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THE UNENDING WISH

When I was a boy, my dad asked me if I could have one wish be granted, what would it be? We played that game as a family, and every time my brother or one of my sisters thought of a better wish than I thought about, I would change my wish. Then my dad unplugged all the fun by coming up with what we determined to be the greatest wish ever. He said, "I wish that every wish that I wish would come true."

The unending wish! One wish that grants all other wishes! That would be it.

Through the years, I have contemplated how tragic that would have been. For instance, my fifth grade teacher would have exploded in front of all of us students. The school bully would have come upon a tragic end to teach all other bullies...and I would have been a murderer. A rich, greedy, spoiled murderer, but I would have, in my anger, wished some people to death.

No wonder James warned us, "You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." James 4:2-3. Somehow, without the Apostle James meeting me, he knew of the wickedness that lived in my heart.

Solomon, the author of this great book of Proverbs, was given the opportunity to make one wish by God. What is the most valuable thing in the world? What would God consider the most valuable?

Consider God for a moment. What is the value of gold to God? zilch. Money? Fame? Popularity? Oil wells? All of those are nothing to God. Everything you can mention that we value, He could create with the puff of His breath.

What does God say the most valuable thing in the universe is? Wisdom.

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