Advice or Wisdom?

Your parents give you commands and teachings that are like lights to show you the right way. This teaching corrects you and trains you to follow the path to life. (Proverbs 6:23)

A parent's advice was not something I relished as a kid, teenager, or even as a very young adult. Somewhere along the way into my adult years, my parents became the smartest and wisest people I knew! It is a miracle what God can do to change our parents, isn't it? Really, I am being a little sarcastic there because the one who changed because of God's help was ME. My parents gave me 'commands' - the rules I should live by. Did I always follow them? Nope! Did I get in a bit more trouble than I really wanted to be in? Yep! Have I learned that their 'advice' and 'teaching' was pretty doggone 'solid' and 'trustworthy'? Absolutely! God's plan for us is that we learn from our parents, listening closely to the teaching that actually will 'train us' for life. Do they always have the best advice for us? Not always, but as with everything else, we run it through the 'filter' of the Holy Spirit's confirmation within our spirit and the Word of God. If it doesn't line up with what God says, then we need to adhere to the strictest of the two - the Word of God!

God's plan was for the parent to actually be in a deep, personal relationship with Jesus themselves. If they are, the teaching they give a child is likely to be according to the Word of God and less likely to lead a child down pathways they should not be going. God's wisdom comes through relationship - first with him, then with each other. We find his teaching correcting our lives repeatedly - it isn't just a one-time thing and then all is well in our lives. His teachings don't change, but he does expand upon them as we grow up a bit. That is what we call maturing in Jesus. We don't just 'become wise' because we said 'yes' to Jesus - we have to sit under the 'parenting' of our heavenly Father in order to have his wisdom developed within our lives. The more we listen to his commands and seek to incorporate his teaching into our lives, the deeper our connection will be with him. Maturity is not just 'getting older' in Christ - it is learning to obediently respond to his teaching each and every time we hear it. Maybe God doesn't 'parent' us the way our earthly parents did, but when we finally realize he isn't just setting 'rules' to 'inhibit' our lives, but to protect our lives, we might push back in disobedience a little less.

Teaching corrects us and trains us to follow the plan God has for our lives. It gives us the directions to live, but even the best of directions has to be followed. There are some who treat God's Word as 'good advice', but it is far more than advice - it is wisdom! Just sayin!