The Beginning is the Key

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The Beginning is the Key

Guest Blog by Quortney Jernigan

In our age of instant gratification, instant downloads, instant coffee, and the Instant Pot, everyone is looking for the quickest route to success. How can I put in the least amount of effort and still be successful? I’m right there with you! If I can bake a frozen biscuit and it comes out pretty close to the quality of its homemade counterpart, sign me up!

But what worries me is that I’ve found that this same concept is affecting the Christian life. What do I need to do so that I can check the boxes and say I’m a good wife, mom, Christian, or friend?

“…for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7

You harvest what you plant! If you take the time to cultivate the crop, you’ll reap a bountiful harvest. If you hurry through and halfway do the important things, neglecting the needs of your seeds, you are sure to harvest a crop that is lacking. The success of your seed is in your own two hands. And that’s true for our lives, too!

“Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”
Proverbs 14:1

Did you know the success of your house is in your hands?

As women, we have the power to build up or to tear down our households. Have you taken the time and put in the work to become a wise woman? Or have you taken the shortcuts and landed in the company of fools?

Let’s see what the Bible says about wisdom. Proverbs specifically has a lot to say on this topic:

“Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”
Proverbs 24:3-4

Knowledge is information. Wisdom is what you do with it. Wisdom is taking the knowledge you’ve acquire and using discernment and judgement to make right decisions. So, to have wisdom, we must first have knowledge. And we aren’t born with knowledge. It’s something we learn. It’s something we acquire by study. We’re not entitled to wisdom. It’s something we earn.

Do you possess a knowledge of the things of God, His Holy Word, His commandments and expectations? Do you have wisdom to guide you into applying it and using it in your own life? If not, here is a good starting point: the fear of the Lord.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 1:7

The beginning of true knowledge and wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord. The word fear used here isn’t the fear you think of when a young child is terrified of the dark. This fear is defined as reverence or respect. It’s fear mingled with respect and esteem. If we don’t reverence and respect our Creator God, we must not have knowledge of Him. To know God is to love and fear Him. Do you truly know the God of the Bible? Do you study the Scriptures to find Him, to determine His likes and dislikes?

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.”
Psalm 111:10

Once the seed of knowledge is planted, obedience makes us fruitful. If we truly fear the Lord and know Him, then our lives will show our wisdom and understanding by our obedience.

If you want to be successful in the areas of life that God has called you, you must first have a fear of the Lord, and a reverence and respect for who He is. You won’t gain this knowledge by cutting corners studying worldly forms of wisdom. Fear of the Lord and knowledge of the holy come by studying His Word and living it.

The beginning is the key. “Well begun is half done.”

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:5