by Bill Cook

My “hunting trip” had been 20 years in the making. I was on my way to look at a car—not just any car, but an old car that was the same make, model, and year as the first car I had owned. I paid careful attention to landmarks as I traveled. I wanted to make sure I could find my way home with my newfound treasure. Would my hunt be successful?

Most of the “hunts” we go on in life are similar to my pursuit of the old car. Nobody will go to Heaven or Hell based upon their success or failure. But what can we pursue that will actually have an eternal impact?

Have you ever felt like I did that day—trying to navigate in neighborhoods where you’ve never driven? Most of us can identify with this. Growing up means that we navigate differently. Yes, we’ve crossed that bridge in our pursuits of life.

One pursuit we have to make as Christians is the pursuit of righteousness. Proverbs 3 points us in this direction.

But can you navigate in that neighborhood? Is it familiar to you? Has anyone ever sat you down and told you the benefit of reading the “Proverb of the day“? Let’s remind ourselves.

The book of Proverbs contains 31 chapters. If we read a chapter a day, we can read through Proverbs 3 every month. Reading Proverbs 3 regularly not only challenges us to seek God’s will and direction for our lives, it gives us one of the best and shortest definitions of righteousness: A righteous person is a son or daughter in whom God delights.

Did my hunt for an old car honor my physical or heavenly fathers? Not really. Shouldn’t everything I do honor my heavenly Father? Absolutely! When we apply that test and can answer with an honest yes, then we are pursuing righteousness. Amen?

Bill Cook is senior minister with the First Church of Christ in Covington, Indiana where he and his wife Pam have served since July 2007.