How to Begin Living a Life of Wisdom

Making life-long decisions requires great effort.

We try to think through as many possibilities as we can, and determine the pitfalls, the potential failures, and the potential successes. Can we afford this? How will we pay for it? Is this a good investment? Are we ready to bring children into this world? Will I like doing this job? What if my career choice is a bad choice? Is this really love, or am I fooling myself? Life’s life-long choices are numerous and often difficult. We can’t see the future. As the Apostle James reminded us, “Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.” (4:14)

Colleges and Universities want students to declare a major when they’re eighteen years old. How can one know what they want to do for the rest of their lives when they’ve had little life experience? So how can a student make that decision?

Life is filled with risk, including risky decisions; decisions that are life-changing. How do we know when to take the risk?

Sometimes we make decisions based on perception that turns out not to be reality. We can be deceived. We can deceive ourselves. When should we admit we’re wrong and find a way forward? The new “thing” among some is to never admit you’re wrong. It is not a good “thing.” We cannot grow unless we’re willing to see our weaknesses as well as our strengths, and we cannot move forward unless we’re willing to admit we’re wrong. A moment of eating crow is far better than a life-time of lying to one’s self and others.

All of this brings us to Paul’s first correspondence with the Christians in Corinth. First, let’s remind ourselves that there is perception, and there is reality, and the two are not always the same. For example, we may perceive a person as being one way when in reality they are another. Jesus told us that some people are like “whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth.” So, with the difference in perception and reality in mind, let’s look at some verses from Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Corinth: “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so than no one might boast in the presence of God.” (1:27-29)

Indeed the following questions are as relevant for the twenty-first century as they were to the first century when Paul asked them: “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (See 1 Corinthians 1:20.) Here is how the Apostle James, brother of our Lord Jesus, described the “wisdom of the world,”: “But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.” (James 3:14-15)

Many lives have been ruined when decisions were made out of bitterness, envy, and selfishness. Anger does not lead to good decision making, and neither does the accompanying bitterness. Decisions made out of selfishness come back to bite us.

We must be willing to find the truth and make our decisions and live our lives based on the truth, and not on the lies we’re told; for some people live a life that is “false to the truth.” Instead of basing our life choices on wisdom that is “earthly, unspiritual, devilish,” we should live with wisdom that is heavenly, spiritual, godly.

Let us always remember: “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human weakness.” (1 Corinthians 1:25)

So, let’s take a look at God’s wisdom in a little more detail; for it is God’s wisdom that we need, and God’s wisdom we should seek.

Before we take that look, let’s be reminded of the chaos, the violence, the anger, the bitterness, the shamelessness, the incivility, and the divisiveness of our times. We must not allow the charlatans of our day to deceive us by their words of bitterness and resentment. And we must always be aware: “Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.” Peter gives us this advice, “Resist him, steadfast in your faith…” (1 Peter 5:8-9a) The “roaring lion” will use anyone and anything to bring us down…to “devour” us.

Now let’s take a look at what James tells us about the wisdom from above: “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” (3:17)

How much better is life lived with peace instead of anger, bitterness, and hate?

How much better is life lived with gentleness instead of unkindness and violence?

How much better is life when we’re willing to see the viewpoints of others instead of assuming we’re always right, and that our opinion is the only “right” opinion? A willingness to yield is not a weakness, it is a strength that shows we are very much aware that we are all created in the image of God, and we need each other. (That’s why church should be a place of encouragement for one another. It is better to encourage someone to walk with Jesus than it is to judge someone for their sins—let God do the judging. But I digress.)

How much better is life lived with mercy instead of cruelty and ruthlessness? (Those who are cruel and ruthless show a weakness of the soul; for they have given in to the “roaring lion.”)

How much better is life lived with good fruits instead of producing fruit that is rotten? As Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits…A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit…Thus you will know them by their fruits.” And let’s not forget what Jesus said about the tree that only produces bad fruit, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (See Matthew 7:15-20.)

How much better is life lived with a sense of fairness and genuineness instead of with partiality (judging others) and hypocrisy (pretending to be something we’re not)?

How do we begin living this life of wisdom? Good question!

We begin here… “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” (James 4:8a)

And lest we forget… “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:24b)

Join us Sunday morning at 11:00 at Greenfield, 384 Fairmont Road, Gretna or on Facebook Live on the Greenfield Baptist page. Sunday, we celebrate the ordination of Cameron Hubbard as a Deacon in our Greenfield Family of Believers.