Monday May 3rd
James 3:13-18
NIV (v17) – ‘But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.’
ESV (v17) – ‘But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.’
What is wisdom? From a purely intellectual perspective it is described as ‘the ability to use one’s experience and knowledge to make sensible decisions or judgments’.* But when we come to wisdom in a biblical sense we are looking at something that is far superior to human wisdom, we are considering that which comes from God himself, it is more than just acting from experience and knowledge, it is gaining an understanding from God into areas where we may not even have any knowledge or experience.
When I came to this verse, I remembered a phrase I recently read and looked to find it, used at a Keswick Convention way back in 1904, ‘There is a great difference between wisdom and knowledge. Some people who are wise know little, and some who know a great deal are unwise. Knowledge is information-it is an acquisition, an accumulation; but wisdom is a personal characteristic.’^
Earlier in his letter James has said ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.’ There are times for all of us when we need to act wisely, where we need wisdom for a situation, and even if we may be knowledgeable in so many areas the knowledge does not furnish us with the answer we need at that particular time, and suddenly God gives a flash of inspiration and we speak wisdom into the situation, it helps to dispel what may have been a difficult situation or it helps to meet the need of an individual or circumstance. Knowledge and wisdom although different are also sometimes linked together, I remember a situation where I firmly believe that God gave me a word of knowledge about a person who had suddenly walked into the Church where I was leading and going to be speaking, and as soon as I had received this word of knowledge I knew that if what I had gained as knowledge was correct, I would need godly wisdom to deal with it as well, and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, what I believe could have been a very difficult situation was deflected and the service continued without any problems. It is in 1 Corinthians 12 that we read of the spiritual gifts and two of them are the gift of the word of knowledge and the gift of the word of wisdom (vv7-11).
In the Old Testament we read that God had said to Solomon that he could ask for anything he wanted, and Solomon asked for wisdom, he could have asked for anything, but he knew that in the calling of God upon his life, above all he would need wisdom, and God granted him his desire and he became known as the wisest man (besides Jesus) who has ever walked on this earth, the wisdom God gave him not only allowed him to reign as a wise King but it enabled him to gain knowledge in so many areas.
We need wisdom, all of us, and we can gain wisdom through our experiences in life, but we can also get wisdom, by coming to God and asking for it, for ‘the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.’
*Collins English Dictionary
^ Christ our wisdom from God. Dr. A. T. Pierson Keswick Convention 1904