Friday, January 25, 2013

Attributes Of Godly Wisdom


But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

James 3:17

There are so many people in this world who claim to be wise; however, James reminds us today that there are two kinds of wisdom… There is wisdom which comes from above (Godly) and wisdom which does not come from above (worldly)… Each source of wisdom can be found by the seeds which are planted and developed from it as we see that James shares with us today in our focus verse the attributes that are aligned with the wisdom which comes from above… The very definition of wisdom is to have insight, intelligence, acumen or astuteness toward a specific topic as well as the ability to apply this knowledge in a manner that renders fair judgment and understanding… Wisdom is a deeper level of knowledge within a particular matter and often times allows others a better opportunity to understand any given subject… In understanding the overall spectrum of wisdom, we must understand today that there is power in wisdom and that wisdom can be used in two different ways… When I acquire wisdom about a particular issue I can use it for a positive or negative impact… Using wisdom in a negative manner is the flipside of Godly wisdom as it usually is used to better ones standing or to bring down someone else… This passage taken from the book of James reminds us to consider the avenues in which we venture in obtaining wisdom… Understand today, to be wise is to accumulate knowledge; however, how we utilize the knowledge we gain is another story… We all have probably heard the saying, “knowledge is power” and this saying is true, but when we perceive the fact that the devil has a lot of knowledge when it comes to God’s word and our lives, it is scary to think of what devices he can come up with to try and trip us up… For this very reason alone we are reminded throughout God’s word that we are to be immersed in His will and word and that we must be on top of our game… One thing that plagues the body of believers is that we often take in the wrong things as it pertains to the life that we live… We are focused on the wrong things in life; we are consumed by the wrong people and/or places… James describes the kind of wisdom (accumulation and application of knowledge) that we should have and how we know if we are headed in the right direction… Wisdom is something that everybody wants and would love to gain; to be knowledgeable, insightful and intelligent are characteristics that every person would love to have on any given topic or subject… As I stated earlier, James informs us today that we can gain wisdom from two different sources… The wisdom that comes from above displays these characteristics; it is gentle, full of mercy, bares good fruit and is without hypocrisy… To understand what and where “good wisdom” comes from means that there must be a source where we can obtain “bad wisdom” to… Not everything learned is good and something’s that we learn can not only destroy you, but can destroy the others around you as well! James invites us to examine our lives today and mainly focus on our source of learning… The bible declares in Proverbs 9:10 that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” The wisdom we desire to have is not something which we can obtain through this earth; this Godly wisdom only comes from God and starts with a fear and reverence for Him… When we go through a situation and learn how to handle that situation and can use that lesson learned to help our fellow man as well as ourselves as it pertains to our Christian walk than we know that we are accumulating a knowledge that God desires for us to have… On the contrary, when we are pulling one another down and speaking deceiving words about mistakes we have made or consequences we have had to bear than we are allowing the wisdom obtained to produced negative fruit and therefore ruin the seed that could have blossomed from those times in our lives… The Pharisees believed that they were full of wisdom and rejected the coming savior… Saul was persecuting the church, but was said to be zealous for God… If the wisdom that you have is destroying others, baring rotten fruit or has taught you to develop lies then you need to check your source! You should be a positive influence on your communities if you are walking in the wisdom of God… If you are doing more harm then good; please, check your sources!!!

BE BLESSED!!!

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