True treasure

Many dream of “striking it rich,” but few actually succeed. Mel Fisher began his quest for riches in 1969. He started to search off the Atlantic Coast for the Atocha, one of the few remaining Spanish galleon shipwrecks never recovered. It was thought to contain a fortune.

For sixteen long years, using state of the art equipment, Fisher scoured the ocean floor for any sign of the ship. Finally, on July 20, 1985, his son Kane announced, “Put away the charts; we’ve found the main pile!” Their find was dubbed the “shipwreck of the century,” worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and has been compared to the discovery of King Tut’s tomb.

Did you know you, too, could strike it rich? I’m not talking about the lottery. The Bible says “Happy is a man who finds wisdom…for she [wisdom] is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold. She is more precious than jewels; nothing you desire compares with her” (Proverbs 3:13-15). Find wisdom, and you’ve hit the real jackpot.

Wisdom is the ability to make good and godly choices in life. It’s more than just an IQ. Wisdom is an attraction to everything good, and true, and beautiful. It is not driven by emotions. It carefully weighs each option. It acts responsibly. It thinks about long-term consequences. It is street-wise in a dangerous and confusing world. Imagine how different things would be if we all spoke and acted with wisdom!

So, how do we find wisdom? Proverbs 9:10 provides the treasure map: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” To gain wisdom we must first develop a healthy fear and respect for the living God.

This means we must recognize that God alone is pure and powerful, able to tell us how life works. We must admit our own sense of direction is faulty. We must believe God’s Word is more reliable than our closest friend, our smartest professor, or our favorite talk show host. We must accept that Jesus alone can rescue us from our sin, for “in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

True wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. And the fear of the Lord begins with knowing Christ. Only then can we become truly rich. Even richer than Mel Fisher.

This article was written for publication in today's edition of our local paper, the Hi Desert Star.