Wisdom 1
James 3:13-17 – Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
James here is laying out a guild line to what some of the characteristics for wisdom look like. First of all, he starts by calling out the generation to see who has what it takes to walk with wisdom and understanding.  He ventures on by saying when we are called to a task, that we do it with a genuine heart. But if we do things out of vicious spite, or just doing it to get all the glory then we need to check out hearts. Because that’s when we really start to let our flesh get in the way. True wisdom is pure. It is amiable, gentle, knows when to submit, rich with mercy and knows how to walk out the fruits of the spirit. We need to should love everyone and don’t be insincere or two faced with others. I think James it trying to tell us that wisdom comes from not only knowing the guidelines but actually putting them into action.
Wisdom is a hard thing to practice. It something I struggle with for sure. I’m not always doing things with a good heart. I half way do tasks all the time. And when I say half way I mean I’m not giving it 100%. Ill sometimes have trouble doing things out of a good heart. My Mom always told me that if I did chore without a happy and cheerful heart, that I would miss out on the blessing that God has for you. I’m not always peaceable and gentle. I can have a problem with getting the last word in and bickering.  I don’t always yield to people around me. I can be compassion less towards others around me.  As you can tell from this, I defiantly lack a lot of good fruits. I could be overflowing with blessings from the Lord, but instead I choose to let my flesh get in the way. But do you know what? All of this makes me realize how much I crave and long for God’s grace and mercy.

Application: I’m going to look for ways to help out others today and I will also do the extra mile trash duty this week.  

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