Sensible adults agree that wisdom is the principal thing in life (Proverbs 4:7). The greatest thing a person can do for themselves and others is to become wise. And the greatest companion or friend to have is one who is wise. Fortunately for Christians, God has made it easy to become wise – we have His wisdom revealed in the Bible.

The Bible is a collection of books which holy men of old penned under God’s inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16). The purpose of these books is to make us wise. “The Holy Scriptures . . . are able to make you wise” (2 Timothy 3:15). Therefore, no Christian should be excused for being foolish. All that one has to do to become wise is to pick up the Bible, read it and obey it. It is that simple. Christians who do not read their Bibles are simply demonstrating their comfort in foolishness. A person who has tired of making unwise decisions in life must read the Bible and obey it.

It does not matter how great you are in society; you still must read the Bible. The kings of Israel were instructed to write for themselves a copy of the Scriptures and to read it all the days of their lives (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). Joshua, Moses’ successor and Israel’s army commander, was assured of success only if he took the ‘Bible’ seriously. God told him, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8). Becoming successful in life is that simple: reading the Bible in order to obey it.

There are so many Christians who read the Bible but their lives are a contradiction of what the Word promises those who take it seriously. How can this be? For a good number of such cases, the reason is simple: they read but do not obey. Although they read and get to know what they should do, they leave it at that. They look into the perfect law of liberty but do not continue in it; they are forgetful hearers, not doers of the work; such are not blessed in what they do (James 1:25).

Jesus put it this way: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27).

I am reminded of the nursery school rhyme that goes something like “Read your Bible pray every day, pray every day, pray every day. Read your Bible pray every day if you want to grow”. If you want to grow wise, you must read the Bible and do what it says. Then you will be a great success.

God bless you.