Proverbs 19:8
The one who gets wisdom loves life;
the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.
Do you love yourself? Do you want what is good for you? Then pursue wisdom! Seek commonsense. Value understanding and discernment. Get knowledge. For it is through attaining good sense – the skill to discern what is right and true and good – that you will discover and enjoy the good in life.
How do you get sense? You pray for it; you study God’s Word; and you observe. You observe what God reveals through natural revelation. You study the knowledge he gives to anyone through his common grace. You learn from the experiences – all the experiences – he takes you through.
More importantly, you study the knowledge God’s Spirit gives through his special grace of revealing the Gospel. It is through the Gospel that you may now look at everything else. Explore redemption; explore what salvation entails; explore what it means to be adopted in Christ, to be sealed by the Holy Spirit; explore justification and sanctification. As you dig deeper into Gospel truth; as you delve into the holy attributes of the God who made you and saved you; as you seek such wondrous knowledge, so you will you grown in good sense and understanding.
And then keep understanding as you would keep any treasure you may possess. You hold on to it, take pleasure in it, work to protect it and add to it. For the more understanding you have and the greater care you take to keep it, the more useful it becomes in leading you to discover good. Indeed, the more useful it becomes in leading you to the One alone who is Good.
2 Peter 3
Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.[a]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.