Wisdom is the prime thing. Acquire wisdom; and with all that you acquire, acquire understanding.

(Prov. 4:5-8) As a young person listens to the instruction of his father, accepting his discipline, he is going to acquire wisdom. He is going to learn how to put into application in his own life the things that his father has told him. He will not simply let the instruction ‘go in one ear and out the other.’ When a young person truly gets the point of that Scriptural admonition, discerning that “wisdom is the prime thing,” he will be willing to listen to his parents and will be eager to benefit from their experience in life. He will “highly esteem” or appreciate the wisdom that they impart, and especially when it is in harmony with God’s own Word, the Bible.