Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life (Proverbs 4:13).

I was with friends, just out for a good time.  We were joking and laughing, as usual.  But the instructor knew better than to leave us to our own devices.  He walked right in front of us, making eye contact with each and every one of us, holding the carabiner up in front of him as he spoke loudly:  "This is your life."  He said it three or four times, to make sure that we all got it.  "This harness, these safety ropes -- they are what stand between you and a horrifying, messy death at the bottom of the mountain."  His thumb pushed the locking mechanism of the carabiner in and out, punctuated by metallic clicking sounds, "And these two small metal devices are all that keep your harness and your safety ropes together, which keeps you from a horrifying, messy death at the bottom of the mountain."  My friends and I were done joking at this point; we were starting to fully grasp the gravity of the safety instructions being provided for us by the instructor.  All our eyes were on the carabiner in the instructor's hand.

"This is your life."

It's hard not to think about that day, that instructor, and that carabiner when I read Proverbs 4:13.  "Hold on to instruction," it says.  "Do not let it go."  And then it gets up in my face and challenges me to make good and sure that I am good and listening:  "Guard it well, for it is your life."

The Proverbs -- or the Bible as a whole, for that matter -- are not something that we read solely for entertainment purposes. God's wisdom is not something used to impress guests at dinner parties or win debates.  The instruction of the Bible is not something to be treated with sarcasm or contempt.  The Bible is the carabiner of life.  I know that most believers would agree with this sentiment, if directly asked about it.  But how many of us really live that way?  How many of us really make life decisions as if God's wisdom is the only thing standing between us and a horrifying, messy death at the bottom of eternity.  I'm deeply challenged to consider this wake-up call.  Are you?