Pursuing wisdom to 'live well' in the world (Proverbs)

I want to 'live well' in the world.  I want to understand how the world works... To have incite into the workings of the stock market... To understand the ways and motivations of men's hearts... and many more things besides.  Knowledge like that would help me to prosper, and protect myself.  It might (in my better moments) help me love other people well.

I want that kind of wisdom, and I want it quickly... easily.  Osmosis through my pillow would be fine.  Hypnosis or a brain download would be OK.  A drip feed even.  Failing that listening to a few podcasts on the tube would be bearable. I want wisdom to come to me the way information and entertainment do. Freely, easily, and with no effort. 

Well it turns out wisdom like that is available.  Wisdom to 'live well' in the world...  to prosper, to protect and to love.  

 

But wisdom - according to Proverbs chapter 2 - doesn’t come quickly or without effort. Wisdom requires application and to be pursued with commitment. We need to “accept” truthful words, “store up” right commands, actively “turn our ears” to widsom, “[apply] our hearts”, “call out” for insight, “cry aloud" for understanding, “look for” and “pursue“ understanding as we would the costliest treasure. None of that sounds like a quick and easy exercise. It sounds like something that is pursued with heart and mind, persistently... even avidly.  (I've recently seen National Treasure the film.  Nicolas Cage's character knew what it was to look for and pursue something as a treasure - I hardly pursue wisdom the same way...). 

But there's more to it than our part. For one thing, where would we look for these "truthful words"?  To whom could we "cry aloud for understanding"? 

Proverbs makes clear, wisdom originates with God and is His to give. Which kind of makes sense! If we connect 'living well in the world' with the purpose of both 'living'  and 'the world' (see “I have a hammer…”), we might expect the creator to have something to say on both.  In fact, it would be rather odd if the God who gives life and who made the world didn't come into the picture when it came to living life in His world.   If he had spoken about it, it would be worth listening to.  Worth treasuring even...

Proverbs 2v1-12
[Our bit… (v1-5)]
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
[God’s bit… (v6-12)]
For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,…

The dangers of pursuing my own approval

My Bloomberg terminal at work provides me with a “quote of the day” each morning. A bit of fortune cookie wisdom presumably designed to soften the barrage of market data that follows shortly after. Monday’s quote came courtesy of Mark Twain:

"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval"

Now I like a lot of Twain’s quotes, but this one struck me as rather sad. Sure it sounds good, but to say I can't be comfortable without my own approval is to say that my approval matters more to me than anyone elses.  And I guess Twain is saying that is universally true of every man (or woman presumably). 

Is that the right way to see things? Or is that just intensely self-centred?...

What happens when my own approval is more important to me than anyone else’s?

What really happens when I set myself up as the subjective authority whose approval I must enjoy above every other?  Assuming I'm driven to pursue my own "comfort" (as a core part of my "happiness"), I will quickly become a slave to my own approval.  Knowing myself - given the right circumstances - I would expect that to look pretty ugly.

A man made happy by his own approval looks at the world and others around him and says:

• "While I respect you, I hold my own authority above yours (or anyone else’s). So when the chips are down, if we disagree, I will decide what is right for me, and no one can tell me otherwise".

• "While I will listen to you, I believe that I understand the combination of myself and the world better than anyone else. I am best placed to say what will make me happy in the world. So when the chips are down, I'll always take my own advice."

• "While I care about your happiness, I care more about what makes me happy. So I’ll stop making you happy if it stops making me happy. And when the chips are down I'll make you unhappy if I have to".

• "While I love you, I love myself more than anyone else. So when the chips are down, you can always rely on me to love myself".

That seems pretty miserable to me. The world where we all assert our autonomy to judge ourselves - to pursue our own approval set above all else - it’s just miserable!

It leads to:

- friendships that are at heart self-serving...  

- human connections that are doomed to fragility (I’m only interested in you for as long as I think you can help me gain my own approval and so attain comfort and happiness)...

- acts of “altruism” done to make me feel good about myself...

- relationships where self-love trumps all...

It’s miserable, and I think there’s something deep down inside of us that reacts against it. That see that as ugly. That wants something better… A society where people exhibit love that is genuinely self-giving… Where we aren’t all twisted in on ourselves.

About 2000 years ago, a man was asked what the most important principles were for governing how we live in the world…

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark's Gospel, Chapter 12, verses 29-31).

Jesus spoke of a love that is centred not on the self, but on God and others. What's more, that’s how he himself lived:

- loving God (not asserting his autonomy by putting his own approval first e.g. “Not my will but yours be done…”).

- loving others (to the point of dying to reconcile them to the God whose approval and authority they’d scorned by putting their own approval first)

Small wonder that God the Father looked upon Jesus and said "this is my son, with whom I am well pleased"!  God the Father gave his approval to God the Son.  And wonderfully He is pleased to call us sons and daughters and give us his approval if we trust in Jesus.  By being connected to Jesus, we get the approval that his life deserved. 

For all Mark Twain’s wit and wisdom, here is something infinitely better and more satisfying to our souls.  Through trusting Jesus, you can enjoy not your own approval, but the approval of the God who made all things. 

I have a hammer... (What makes something good?)

I have a hammer.  I am comfortable saying it is a "good" hammer. It has a weighty steel head, feels comfortable in my hand, and delivers considerable pressure to the head of a nail when I swing it. It could function as a paperweight, preventing the papers on my desk from blowing away, but it is slightly ugly and cumbersome for the purpose. It bothers me not at all that my hammer cannot perform complicated calculations. I don't consider that important in a hammer. It is - in my assessment - a "good" hammer. 

I have a HP19B calculator.  I am comfortable saying it is a "good" calculator. Its plastic keys are easy to press, but not so easy that a slip types by mistake. Its calculations are accurate, and the screen clearly displays the results. It could function as a paperweight to prevent the papers on my desk from blowing away, not while I'm using it, and only if the draft was mild (as its not very heavy). It bothers me not at all that my calculator would fracture into numerous pieces were I to swing it at the head of a nail (and thereafter never perform another calculation!). I don't consider that important in a calculator. The HP19B is - in my assessment - a "good" calculator. 

It seems to me that to say that my hammer, my calculator or anything else are "good" it is necessary to connect and measure them in some way against a purpose. With my hammer that's clear enough. Whether the purpose associated with my hammer is an objective fact, or whether we are all expected to subjectively agree (perhaps after experiencing the satisfaction of swinging it at a nail), we can probably agree on its purpose. 

For my hammer, calculator (or paperweight for that matter) their purpose is not controversial. But when we enter the realm of people and relationships such assessments becomes more complicated…

I have a friend called Ben. Although he is quite “hard” it would be no good using him to knock in a nail (unless I lent him my hammer!). Ben could serve as a paperweight, but he would likely get bored, plus with Ben sitting on my desk there wouldn’t be much room left to work. Ben’s mental arithmetic is pretty good, but I couldn’t trust it for very complicated calculations.

Is Ben a “good” friend? Or even a “good” human being?!  What does it even mean to ask those kinds of questions?  

Surely to say anything about Ben (or myself or anyone else) I need be able to say with confidence what life and friendship are for… What the purpose of being human is… That’s tougher to agree on than my hammer.  

For an employee,between from nine to five the existence of a job description provides the "purpose" against which we can assess an employee as "good" or not.. But where might we find the "job description" for life? For friendship?

Perhaps we use words like “good” a little too unthinkingly…

Or perhaps we need to think harder about the purpose of things…