By Rick Vacek
GCU News Bureau
The book of Proverbs, Chad Moore noted, conveniently contains 31 chapters – one for each day of the month. He reads one chapter every day.
Equally convenient for his Chapel talk Monday morning at Grand Canyon University Arena, the Lead Pastor of Sun Valley Community Church in Gilbert said, is that “it’s a wisdom book written for young adults to help us make wise decisions.”
He prefaced his path into Proverbs with these words:
“God loves you. He loves you no matter where you’ve been, no matter what you’ve done and no matter what’s been done to you. He loves you and He has a purpose and a plan for your life.
“And most of the time, if not all the time, our problem, personally, is not that we don’t love God enough. Our problem is that we don’t realize how much He loves us. Because here’s the thing: If you knew how much God loves you, you would always do what He says.”
Proverbs says there are three kinds of people in the world.
First, the simple. Proverbs 14:15 says:
The simple believe anything,
but the prudent give thought to their steps.
By believing everything and letting life happen to them, Moore said, they simply get to a place they didn’t want to be and then wonder how they got there.
“The first thing to do to get what you want out of life is to decide what you want,” he said. “… The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Second, the foolish. Proverbs 13:16 says:
All who are prudent act with knowledge,
but fools expose their folly.
“Application is everything,” he said. “Fools know the right thing to do, but they don’t do it. You know what fools do? Fools wish upon a star, which is awesome in a Disney movie. But in real life, wishing upon a star won’t get you very far. You have to know the right thing, and you have to work it and do it.”
Moore suggests making some major decisions for your life, then managing them daily by practicing good habits.
“You’re choosing which path to walk, and then you’re actually walking the path,” he said. “Now here’s the thing: God’s path is more difficult, but God’s path leads to life and every other path leads to destruction. When you’re struggling with doing the right thing, here’s what you think about: God’s love for you.”
Third, the wise. This time, he cited three verses:
Proverbs 14:16:
The wise are cautious and avoid danger;
fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.
Proverbs 12:15:
The way of fools seems right to them,
but the wise listen to advice.
Proverbs 13:20:
Walk with the wise and become wise,
for a companion of fools suffers harm.
Moore related how he finds it easy to counsel members of his church about wrong paths they’ve taken, but he has a blind spot when it comes to his own life:
“When it’s my life, I’m on the field and I can’t see anything, which means I need people who are wise to speak into my life and help me see what I cannot see. …
“The eye cannot see the ‘I.’ ”
That’s why it’s so important to surround ourselves with people who will help us on our journey.
“No one will lie to you more than you,” he said. “And so we need people who speak the truth to us, we need people who see what we can’t see, we need people who help us be cautious, we need people who help us make wise decisions.”
If we are surrounded by five people, Moore suggested, we will become the average of those five – thus, the importance of “walking with the wise.” Those who don’t tend to follow the old adage of learning the hard way.
“If you’ve got to learn the hard way, you’re stupid,” he said. “I’d rather learn the easy way. How about you?”
He closed by telling the story of a dog that chased its tail – that’s the simple. But the older dog provided some wise counsel about getting joy out of living life right:
“The more that I did what my master said, the more I did what dogs are supposed to do, I looked behind me and realized I don’t have to chase happiness because happiness was following me.”
Moore closed with a prayer that he has taught his sons and his church:
“Father, give me the wisdom to know the right thing to do and the courage to do it.”
He added, “Go be wise.”
For the complete Chapel replay, including the music by the Worship team, click here.
Next week’s speaker: Justin Unger, Likewise Worship Collective
Contact Rick Vacek at (602) 639-8203 or [email protected].
