My wife, Linda and I have three daughters. A while back one of them called to talk with me about her search for a new apartment. She called and for an hour we talked about her finances, and her options. She genuinely asked for my wisdom. As a Dad it made me proud and happy to share with her the wisdom I have gained.
After the call I thought, if this is how I feel as a Dad, how much more does it bring joy to the heart of our Heavenly Father when we recognize we don’t know it all, and that we desperately need his wisdom.
Do you know what happens when we ask God for his wisdom? He generously gives it to us.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5)
Wise people understand that God’s wisdom is superior to the wisdom of the world. God’s wisdom is available to us but we must seek for it. As we make wisdom our lifetime pursuit we will make decisions that honor the Lord and lead to a blessed life.
Wisdom - “Wisdom is the capacity to see things from God's perspective and respond according to scriptural principles.” - Charles Stanley
Wisdom comes from the Lord and it begins when we look to God and His Word with awe, respect, and reverence. When God’s Word becomes the final authority of your life., you’ll begin to live in wisdom.
But here’s the thing about wisdom…you have to pursue it.
I have sometimes wondered…If wisdom has so many benefits to my life why don’t we live more wisely? The answer is it’s harder. It’s quite easy to make foolish decisions. It’s more difficult to make wise decisions.
We are not wise people by nature. You don’t come out of the womb automatically being wise. Wisdom has to be learned. Wisdom is seeing life from God’s viewpoint…and to do this is a choice.
My tendency is to think I know what is best for my life.
America buys self-help books by the millions each year and those books promise a better, happier, more successful you - how to love yourself more, control your destiny, make more money, look and feel better.
They are not all bad, but if we only look to this world for wisdom we are making a huge mistake.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:19 - “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”
We need the wisdom of God in our lives. Again, this is not just knowledge about God and His word…it’s follow through. It’s putting God’s Word into action. It living it out on a daily basis.
As Christ followers, we are to seek God’s wisdom.
“Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. (Proverbs 1:5)
King Solomon is telling us that wise people seek God’s wisdom.
To pursue wisdom, we do two things: We initiate and we implement. First, we have to initiate? We ask, how can I grow closer to God? How can I gain God’s wisdom for my life?
To pursue wisdom you have to implement. James 1:22 - “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
Implementation is where knowledge becomes wisdom.
Today’s Challenge: As we seek wisdom it’s so important that we listen to the right source. Who are you listening to? Your own wisdom? The wisdom of your friends? The wisdom of our culture? The wisdom of God?
