Think about someone you know that you consider to be incredibly wise. What is it about them that makes them stand out to you?
I have known some incredibly wise people in life. Their ability to cut through the noise and confusion of life and see things clearly and rightly and fairly has always impressed me. And some of the people I have thought were wise ended up showing that they were wise in one area of life but not in others.
The standard dictionary definition for wisdom is the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting. This definition sounds good, but there is more to wisdom than just being able to discern or judge. According to the Bible, wisdom is not only discerning what is true, right, or lasting, but also being able to live rightly according to what is true, right, or lasting. So I define wisdom this way:
Wisdom is the skill of living according to what is true, right, and lasting according to God’s revelation.
When it comes to the book of James, he doesn’t define wisdom. He merely tells us what it looks like. But we know a few things about wisdom: it comes from God. He is the source of all wisdom. Since wisdom comes from God, we need to ask for it (1:5). God is generous in giving this wisdom; he doesn’t hesitate to give it. So ask!
James describes the effects of wisdom in 3:13, and 17-18. First, he says that wisdom is seen in good conduct, humility, and lack of self-promotion. It isn’t in putting oneself forward, it isn’t in seeking one’s own rights. It is living in a way that honours God and his ways in this present age.
So what are the good works that we should do to show our wisdom? James echoes the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:1-12. It is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, sincere, impartial, and sincere. When we take this understanding of wisdom, someone can know all the facts about a car – the size of the engine, the performance of the vehicle, its speed. They can even know how to handle a car in amazing ways. But when it comes to driving on the road, they are the kind of driver who thinks that the road belongs to them. Everyone else is an idiot out there. They zip in and out of traffic, cut people off, tailgate, yell at other drivers, and cause chaos around them.
Or the other type of foolish driver is the person who goes along, blissfully unaware of their surroundings. They approach another car and then wonder what they should do – not having thought about when they should pass until they are in the moment.
Then there is the skilled driver. They not only know the details about their vehicle, but how it handles and how to use the power of their vehicle in a good way. They are looking ahead and behind. They’re predicting other people’s moves. They are acting in a way that doesn’t create chaos around them, but moving along so that the flow of traffic isn’t thrown by their erratic decisions.
This is what wisdom looks like: knowing and doing. It is the act of bringing together knowledge and applying it in the right moment to the right situation.
So what areas do you need wisdom in? Why not ask God? Be prepared that he will answer you with insight from his word and from other godly people so you can live skillfully in a complicated world.
Seeking the wisdom from above with you,
~Andrew
