The Father again addresses his son as he did in the first two chapters. The Father beseeches his son to not forget his teachings. Forgetting the teachings of God and the wise is much easier to do than most are willing to accept. Just how easy it is to forget is found when temptation requires me to a quick decision.
A great help to remember the sound and wise ways is to keep God’s commands in my heart. BDBD, prayer, meditation, and meeting with other like-hearted followers of Jesus are methods I use to keep Jesus’ teachings and commands in my heart. Yet, even these good habits are not always enough to help me when I allow the troubles and stresses of life to control my emotions and thoughts.
The greatest gift God has given me is his Holy Spirit in my soul. The Spirit supplies me with love and faithfulness (3). The Spirit plants his good seed on the tablet of my heart. The Lord wrote the 10 commandments on tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12, 31:18) However when Jesus sends the Spirit to his followers to be with us forever we become “a letter from Christ… written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Corinthians 3:3)
The Spirit enables me the extra strength to overcome the wicked impulses of the flesh. The Father promises that my life will be prolonged for many years and bring me prosperity (2). He promises me that the good habits and Spirit will help me live righteously and win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man (4).
