Proverbs 1:1-7 is a very important section on the whole book as it highlights its Author, Purpose and Theme.  It also gives us three essential areas of focus for life and the attitude we should have towards them.

1. An Eagerness to learn: Vs 2 & 3 shows that the proverbs are for the person that wants to live a prudent life and he would therefore need to spend his life seeking wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  Unfortunately some people’s attitude is; “I have done all my schooling, there is nothing left for me to learn.”  We see in vs 5 that even the wise listens and gets wiser.  Are you still learning new things? Especially in the area of God and the Bible, are you open to learning new things?

2. An Eagerness to Love Others: Although we don’t see the word love in these 7 verses, we see that the acquiring of insight and understanding is to be able to “do what is right and just and fair” This takes character and this also takes a loving person with the right motives and intentions.  Again we are reminded that our purpose in life is to be loving people.

3. A Healthy Fear of God: Proverbs tells us that the starting point and what should drive us to achieve the 2 areas of focus above is by having a healthy reverence for God and his instructions. This is the theme that we find constantly throughout the book, to the very last chapter Prov 31:30.  We are going to be reminded throughout the book that when we put God at the centre of our lives and when we have a heart that wants to listen and obey his instructions, we model wisdom to those around us.

Would you say your lifestyle shows that you really fear God in a healthy sense? Why or why not?