Do you want to Develop?

(Prov 14:5 NLT) A mocker seeks wisdom and never finds it, but knowledge comes easily to those with understanding.
This morning we continue our series, In this verse Solomon teaches us that we must pursue wisdom with a pure heart. Have you ever met someone who does not take anything seriously? I have met my fair share. People like this are constantly joking, jesting, and making a mockery of everything.

Many of them approach the Bible with irreverence. They joke about creation, they laugh at the stories of the Bible, and they question its validity, but if questioned about the sincerity of their desire to learn, they quickly claim that they are serious about their personal development. The problem is that personal development is no joking matter.

Growing in Christ is not going to happen by mistake. We must come to God and His Word with a solemn hunger and thirst for righteous. If we do, we SHALL be filled! God will not take seriously those who don't take Him seriously.

Albert Barnes, in his commentary on this verse, said: "The successful pursuit of wisdom presupposes at least earnestness and reverence. The mocker shuts himself out from the capacity of recognizing truth."

Wow! Believe me, I know from experience that those who desire grow and develop in Christ, will do so, (I have girls in my life group that are living proof). While those you ridicule the process will be ridiculed by it. There is nothing hidden about the teachings of God, but we must seek them with complete sincerity. Once we do, they become plain to us, as if the words we had read many times before begin to leap off of the pages and into the recesses of our heart.

In Matthew chapter 13 Jesus was teaching in the form of parables. Crowds followed Him to hear His teaching, but He was not deceived by the size of the crowds. He knew that not all of those with Him were for Him. He knew that there were many in the crowds, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were not there to learn, but rather to find something they could accuse Him of. They wanted to make a mockery of His ministry; they sought to discredit His name.

Let's see what Jesus said about them: "To those who listen to My teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, 'When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes-so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to Me and let Me heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear" (verses 12-16).

I pray you fall into the latter category this morning; that you be part of the ones with the blessed eyes and ears that are able to see and hear the things God wants to teach you. But your capacity to truly receive will be contingent upon the quality and content of your heart.

So what does this mean to you? It means that if you truly want to grow in Christ the Father will give you every opportunity to do so. Part of the role of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to you the things of God. Paul explained this to the church at Corinth when he said, "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us" (1st Cor 2:12). But, if you come to God with the wrong motives you will never grow; you will never develop into the person the Father desires for you to be.

Father, I thank You for wanting to grow and for desiring to develop me in a mature citizen in Your Kingdom. I thank You for wanting to invest in me. I declare, right now, by faith, that I want to grow. I want to develop. I want to learn. I want to become all that You would have me to be. I refuse to come to you with the wrong motives. I refuse to make a mockery of You or Your Word. I come to You with an earnest hunger and thirst for righteousness and I know I shall be filled! In Jesus' name. Amen!