Skip to main content

Wisdom


If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (James 1:5)
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. (James 3:17)
          Yesterday, I wrote about asking for the wrong thing, and asking for the right thing. One of the right things I mentioned as wisdom. Today’s passage tells us that God not only gives wisdom, He’s generous with it. I pray for wisdom. I ask others to pray for wisdom for me. It’s been a priority prayer request for the past three years, at least. If you ask me – if you ask quite a few people I know – we would agree that I’m not wise. I’m foolish. 
          I would say I am foolish for several reasons. First, I’m a lousy judge of such things. Put wisdom on a table so that I can compare what I have to an objective standard, and what I have might compare well with the exemplar. Secondly, I don’t feel wise. Thirdly, I don’t have people clamoring for nuggets of wisdom from me. In fact, lots of people tell me I’m a fool. I’d agree with them, except for the fact that their reason for claiming that I’m a fool is because I don’t agree with them. 
          On the other side of this one, I’ve told people that I like to listen to what I have to say. I’ve found that I like to read what I’ve written. The reason isn’t that I’m enamored with the sound of my voice. It’s that every now and then, I catch something in what I’ve said or written that is good stuff. Deep. Profound. Maybe even wise.
          Three things about wisdom that come to mind this morning. The first is that God is generous with it. One of the lies that I tell myself when I pray is that if I want or need what I’m praying about, I won’t get it. Everyone else gets miracles, I get nothing. Except, that’s not what Scripture says, so it’s not true. The second is that God doesn’t find fault with those who seek wisdom. The second thing deals with the other lie I tend to tell myself, that while God is generous, there’s something wrong with me that what He can trust with everyone else (wisdom) He can’t trust with me. 
          The last thing about wisdom is that it is like so many other gifts God gives. It comes to us gift-wrapped. There’s an old quip about not praying for patience, because if you do, bad things will happen, and you’ll have to wait. Experience is the gift-wrap. I’m beginning to see that experience is the gift-wrap of a lot of things God gives us – especially the best things.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more