Ray Pritchard - The ABCs of wisdom : building character with Solomon

THE ABC'S OF WISDOM

Building Character wi th Solomon

RAY PRITCHARD

MOODY PRESS

CHICAGO

1997 by Ray Pritchard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be repro duced in any form without permission in writing from thepublisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articlesor reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken fromthe HolyBible: New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 byInternational Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.All rights re served.

The "NIV" and "NewInternational Version" trademarks are registered in the United StatesPatent and Trademark Of fice by International BibleSociety. Use of either trademark requires permission of International Bible Society.

Scripture quotations marked (nkjv) are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by ThomasNelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (nlt) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by pe rmission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton,Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (kjv) are from the King James Version.

ISBN: 0-8024-8182-5

3579 108642

Printed in the United States of America

The fear of the Lord is the beginning ofwisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 9:10

PhyllisRaad, Sherrie Puknaitis, Rebecca Arellanes, Mia Gale, Kathy Duggins, and herdaughters Sarah and Katie all contributed in various ways to the writing of this book. I have gained valuableinsight from Craig Steiner , Larry Korbus, BobBoerman, and Davis Duggins. Greg Thornton of Moody Press gave me constantencourage ment, as did Julie-Allyson Ieron, SuzanneDowd, Jim Bell, and my very gifted editor, Anne Scherich. I am also in debted to Sherry Flipps for her prayers . Special thanks to my wife, Marlene, and to my three sons,Joshua, Mark, and Nicholas, for teaching me most of the important things I havelearned in life.

Almosteveryone agrees that we are living in a day of moral and cultural confusion. Former Secretary of Education William Bennett says that itis almost as if our society has conspired to make it impossible for our chil dren to grow up as decent, moral individuals. He arguesthat if we want to improve our nation, we must once again dedica te ourselves to the hard work of inculcating virtue in thelives of our children. We must teach them about things like justice, humility,honesty, hard work, thrift, self-control, kindness, and perseverance.

But William Bennett is not the only one saying t hese things. Newsweek magazine recently published a coverstory titled "The New Virtue-Crats." The lead article re ported that 76 percent of all Americans surveyed agree thatour nation is in a serious moral and spiritual decline. Although we can argueabo ut why it happened or even about how it happened, the fact itself seems to bebeyond debate. Somewhere, somehow, we as a people lost the concept of character and virtue.

Chuck Colson argues that for the first time in our historywe have raised an entire ge neration of young peo ple who have no conscience. Since their parents had nosolid moral foundation, they had nothing to pass along to their children. As a result, manyyoung people today do not know the difference between right and wrong.

As a result of l osing the conceptof absolute stan dards, we have entered what Newsweek calls "the age of enlightenmentskepticism," where it's OK for you, but not OK for me; it's right for you,but not right for me; wrong for you, but not wrong for me; you've got your wa y and I've got my way. But if there are no absolutestandards, then dishonesty is just as good as honesty, ha tred is just as noble as compassion, and laziness is ascommendable as hard work.

If America is going to change, the hearts of people have tochan ge one by one. That can only happen as Christiansbegin to live by moral standards that truly are not of this world. As we facean increasingly skeptical so ciety, we mustconsciously demonstrate a superior kind of ethical behavior, for we can preachall w e want, but until others see the differenceincarnated in us, it will be all talk, just another Sunday morning sermon.

All that I have written so far may sound rather gloomyandindeed there are dark clouds on the nation alhorizon. But here is where the g ood news begins. Ifvirtue is what we need, then I know where we can go to find it. Three thousandyears ago the wisest man who ever lived (with the exception of Jesus Himself)wrote down the fundamental principles of moral behavior that have informed Jewi sh and Christian thinking ever since. In fact, those truthslaid the foundation for what we know today as Western civilization.

I am speaking of the ancient book of Proverbs. King Solomonwrote most of the book. It was evidently in tended tobe an ancient Book of Virtues for the young people of his day. It represents the distilledwisdom of theages. His sentences are direct and to the point. He never uses three words whentwo will do. He doesn't preach in the normal sense of that word, nor does hethreaten . In hundreds of pithy sayings he sets forththe basic princi ples of moral behavior.

In thisbook we are going to take a look at one hun dredareas of moral and spiritual concern. You should know right up front that thisis not a commentary on Proverbs. I t is instead apractical handbook for virtuous living based on the sayings of Solomon.

One final note and we're ready to begin. Please don't feelcompelled to read this book straight through. Actual ly,I hope you won't do that. You'll get the greatest ben efitfrom reading one section at a time and pondering the questions at the end. Thesections are arranged alphabeti cally to make it easyto find the topics of greatest interest to you.

This book is not really about children or even forchildren. But I do believe that the up-and-cominggener ation needs to heed these words. For thatmatter, we could all benefit from some practical, down-to-earth teaching aboutwhat is right and what is wrong and how to treat the people we meet every day.

For a world that ha s lost itsway, God wrote a book to bring us back to reality. If you're interested inlearning how life is supposed to work, turn the page, and let's getstarted.