Wise? Prove It!
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom."
Remember what Forrest Gump said over and over again in the classic Tom Hanks movie? No, not the thing about the box of chocolates. When people would call him stupid, he’d tell them, “Mamma said, ‘Stupid is as stupid does.’ ” Ah, the wisdom of Gump.
In this passage, James turns that idea around. “Who is wise and understanding among you?” he asks. “No, don’t raise your hands. Just prove it!” Actually, he said, “Let him show it.” How? Two ways:
“By his good life.”
Wisdom is self-revealing, James taught. You’ll know wise people by looking at their lives. People who make wise choices tend to have things turn out better for them than people who repeatedly make foolish choices. One way to spot a wise guy is to notice the results of his decision making.
“By deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
Remember what Solomon said is step one in understanding the universe: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7) Wisdom starts with a basic, fundamental truth: “God is God, and I am not!” (Repeat that out loud.)
When I get that the God of Creation is, in fact, all the way God -- and that I am a limited being created by Him -- I know that understanding anything in His universe starts with getting to know Him. James says that's humility. And what do humble people do when it comes to God: We listen. We ask. We obey. We praise.
You’ll know a wise person when you see him or her listening to God, obeying Him, talking to Him, asking Him for help. That person will do good works, because he’ll do what God asks.
Do you want to be a wise person? How can you get wisdom? I can think of three ways God’s Word tells us to get wisdom.
1) Hunt it down!
Proverbs is full of commands to the wisdom-hunter to go searching for it like buried treasure. It’s more valuable than anything you’ll find in a pirate chest on the bottom of the sea. Will you work as hard to dig it up? This digging requires hours in God’s Word, especially the “wisdom literature” like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and this book of James.
2) Make the most of your worst moments.
Solomon also liked to say that a wise person grows wiser when rebuked or corrected for doing wrong things. Hebrews 12 tells us that our Father God disciplines us as His children. You can pick up gobs of wisdom when you make mistakes and do wrong things, as long as you’re willing to change direction when someone (or Someone) sets you straight.
You can also pile on the wisdom when you go through hard times that are NOT your fault. Those come to everyone. Earlier in his book, James told his readers to “count it as joy” when they suffer those hard trials. Why? They teach us to trust God more, and that’s wisdom. Make the most of your bad days by learning what God has for you in them.
3) Ask!
James followed what I suspect were gasps from his readers to the command to call trials “joy” by saying, “If you lack wisdom in the trial, ask God.” He gives it away for free to all who ask (as long as we believe He gives it).
“Get wisdom!” Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4. Then he said it again with an urgency that comes right off the ancient page. Moses was also urgent, “Life is so short,” he says in Psalm 90, “Help us to apply our hearts to wisdom.” You’ll never find -- or live -- a life that truly matters without wisdom.
For a quick jump start, why not memorize and meditate on James 3:17-18?
--James 3:13
Remember what Forrest Gump said over and over again in the classic Tom Hanks movie? No, not the thing about the box of chocolates. When people would call him stupid, he’d tell them, “Mamma said, ‘Stupid is as stupid does.’ ” Ah, the wisdom of Gump.
In this passage, James turns that idea around. “Who is wise and understanding among you?” he asks. “No, don’t raise your hands. Just prove it!” Actually, he said, “Let him show it.” How? Two ways:
“By his good life.”
Wisdom is self-revealing, James taught. You’ll know wise people by looking at their lives. People who make wise choices tend to have things turn out better for them than people who repeatedly make foolish choices. One way to spot a wise guy is to notice the results of his decision making.
“By deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
Remember what Solomon said is step one in understanding the universe: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7) Wisdom starts with a basic, fundamental truth: “God is God, and I am not!” (Repeat that out loud.)
When I get that the God of Creation is, in fact, all the way God -- and that I am a limited being created by Him -- I know that understanding anything in His universe starts with getting to know Him. James says that's humility. And what do humble people do when it comes to God: We listen. We ask. We obey. We praise.
You’ll know a wise person when you see him or her listening to God, obeying Him, talking to Him, asking Him for help. That person will do good works, because he’ll do what God asks.
Do you want to be a wise person? How can you get wisdom? I can think of three ways God’s Word tells us to get wisdom.
1) Hunt it down!
Proverbs is full of commands to the wisdom-hunter to go searching for it like buried treasure. It’s more valuable than anything you’ll find in a pirate chest on the bottom of the sea. Will you work as hard to dig it up? This digging requires hours in God’s Word, especially the “wisdom literature” like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and this book of James.
2) Make the most of your worst moments.
Solomon also liked to say that a wise person grows wiser when rebuked or corrected for doing wrong things. Hebrews 12 tells us that our Father God disciplines us as His children. You can pick up gobs of wisdom when you make mistakes and do wrong things, as long as you’re willing to change direction when someone (or Someone) sets you straight.
You can also pile on the wisdom when you go through hard times that are NOT your fault. Those come to everyone. Earlier in his book, James told his readers to “count it as joy” when they suffer those hard trials. Why? They teach us to trust God more, and that’s wisdom. Make the most of your bad days by learning what God has for you in them.
3) Ask!
James followed what I suspect were gasps from his readers to the command to call trials “joy” by saying, “If you lack wisdom in the trial, ask God.” He gives it away for free to all who ask (as long as we believe He gives it).
“Get wisdom!” Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4. Then he said it again with an urgency that comes right off the ancient page. Moses was also urgent, “Life is so short,” he says in Psalm 90, “Help us to apply our hearts to wisdom.” You’ll never find -- or live -- a life that truly matters without wisdom.
For a quick jump start, why not memorize and meditate on James 3:17-18?
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