What Wisdom Looks Like

          Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.  But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:13-18)         

          Years ago, a friend said that the characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy were noble. I struggled with that description because in my mind, being noble somehow meant "above." Frodo and his friends weren't above. They were in the middle of it. They had dirty under their nails. It was a silly paradigm on my part. She was right, they were noble. 

         I suspect we have some of that same "above" idea when we think of wisdom. King Solomon was wise. There's a long-standing tradition that when you seek wisdom, you climb to the top of a mountain and talk to some wise old man who is detached from all of the dirt of life. Then we read passage like today's and we learn that wisdom involves purity, peace, consideration, submissiveness, mercy, good fruit, impartiality and sincerity. Doesn't that sound "above" to you? 

         Earlier in the passage, it says that those who are wise and understanding lead a good life, doing things humbly. Like nobleness, it seems that wisdom has dirt under its fingernails. Wisdom deals with everyday life. It may not be pretty or fun. It has to do with relating to the universe as it is, not the way we think it should be. That's the side of the coin we tend to forget. Oh, the other side exists, too. Wisdom involves relating to the universe as it is, not as we want it to be while still remaining in relation to a God of that universe who is everything a God must be. Wisdom involves our being perfect in a universe that isn't.