Before anything else: God loves you always, before you get it right and after you get it wrong. That love is not a prize, it is a present.
You know when somebody is teaching you to ride a bike and the moment comes when they let go of the seat?
They ran alongside you. They held on. They told you what to do. They did everything that could be done. But there is one thing they cannot do for you: pedal.
And here is something important. When they let go, it is not because they stopped loving you. It is because the moment arrived that only you can live.
Today's verse says that very directly. If you are wise, you are the one who gains. Nobody can be wise in your place, just as nobody can learn to pedal for you.
Some people say: but I wish somebody would do it for me. Everybody has wished that. Except the bike stays where it is, and the one who never gets to ride is you.
And do you know the best part? Whoever taught you does not go away. They wait for you at the end of the street.
In a very beautiful Bible story, a man came running to Jesus and knelt down to ask something important. And before answering anything at all, the Bible says that Jesus looked straight at him with love.
Notice that the look of love came first, before the man's answer. Jesus told him what he needed to do, and the man chose not to do it, and went away.
Jesus did not run after him to force him. He loves us so much that he lets us choose. And he goes on calling the next day.