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Do you want to be wise? If you do, I’m giving you practical things you need to do in order to be wise—all from the book of Proverbs. Here’s another one from Proverbs 11:30: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives.”
So, if you want to be wise, save lives! Next question: What does that mean? It means you do whatever you can to help others when they are in dire situations. You save people from wrong choices, from the trauma they’ve endured, from the abuse they are suffering—there are so many ways and opportunities you and I have to “save lives.” Certainly, sharing the Gospel is the most powerful life-saving thing you could ever do because it is through the Gospel that people are rightly related to God through Jesus and therefore will be saved from eternal punishment.
Proverbs 14:16 says, “The wise fear the Lord and shun evil, but a fool is hotheaded and yet feels secure.” Do you want to be wise? Then, fear God and shun evil. Fearing God means you fear displeasing him. As his child, you don’t have to fear his anger or wrath because he always does what is best for you, but because he is a loving and forgiving Father, you don’t want to disappoint him. That’s what it means to fear God.
And what does it mean to shun evil? It means you recognize how insidious sin is and you want to avoid it at any cost. You know that you can choose your sin but you can’t choose its consequences. So, you don’t go places that could tempt you to sin; you don’t spend a lot of time with people who could lead you astray. You turn off the television when what you are watching makes sin look normal, when you are being exposed to evil of some kind. Shunning evil means you are cautious, you don’t let down your guard because you know how vulnerable you are.