We spend our lives searching for joy. It is something we long for, but we end up settling for the temporary imitation of happiness. The difference is that joy is more than an emotion. Happiness is temporary and is based on fleeting circumstances. Joy is a quality of being. The depth of God's gift of joy is found when we remain in Jesus' love, follow his commands in obedience, when we rejoice in His saving grace, and when we live into our purpose.

Paul uses fruit a the illustration for the character traits of God that He grows in our hearts through the power of the Spirit making us more like Him. He lists these fruit as: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. Jesus demonstrates these perfectly as God in flesh. This series dives into how God develops these character traits in our lives and how Jesus exemplifies them perfectly.

Proverbs has much to say about wisdom in finance. Here, generosity takes center stage as a high spiritual value. Proverbs 11:24-24 gives us the insight that “a generous person will prosper.” There is something about the way that wealth reveals the true nature of our heart. We can learn from Proverbs how to become a person of generosity by practicing these 3 principles of generosity.

The story of King Uzziah becomes a cautionary tale for the role of pride in our lives. Proverbs has little good to say about pride. Uzziah found favor in God’s eyes because of his dedication to the Lord, but eventually pride crept in and Uzziah crossed the line thinking too highly of himself. The antidote to this pride is humility which can be cultivated in surrender to Jesus.

Wisdom calls to us to work diligently and points to the ant as our example. The book of Proverbs and even the New Testament speak to the value of hard work and the rewards that it brings. The sluggard finds himself in a cycle of laziness which leads to a feeling of a lack of significance. And so scripture exhorts us to live lives as if we were working for Jesus in all things.

Who we surround ourselves with matters. The book of Proverbs give much wisdom in the way of relationships; which relationships lead to a life of trouble and which lead to a life of flourishing. Proverbs tells us that bad company corrupts good character, but that walking with the wise leads to becoming wise. So, how do we choose the people we surround ourselves with? We have to look for the characteristics of a good friend.

We can all think of times when our words get us in trouble. Our words have enormous power in our world. Proverbs contrasts the wisdom of using our words well and the folly of using them poorly. Proverbs encourages us to use our words to diffuse, impart knowledge, and healing.

The heart/soul is the seat of who we are. The Bible uses these words interchangeably to refer to the person’s will or where the self resides. Guarding your heart means intentional choosing what you trust, what you value, what path you take. The book of proverbs shares the wisdom we need to follow God well and guard our hearts.

More than ever before, knowledge is more accessible through a click of a button. Yet, the practice of wisdom, seems to be so far away. The opening verses of Proverbs give us a blueprint for living with wisdom; beginning with the Fear of the Lord, proceeding through a deepening knowledge of God, following through on practicing God’s precepts, and rounding to home with eternal praise. Wisdom is a gift from the Lord and essential for a rich relationship with God.

Our inclination is to do next whatever worked in the past, but the work of Jesus begins something new in the early church. Paul is keyed into this new reality as he continues his ministry while imprisoned and he moves from a ministry of miracles to a ministry of teaching writing many of the letters that we have in the Bible today. Paul's example demonstrates that we follow Jesus by embracing the new thing He is leading us into.