For The Betterment of Others

“Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?” (Pr 22:20-21 AV)

 Solomon would know a thing or two about this.  There is a personal benefit to wisdom.   Obviously, Solomon wants his children to learn wisdom so they may have a more blessed and God-honoring life.  He desires them to learn from his observations and mistakes so they do not repeat the choices others have made.  He desires wisdom for his children so they might be a blessing to those with whom they have to do.  Their families and children will be blessed because of their wisdom.  Their employees will benefit from the wise choices of their benefactor.  In our passage, there is another reason to study and know truth.  There will be those who notice.  They will notice the fruit in the lives who have shown wisdom.  They may not know the exact choices one made, but they will see the results.  From these results, they will deduce the wide person is one worth listening to.  Solomon will also raise a future king. That king will be approached by many who need answers.  He will have no answers for them if he does not learn truth.

I learned quite a bit in my few years of Scouting.  I wouldn’t recommend it today, by the way.  It is not what it used to be.  Too many changes have drawn them away from their original purpose and focus.  Anyway, one of the principles learned was how to help one another attain the skills needed to earn awards.  Most of these skills were basic life skills, outdoor skills, and leadership skills.  My father was the Scoutmaster of our troop and he did an excellent job of applying the intent of the program.  This meant we didn’t win a lot of competition.  What it did mean is our troop produced leaders.  One of his practices was to divide up our patrols (smaller subgroups of the troop) according to a diversity of age and skill set.  In other words, he would mix the boys up so they wouldn’t congregate according to age and experience.  This meant older with young boys.  This accomplished the principle of leadership alluded to above.  The older boys became mentors to the younger boys.  The Scoutmaster would teach a skill to a patrol leader.  Then he, in turn, would teach it to his patrol.  The older boys would help the younger boys learn and succeed.  This also divested leadership from the Scoutmaster to the troop in an orderly way.  If a tenderfoot had a question, he wouldn’t go to the Scoutmaster.  He would go to the life scout.  If he didn’t have the answer, they would both go to the eagle scout.  We learned our skills for our own personal profit.  But we also learned them to pass them on to those who would follow.

Paul puts it this way.  “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (2Ti 2:2 AV)  Peter echoes this principle.  “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:” (1Pe 3:15 AV)  For the saint, we should be learning the truths of the word of God that we might first, glorify God with our lives.  But secondly, that we might benefit others who wish the same.  There are those who want answers.  There are those who want hope.  There are those who know they are not in the right way and their lives show it.  They are looking at those who have made biblically right choices and are wondering how they succeeded.  The Christian life isn’t just about God’s glory.  It is about ministry.  It is about learning the truths of the word of God so others may ask us of the hope that lies within.  If no one is asking, there is probably a problem.  Not with them.  With us!