Wisdom from above

James 3:13-18

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7), is a sure Bible verse one gets into his remembrance when speaking of wisdom. This verse implicitly stated about another kind of wisdom a man has even before he get to fear the Lord – a worldly wisdom. Ofcourse its a folly unto God!

God created human beings as wise and responsible beings. For that matter every creature is wise in its own way and God has bestowed them with such wisdom. But there is a kind of wisdom that James describes as earthly, sensual and demonic.

James used very strong words to describe this wisdom and he says it has bitter envy, self seeking, covering up with boasting and lying– hypocrisy. This kind of wisdom does much harm to us and even others. This kind of wisdom is the breeding ground for any evil. One has to abstain from showing such kind of wisdom.

But there is also a wisdom – a wisdom from above. This begins when man gets to fear God in his life. James is challenging the believers to show this kind of wisdom in living a honourable life by doing good works in humility.

Such kind of wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to submit to others, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and hypocrisy.

We as Christians are time to time exposed to earthly and heavenly wisdom, but one has to war with his members to avoid acting from inherent sinful demonic wisdom and give room for God’s wisdom in one’s life. Because, God out of His Grace has given us His Spirit to act according to the wisdom from above.

The pain of James is not just to teach his readers about different kinds of wisdom or (be informative) but (transformative) he wants his readers to be sowers of heavenly wisdom so that they may reap a harvest of righteousness (Vs 18).

One may be inherently wise according to this world but he needs wisdom from above which makes him the person God wants him to be. Thanks be to God for giving us the wisdom to understand our sinful state and turn to Him for salvation!

Dear Christian, what kind of wisdom do you personally show in and through your life? Destructive or constructive? Are we the kind of people God really wants us to be?

Seek the Lord and His Wisdom in everything you do and the Lord will be pleased and make you a blessing to many. Let the wisdom of God colour every aspect of your life.

May God bless you with His Heavenly wisdom.