tell ourselves that we are doing it for Him, and yet do not love our neighbor as ourselves, it is all in vain. The whole reason for faith is love. To love Him and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

1Corinthians 13

The sacrifices we do when we work to please God in our own strength 

[1] Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
[2] And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
[3] And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

What love is or what God desires us to do and it is only achievable through faith
[4] Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
[5] Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
[6] Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
[7] Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
[8] Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
[9] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
[10] But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
[11] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
[12] For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
[13] And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Even when one is truly gifted say with the gift of prophecy for example, if there is no love, it doesn't mean anything. Love is the goal. Love is God's will. Love is putting Him first and loving your neighbor as yourself. Doing His will requires faith and it is impossible to please God without it as is written:

[37] Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
[38] This is the first and great commandment.
[39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
[40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40.

Let us pray for more faith that we can desire to do what he would have us to desire, which is to love Him with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves. When we love Him, then we cannot be ashamed of Him. Everything else no matter how spectacular or grand is meaningless. Love is the goal but without faith, an unattainable goal as long as we stay in the flesh. 

So brothers and sisters, let us walk the talk and not just talk the walk. Anyone can talk but it takes real faith, a real connection to our Savior to walk it. Let us pray for a real relationship with Him, a real living connection to Him through the faith that only He can give us. With that faith, we are empowered to love not only Him but our neighbour as ourselves, something that is not natural and only possible by His power.