Proverbs 2:1-8
Wisdom and Bad Friends

1 My child, you must follow and treasure my teachings and my instructions. 2 Keep in tune with wisdom and think what it means to have common sense. 3 Beg as loud as you can for good common sense. 4 Search for wisdom as you would search for silver or hidden treasure. 5 Then you will understand what it means to respect and to know the LORD God.

6 All wisdom comes from the LORD, and so do common sense and understanding. 7 God gives helpful advice to everyone who obeys him and protects all of those who live as they should. 8 God sees that justice is done, and he watches over everyone who is faithful to him.

Proverbs 3:1-18
Trust God

1 My child, remember my teachings and instructions and obey them completely. 2 They will help you live a long and prosperous life. 3 Let love and loyalty always show like a necklace, and write them in your mind. 4 God and people will like you and consider you a success.

5 With all your heart you must trust the LORD and not your own judgment. 6 Always let him lead you, and he will clear the road for you to follow. 7 Don't ever think that you are wise enough, but respect the LORD and stay away from evil. 8 This will make you healthy, and you will feel strong. 9 Honor the LORD by giving him your money and the first part of all your crops. 10 Then you will have more grain and grapes than you will ever need.

11 My child, don't turn away or become bitter when the LORD corrects you. 12 The LORD corrects everyone he loves, just as parents correct their favorite child.

The Value of Wisdom

13 God blesses everyone who has wisdom and common sense. 14 Wisdom is worth more than silver; it makes you much richer than gold. 15 Wisdom is more valuable than precious jewels; nothing you want compares with her. 16 In her right hand Wisdom holds a long life, and in her left hand are wealth and honor. 17 Wisdom makes life pleasant and leads us safely along. 18 Wisdom is a life-giving tree, the source of happiness for all who hold on to her.

Proverbs 4
Advice to Young People

1 My child, listen closely to my teachings and learn common sense. 2 My advice is useful, so don't turn away. 3 When I was still very young and my mother's favorite child, my father 4 said to me: "If you follow my teachings and keep them in mind, you will live. 5 Be wise and learn good sense; remember my teachings and do what I say.

6 If you love Wisdom and don't reject her, she will watch over you. 7 The best thing about Wisdom is Wisdom herself; good sense is more important than anything else. 8 If you value Wisdom and hold tightly to her, great honors will be yours. 9 It will be like wearing a glorious crown of beautiful flowers.

The Right Way and the Wrong Way

10 My child, if you listen and obey my teachings, you will live a long time. 11 I have shown you the way that makes sense; I have guided you along the right path. 12 Your road won't be blocked, and you won't stumble when you run. 13 Hold firmly to my teaching and never let go. It will mean life for you. 14 Don't follow the bad example of cruel and evil people. 15 Turn aside and keep going. Stay away from them. 16 They can't sleep or rest until they do wrong or harm some innocent victim. 17 Their food and drink are violence and cruelty.

18 The lifestyle of good people is like sunlight at dawn that keeps getting brighter until broad daylight. 19 The lifestyle of the wicked is like total darkness, and they will never know what makes them stumble.

20 My child, listen carefully to everything I say. 21 Don't forget a single word, but think about it all. 22 Knowing these teachings will mean true life and good health for you. 23 Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life. 24 Never tell lies or be deceitful in what you say. 25 Keep looking straight ahead, without turning aside. 26 Know where you are headed, and you will stay on solid ground. 27 Don't make a mistake by turning to the right or the left.

Proverbs 23:12

Listen to instruction and do your best to learn.

Romans 8
Living by the Power of God's Spirit

1 If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won't be punished. 2 The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. 3 The Law of Moses cannot do this, because our selfish desires make the Law weak. But God set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin. God used Christ's body to condemn sin. 4 He did this, so that we would do what the Law commands by obeying the Spirit instead of our own desires. 5 People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. 6 If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace. 7 Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God's laws. 8 If we follow our desires, we cannot please God.

9 You are no longer ruled by your desires, but by God's Spirit, who lives in you. People who don't have the Spirit of Christ in them don't belong to him. 10 But Christ lives in you. So you are alive because God has accepted you, even though your bodies must die because of your sins. 11 Yet God raised Jesus to life! God's Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit. 

12 My dear friends, we must not live to satisfy our desires. 13 If you do, you will die. But you will live, if by the help of God's Spirit you say "No" to your desires. 14 Only those people who are led by God's Spirit are his children. 15 God's Spirit doesn't make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father. 16 God's Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. 17 His Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Christ Is God's Power and Wisdom

18 The message about the cross doesn't make any sense to lost people. But for those of us who are being saved, it is God's power at work. 19 As God says in the Scriptures, "I will destroy the wisdom of all who claim to be wise. I will confuse those who think they know so much." 

20 What happened to those wise people? What happened to those experts in the Scriptures? What happened to the ones who think they have all the answers? Didn't God show that the wisdom of this world is foolish? 21 God was wise and decided not to let the people of this world use their wisdom to learn about him. 

Instead, God chose to save only those who believe the foolish message we preach. 22 Jews ask for miracles, and Greeks want something that sounds wise. 23 But we preach that Christ was nailed to a cross. Most Jews have problems with this, and most Gentiles think it is foolish. 24 Our message is God's power and wisdom for the Jews and the Greeks that he has chosen. 25 Even when God is foolish, he is wiser than everyone else, and even when God is weak, he is stronger than everyone else. 

26 My dear friends, remember what you were when God chose you. The people of this world didn't think that many of you were wise. Only a few of you were in places of power, and not many of you came from important families. 27 But God chose the foolish things of this world to put the wise to shame. He chose the weak things of this world to put the powerful to shame. 

28 What the world thinks is worthless, useless, and nothing at all is what God has used to destroy what the world considers important. 29 God did all this to keep anyone from bragging to him. 30 You are God's children. He sent Christ Jesus to save us and to make us wise, acceptable, and holy. 31 So if you want to brag, do what the Scriptures say and brag about the Lord.