I want to share five lessons for living from Proverbs chapter three. This chapter gives us five important principles that will benefit you greatly if you intentionally apply them to your life, and each principle has a corresponding benefit.
Today let’s look at the first one, which we find in verses 1 and 2:
My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity (Proverbs 3:1-2).
First, Solomon says: “do not forget.” Are you prone to forget what you should remember? Learning happens because of repetition—that’s how our brains work. So, if you want to remember what you should remember—specifically, remember God’s principles—then you need to repeat them, reread them, memorize them, reinforce them in your mind frequently. That’s why reading your Bible systematically and daily will create pathways in your brain to help you to remember God’s truth.
This principle for living goes on to say “keep my commands in your heart.” Again, we see the importance of repetition—keeping God’s principles stored in your heart. That’s why memorizing Scripture is so important to your spiritual progress. For example, I memorized Ephesians 4:29 years ago, which says: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. I recognized I needed control of my tongue, and after memorizing that verse, the Holy Spirit would bring it to my mind very often and stop me from saying something I shouldn’t say or didn’t need to be said. Because I keep that command in my heart, it helps to control my words.
The benefits of keeping God’s Word in your heart are long life, peace, and prosperity. Keeping in mind proverbs are principles, not promises, by living in obedience to God’s Word and his principles, your life is going to be much fuller and far more peaceful, and your soul will prosper. That’s a pretty good deal, if you ask me.