Wisdom From Above: Part 1

There is a continuous flow of information coming at us.

We see what’s happening throughout the world in real time.

We saw the horrors of October 7 in Israel on our various and sundry screens.

We are now seeing the horrors in Gaza unfold before us. Whatever one’s views about Israel’s attacks in Gaza, one cannot help but think of all those innocent people, including children, who are forced to live with the horrors of modern weaponry, and the scars—physical and mental—of war.

The same is true in Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. The horrors of war unfold before our eyes in real time.

But that’s not all. We have a continuous listing of the diseases and viruses that can now sweep around the world in a few days time. These diseases and viruses not only have physical ramifications, now we have all the conspiracy theorist, and politicians who make these diseases that are life-threatening into political talking points, or use them to gain readers, listeners, and/or viewers.

How should we try to protect our children and ourselves from these diseases?

Parents today face a myriad of decisions about their children. How should children be disciplined? What can we do about a child who doesn’t want to do his or her schoolwork?

What should we do if we learn our child is being bullied at school? What should we do if we learn our child is doing the bullying? How do we know what books are appropriate for our child to read? When should we take our child to the doctor; how sick do they need to be? Should we blame public schools for the problems our children have, or should parents and family assume some responsibility? For today’s parents, the questions are endless.

It does seem like in today’s information age that common sense and reason have gone out the window, flown the coop, left the hen house. Some people choose to get vital information from social media, or from some web site, or from some YouTube influencer instead of thinking it through for themselves, or stopping to see how wild and crazy some of these memes and ideas really are. How many hundreds of things a lot of people believed over the past ten years (just to pick a number) have proven to be untrue?

Today’s world calls for wisdom. Education gives us information. But where do we gain wisdom? First, we use the information we gain from our education to help us form our decisions in life i.e. wise decisions. Second, life itself gives us wisdom, if we’re willing to use our reasoning abilities to gain wisdom.

But…is that enough? Education doesn’t necessarily lead to wisdom. Life’s lessons don’t always help us gain wisdom. Sometimes we need wisdom beyond our own; for not all “wisdom” is good “wisdom.”

The biblical writer, and Jesus’ brother, the Apostle James ask, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” (3:13)

The Proverbs collected and put in Solomon’s name tell us,

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (1:7)

And later in that same gathering of Proverbs,

“Give instruction to the wise, and they will become wiser still;

Teach the righteous and they will gain in learning.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (9:9-10)

In all the decisions of life, but especially in those decisions most important to us, we begin with the “fear of (meaning respect for) the Lord.” If you are a parent reading this, let me encourage you to give your child a firm spiritual foundation. Taking your child to be a part of a loving, caring, and encouraging body of believers won’t guarantee they will have a trouble free life; it will give them a solid foundation when troubles do come. Your child can learn great life lessons in sports, dance, and other things offered in today’s world, and these lessons will often help them in the future, but a spiritual foundation—a love for God and a faith in Jesus the Christ—will undergird life’s lessons and give them a foundation on which to build their lives.

We are imperfect people living in an imperfect world. We have to learn to live together with all of our own faults, failures, and foibles, and the faults, failures, and foibles of others. Anyway you look at it that requires wisdom, and truth be told, a wisdom beyond our own.

So we circle back to the question asked by the Apostle James, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” As Christians, we are told, “Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” (3:13)

And then, he gives us a warning; it is a warning that is certainly applicable today…let’s read it carefully, with an open mind, and with a spirit willing to let the Holy Spirit teach us: “But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.” (3:14) Those who are filled with bitterness; those who are filled with selfishness and will say and do whatever they think is necessary to get their way; those who are boastful and brag on themselves, and those who play loose with the truth are not wise. This is not the wisdom to be desired, and it is not the kind of wisdom with which we should, as Christians, associate ourselves. Why? “Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.” And where does such wisdom lead? “For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder (chaos) and wickedness of every kind.” (See James 3:13-16 for a full description of this “false” wisdom.) Oddly enough, many people choose to allow themselves to be misled by this kind of “false wisdom.”

“But the wisdom from above…”

This week we will examine the “wisdom from above.”

If we’ve ever needed it, we need it now.

Join us Sunday morning at 11:00 at Greenfield, 384 Fairmont Road, Gretna or on Facebook Live on the Greenfield Baptist page.