#71 Wisdom. What is it? Thoughts from the Back Deck

The Book of James (epistle, aka letter) contains a lot of practical guidance. It was written for the believer more than for someone to read and come to faith in Jesus, like the gospels (Jesus' life and God's salvation story).  


The verse for today from James chapter 1 reads...
vs. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

So, who was wise? Our founding fathers? Abe? Winston Churchill? Your mom? Your Dad? Why or why not? And maybe the better question is, what is wisdom? 






Let's break this verse down a bit...

1. Wisdom is not the same as intelligence. 
There is a video circulating around right now of a college graduate who went to get graduate-level education claiming that on an IQ test, she'll test higher than a guy who just had a high school diploma and went into the military. As it turns out, the high school graduate had a higher IQ than the graduate student. That is a reminder that sometimes, one thing is not equal to another. 1st Corinthians 13 talks about love. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is this, and love is that... it goes on for the entire chapter describing love. Knowledge tells us that the description of love is true there. Intelligence might tell us that we are not always patient or kind when we love someone. Godly wisdom tells us we fail at this all the time and that Jesus is the only one who is always the way love is described in this text. Think of wisdom as the ability to exercise discernment, good judgment, and discretion, and when you add God or godly "wisdom," it adds an additional power punch to what is already good. 

2. Never fear asking something of God. 
Over and over, God says to us: "Bring it!". If it's important to you, it's important to God. (1 Peter 5:7) When James says: "...let him ask God," that is not a meaningless comment. Seriously, God wants us to make good choices in life, and He is there for us. 

3. God gives generously.
God is not stingy with anything. Your sins are many, but he takes ALL your sins away through Jesus. God gave up His son. God loved us first. I can go all day with these examples of how God gives generously, but if we just stop and think for a moment, it becomes clear what a loving Father we have in our lives. 

4. Understand what reproach is...
Disgrace, shame, humiliation.

5. Now have some wisdom as "God, who gives generously to all without reproach (no need to feel disgrace, or shame, or a sense of humiliation), and it will be given him". 

In other words, it's only disgraceful or shameful or humiliating when we don't ask for wisdom from God, for He says ask, for He loves to give, and promises to give! 

That's pretty cool! 

Peace out, 
Andy 


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