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“For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me (Wisdom) will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” (Proverbs 1:32-33)
Apart from wisdom, this Proverb teaches, men won’t prepare for the future. Even more, those who set out to prepare find that it is impossible to prepare well without a plan. Likewise they find it impossible to make a good plan without wisdom. Those who wisely prepare will be ready for the future. Those who do find wisdom and who give heed to her counsel will have no need to fear disaster. But how is wisdom found? Where can it be purchased?
Scan Google or Yahoo, you won’t find a product called, “wisdom”. You might find books promising to convey wisdom. But “book knowledge” doesn’t equal wisdom. According to the first chapter of the Book of Proverbs, wisdom must be gained in the same way a man courts a woman he wants to marry. Wisdom is not natural to any. Wisdom must be sought. Wisdom must be won.
Wisdom is a gift of God, promised to all who seek it from Him (James 1:5). This wisdom is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17). Like all other truly valuable things, wisdom must be purchased by patient, diligent effort. Becoming wise and becoming a wise prepper requires daily turning away from your own ideas and impulses and seeking instead the righteousness and wisdom of God in Christ.
This Day in Church History
April 10, 2012 – Nestorius consecrated as bishop – On this day in 428 Nestorius was consecrated bishop of Constantinople, the city now known as Istanbul, Turkey. Nestorius aggressively fought against the heresy, Arianism, which taught that Jesus was not truly divine but was a created being. Nestorius, like many other ardent defenders of the faith, went too far in the opposite direction. He argued that the Son of God took on the nature of the man, Jesus Christ, like a man puts on a cloak. Nestorianism came to teach that Jesus Christ had two distinct personalities, one human and one divine.
In part to correct this error, the Church gathered at the Council of Chalcedon in 433, with the purpose of clearly defining the truth concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. The gathered bishops, from all over the Christian world, declared Christ was two natures in one person. “We all with one voice confess our Lord Jesus Christ one and the same Son, at once complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, of one substance with us as regards his manhood, like us in all things, apart from sin…” The Definition of Chalcedon is counted as one of the Ecumenical Creeds confessed by all orthodox believers.
