Proverbs 23:23
Truth? What is truth? That is a question that Pilate posed to Jesus at His trial. Today, truth is in the mind of the one currently thinking. We live in a word deeply affected by post-modern philosophy. This philosophy says that truth is whatever you want it to be. Each man's truth is his own - and not to be frowned upon by anyone else's views. This is the corollary to the current doctrine of truth, the doctrine of tolerance. The effect of these two working together negates for the most part what the Bible says is truth. Yet the Bible says that it is truth. The Bible is God's revelation of Himself - and as the Author Himself is True - so anything He does to reveal Himself is truth by the very nature that He has said it. This places the the Christian worldview at odds with the current views of post-modern truth and tolerance. In the end though, everyone functions on the basis of truth. This is especially the truth when we die and face God in judgment. We might be able to deceive ourselves that whatever we want to believe is truth - but in the end, all men will stand before God and give an account of themselves to Him. In that day there will only be one so-called version of the truth - God's.
Proverbs tells us to buy truth and do not sell it. This world, since it is fallen, is not big on truth. Romans 1 says that mankind rejects God and chooses instead to make gods of their own - deceiving themselves in the process. The god of this world, Satan, is a liar and the father of lies. Therefore the world system in which we presently live is far more based on lies than on truth. Therefore whenever we encounter truth, we need to buy it and not sell it. Those terms are terms that are used in stock and investments. The only reason you would buy and not sell something is because it is constantly increasing in value. The longer you hold it, the wealthier you become. And according to Scripture here - you want to buy truth whenever you can and hold it forever because it will only make you richer every day you have it!
The Word of God is truth! Let's consider this for a moment. The wise man who buys truth and does not sell it - has found a field that is filled with gold, diamonds, and jewels of every shape, size, and description - as he comes to the Word of God. Knowing this it is amazing that we don't realize that time spent in the Word will make us eternally wealthy whenever we do it. Buy truth - redeem any time you can in the Word of God - it's worth millions!
There is more here - because God wants us to do more than just read His Word - although that is a good start. He wants us to gain wisdom and instruction and understanding as we do. Getting wisdom means getting an idea of how God views things. Getting instruction means being open and teachable so God can teach us at any time through anything that He does. It also means coming to God's Word to learn and to be instructed by Him. Getting understanding means that we take the wisdom and instruction that we obtain and we learn how to apply it to how we live each and every day. We learn how to walk with the Word that we read and understand and discern the difference between good and evil -between what is God and what is NOT God in this world and in our lives.
It is vital that we take the time that we have here on earth and apply it to knowing God - and as we know Him - walking with Him in wisdom throughout our days. The benefit to knowing truth - buying it and getting wisdom, instruction, and understanding is that we learn to live for the things that truly matter. We also learn to steer clear of things that will harm us in the end. That way at the close of our lives we will not spend our time regretting the things we've done and regretting the way that we've lived our lives.