Do you have a “Dead End” Hope?

Probing Proverbs: 1:3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair.

What is the difference between "wisdom" and "philosophy?" Philosophers live in the world of ideas, whereas wisdom lives in the world of Truth. Some ideas are founded on Truth, some are not. It can be healthy to spend some time as a philosopher, because that allows you to reflect, contemplate, and meditate. The danger takes place when we become content to just think about ideas and never act on them. Paul dealt with these kinds of individuals in Acts. The goal of any philosopher that is honest is to deal with “ideas” to find the Truth in them. To be content to hear yourself talk about an idea that benefits no reality exposes an unhealthy love of self.

Notice – wise sayings (a proverb) are not just so someone will say “How Wise!” That’s what many philosophers love to hear! The problem surfaces when we find that our "book" knowledge has no real application to real life! We all need to make sure that we are seeking real Truth, not subjective truth or theoretical truth. Truth is knowledge (data) applied which is wisdom!

Truth is not subject to your emotions, or circumstances. It is what it is. There is no "your truth" vs. "my truth" in reality. There is “your” versus “my” preference, which is fine - but that is not Truth. Theoretical truth is only useful when brought to fruition and then we can act on the truthfulness or falseness of that theory.

Any Idea that remains only that, is at best, "only data" and most often is wasted time and “dead end” hopes.

God’s Word makes it clear: Wisdom is to help us live in a manner where our emotions are not our master, success is based on quality, not quantity and the standard we live by is not a "designer" truth we have made to justify the way we live.

I encourage all to enjoy discovering, developing and digesting the "world of ideas," yet remaining committed to the higher goal of seeking Truth. When you combine those two, you become a person that has ownership of their beliefs. You have reflected and meditated on the ideas that have entered your mind and allowing the Holy Spirit the freedom, you find what the Truth is. Now you know “what” you believe AND “why!” Nothing brings real Hope than that reality!

 “The so what?”

What do you believe about God; about life; about success? Why? How did you come to those beliefs? Is there a “standard” of Truth in your life? What is it? Why?