“Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced.” (James 3:17, The Message)
“Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom.” (James 3:14, The Message)
James juxtaposes what wisdom is not, with what wisdom is in James 3. Wisdom is not mean-spirited ambition, boasting, or twisting the truth to sound wise. Sometimes the world thinks that this kind of behavior is wisdom. It isn't.
Real wisdom begins with a holy life, or as Solomon put it: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. One of wisdom's marks is that you can get along with others.
To get real wisdom then, our aim ought to be on Christ and his life, since Christ was God in the flesh. If we emulate his character, we will be well on the way to the fear of the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment