Pass it On
Proverbs 4:1-4
I am not a big fan of technology, but I have to admit it’s amazing what you can find on the internet. Several years ago, my boat motor was not running correctly. It was a 1972, 40 horse Mercury motor. Boat motors can be complicated, especially the older ones. I took it to a friend who was a whiz with old motors. He diagnosed the problem. It had to do with an old wiring harness. Thankfully I was able to find a replacement and ordered it. When it arrived, we noticed the color of the wires didn’t match up and there was one extra wire.
Perhaps in my younger days I would have suggested a little trial and error, but past experiences had taught me trial and error was not a good plan with electricity (can you say burned up motor?). So, we jumped on the internet doubtful we could find what we needed. Would you believe it—someone had made a hand drawn wiring diagram for how this new harness wired to the old connection. I mean literally a picture of a drawing in old notebook. Amazing.
You can find so many things on the internet. Some useful and some not. Certainly, you can find seemingly unlimited amounts of information, but you can’t necessarily find wisdom. Information and wisdom are not the same. Just because someone has made a YouTube video about something doesn’t mean that person is an expert. In some cases, the advice may not only be bad but even dangerous.
So, who do you listen to? I know I’m old school, but my habit is to find people I trust and listen to what they say. I do this with my finances, my vehicles, my insurances, my medical needs and so many other areas of life. Even in education. I’ve counseled countless students that the higher up you get in your educational journey the issue is more about who is teaching you not where you are attending. What are the credentials of the person in the classroom who is instructing you? A campus or building doesn’t instruct you. A person does. Who is that person?
The educational model presented in the Proverbs is referred to as a “household model.” It’s a father and mother instructing their son. It’s passing wisdom down from one generation to another. Proverbs states: Hear O sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention that you may gain understanding. For I give you sound teaching; Do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, Then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live.”
There are several things worth noting in that paragraph. The language when I was a son to my father may seem odd to us but it’s significant. The idea is that the son listened and obeyed his father. He learned from his father. To truly be a son in a Jewish culture meant you obeyed and learned from your father. If the son refused to listen the father might actually disown the son. The training from one generation to another was highly valued.
The writer is saying he learned from his father and now implores his son to learn from him. Skillful living needs to be passed down from generation to generation. We don’t need more information off the internet. We need wisdom to know how to live well. Of course, people can’t pass on something they don’t themselves have. Fools lead by example producing more fools. But wisdom is intentionally passed along by those who are wise and care enough to instruct the next generation.
Don’t get too hung up on the father and son imagery. It’s one generation passing down wisdom for living to the next generation. We learn, sometimes the hard way, then pass that learning on to those who come behind us. This doesn’t just happen; it takes effort and intentionality from both generations.
Most scholars believe this is written by Solomon. This would mean the father he refers to would have been King David and the mother he refers to would have been Bathsheba. It’s a good reminder that failure is not final. David and Bathsheba messed up. They had an adulterous affair. But think about all they learned from their own story that could help Solomon live more skillfully. If sin and failures disqualified us from giving instruction, we’d all be in trouble. Yes, we’ve made mistakes but maybe we can help the next generation avoid those same pitfalls.
The father says, “let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live.” The whole point of skillful living is that we might live. Not merely staying alive but to live the life our souls long for, the abundant life as Jesus called it. Perhaps today we might use the phrase, live it up. The lie is that we can either live it up or follow Jesus. The truth is to follow Jesus—to listen and learn—is the route to living it up.
Sometimes we learn that the hard way. Like David and Bathsheba, we find out life is not found in forbidden fruit. Life lessons can be painful. What a shame to not pass that wisdom on to the next generation. For those of us who are older, we have a responsibility to do our part to help the next generation live skillfully. We need to do less complaining about the next generation and more helping. Some of you may think the next generation doesn’t want our help. My experience has been the opposite. They’re ready to listen if you’re ready to help.
For those who are younger, I strongly encourage you to find people who live their lives with great skill and learn from them. The internet is full of information, but information is not wisdom. Who are the voices you are listening to? Who are you allowing to influence your life? You only get one life; we can do better than trial and error.
Part of life in the community is we do life together. Let’s learn from one another. Let’s pass wisdom on. When we do that everyone wins, or more appropriately, everyone lives.