James 3:13-18New International Version (NIV)
Two Kinds of Wisdom
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition,there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 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. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Wisdom is something that we all could use a little more of. You have to have wisdom to be able to use knowledge correctly. Wisdom is important when it comes to making decisions. James describes places that our wisdom can come from. He contrast the difference between true wisdom and false wisdom.
The first type of wisdom that James talks about is Worldly Wisdom (3:13-16). This type of wisdom is the false wisdom. It comes from below, this is man-made wisdom. This wisdom does not come from God, and whatever does not come from God is destined to fail. Worldly wisdom does not come from God, it comes from Hell and Satan. This type of wisdom is complete opposite of anything that is of God. It is demonic. In Genesis 3, the serpent tempts Eve to trust his wisdom instead of God's wisdom. Truth is, the evil one is trying to do the same thing to us today. Trying to get us to trust the world or anything else besides trusting God. This type of wisdom is all about ME. It is motivated by self-centered ambition. This type of wisdom only results in disorder and evil. It leads to envy, strive, boasting, and deceit.
The Second type of wisdom is True wisdom. It is Godly wisdom (3:17-18). This type of wisdom comes from God. In James 1, James says if any of you lack wisdom he should ask God for it. When we ask God for wisdom we should not doubt that He will give it to us, we should have faith. He gives wisdom generously. This type of wisdom is opposite of how the world thinks. It is motivated by God-centered humility. The characteristics of this type of wisdom is evident in the Beatitudes. (Matthew 5:3-12) Godly wisdom is Pure, it is Peace-loving. It is Gentle and compliant. True wisdom is full of mercy and good fruit. This is the type of wisdom the results in peace and righteousness. God's wisdom produces blessings.
The question is where do you find your wisdom. Do you find it in the ways of this world, or do you find it from God? We should constantly be praying for wisdom in our daily decisions so that we are bring God glory. To truly be a mature disciple of Christ, our wisdom needs to come from Him. I personally been spending a lot of time lately praying for wisdom of different circumstances that I have been going through. God has really taught me patience through this. One world that is evident in my life right now is TIME. There are things that I really want but they need time. and God's timing is always perfect. I have been reminded that He is sovereign. He is working in me through the pain and things I am going through that I do not understand and molding me more and more for His glory.
As a nation and in the world we need to be praying for wisdom. There are some scary things going on right now and we truly do not need to get our wisdom from the world, because it will only lead to destruction. We need to be praying to God for wisdom because His wisdom is true and pure.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
DJ McMickle
Ephesians 2:1-10
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