Americans love how-to books. Go to Amazon.com, search for books using the phrase how to, and you will receive a list of 716,578 related items. Current bestsellers include How to Win Friends and Influence People How to Walk in High Heels: The Girl’s Guide to Everything, and How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk.
I’ve actually read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It’s a little gem of a book. The problem is that when you read it, its advice strikes you as so simple and so common sensical that you feel like a fool for spending $14.00 for it ($11.20 at Amazon.com). Dale Carnegie’s genius was taking common sense and repackaging it so that people would think about it in a new way.
That’s why we read the Book of Proverbs too. The vast majority of what Proverbs says is common sense. But the way it says things sticks with you, makes you think, and forces you to adjust the way you act. And whereas many how-to books deal with very specific subjects (winning friends, influencing people, walking in high heels, talking and listening to children), the Book of Proverbs deals with very broad subjects. It’s a how-to manual for life.
Now, everyone I know is searching for advice about living the good life. The problem is that most people assume the good life is caught up with healthy relationships, professional accomplishment, and financial independence. And that’s certainly part of a good life. But the Book of Proverbs digs deeper. Its vision of the good life begins not with what you have, but with who you are. Proverbs deals with inward character first, then—and only then—with outward success.
Consider, in this regard, what we read in Proverbs 1:2-6:
for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;
for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;
for giving prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young —
let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance —
for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
There’s not one word here about how to have a healthy marriage or how to earn a six-figure salary or how to raise nice kids. Instead, we read about wisdom, discipline, prudence, justice, fairness, knowledge, and discretion. Now, if you get wisdom and all the other virtues, you’ll probably find a good mate, get a good job, and raise good children. But there are no seven infallible habits or twenty-one irrefutable laws that will get you those things without wisdom. Life just doesn’t work that way. You must be a certain kind of person before you can experience certain kinds of results in your life.
In the biblical scheme of things, being always comes before doing. Do you want a good life? Then become a good person! The Book of Proverbs will show you how.
GeorgePWood.com 
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