We are in a competition…But what is competing for us?

Probing Proverbs: 4:7-9 Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment. If you prize wisdom, she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will honor you. She will place a lovely wreath on your head; she will present you with a beautiful crown.”

As I look at my life, I chuckle at how my Lord calls me to things I would not naturally do, and in that weakness I find His strength. My dislike of flying, if left to itself, would lead me to only travel by land or sea. If I had given in to that fear I would have still seen as much of North America, but unless I was so rich that I had unlimited money to spend and unlimited time to waste on long sea voyages, I could not have seen the world. However, God intended me to see 5 of the 7 continents so far! I love when I am in a new land, I just do not enjoy getting there by air. I have lost count of how many countries I have been in; even so, this Proverb speaks so loudly to me due to a clear experience that all this travel has brought me. In every place I have been except one, a common denominator exists, no matter the culture or language; noise pollution dominates the society. 
Everywhere, whether inside or out, day or night, there is a constant throbbing filling the minds of the people living there. Whether it be traffic, construction, radios, TVs, earphones hooked to any device, the world is inundated with constant distractions to our minds, so much so that we do not have a time to be quiet and contemplate our life; what it means or where we are going…and especially, where we desire to go, and what is the best way to accomplish that. I have come to a deep conviction that this is one of the best tactics our enemy uses. The busier he can keep our mind working, the less chance we have to spend time processing all the data we take in, discover what God knows about it and wants us to know about it!

This Proverb sets before us what the goal of our life should be. God knows that if we can learn from Him what life is really about, we will have our priorities set, the compass of our life working, our purpose understood and embraced. This would spell disaster for the enemy and his work in our lives.

Interestingly, the language used in this Proverb is one very familiar to human beings. All of us know what it means to compete for a prize, whether we are competing ourselves or rooting for our favorite team, actor, athlete, chess player, politician…the list is endless. We understand the discipline and commitment required. 
Here we are admonished in the same language a coach would use to encourage an athlete to go after that “prize”, “wreath” or “crown”. It is a good comparison, because there really is a competition for our attention in this life. The world’s wisdom competes with God’s wisdom. The enemy of our soul knows that, due to much of what he has to offer, his rewards can be accessed with little thought, impulsive actions and no prayer needed. He even takes the good things of this world and perverts them to become self-serving and egotistical. God loves the arts, He created them, but they were created to add quality to human life and bring positive affirmations to our hearts. Look what the enemy has done to the arts. Take any wholesome thing that this world was given by the Creator and you will see the same outcome. Even in sports, instead of learning how to master the body and make it perform, we use drugs to take the short cut…just to win a trophy or a medal that will fade very quickly. Instead of being content to do our best, we will win at any cost…replacing excellence with results! 
We have to decide which one we will run after, because they are moving in opposite directions. If you try and travel both paths they will finally split, and either you will jump to be on one…rarely is it the healthy one, or as you fight to travel both, it will split you and you will lose yourself! One path is temporal, one is eternal, the temporal path may give you a crown…but even that will be a mist in the wind! The eternal path will give you rewards that remain forever! This Proverb is exhorting us to choose wisely!

The so what? What drives your life? Have you looked at your goals? How many will die when your body does? Is it wrong to desire rewards? What would you want people to say about you after you leave this world? What would you want God to say to you after you leave this world? Have you chosen a path? If not…a path has chosen you!