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Do you want to be a wise person? I must admit that I rarely think of myself as wise. I mean, you have to be really old and really smart to be wise, don’t you? Well, of course, that is not true, and in fact, there is an entire book in the Bible—Proverbs—whose whole purpose is to help us become wise. So, being a wise person should be on our short list of goals we want to reach.
I’m going to take a look at what we learn from Proverbs about becoming and being a wise person. I believe it should be an intentional pursuit for each of us who are Christ-followers.
From the first chapter of Proverbs, we read: “let the wise listen and add to their learning” (Proverbs 1:5). So, here’s principle number one if you want to be a wise person: Listen and keep learning. You know, as long as you’re talking, you can never learn anything new—right? So, if you really want to keep learning, you have to learn to listen. And that means listen to anyone and everyone who can impart truth to you, knowledge that will help you make better decisions and keep you from mistakes.
One of the things I loved about my mother was that until her dying day at age 93, she had a thirst to learn and a willingness to change. She would never have called herself wise, but believe me, she was. She kept on learning all the days of her life.
And then, in Proverbs 3:7 we read, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.” So, the next principle for those who want to be wise, is: Humble yourself. Keep a close watch on the pride that can so easily explode in your mind, especially when you feel you’ve done a good job and accomplished a noteworthy goal. Remind yourself often that you don’t know it all, and you actually could be wrong! For some of us with strong opinions, that can come as a completely new thought: I could be wrong! A wise person is not wise in her own eyes; she is humble.