The Wisdom of God
I have been reading through James lately and am being taught about the wisdom of God vs. the wisdom of the world.
Some attributes that we see from the world’s wisdom:
- Feeds our own lusts (1:14, 4:3)
- Builds within us a covetousness that develops into other sins (1:15; 4:2)
- Enemy of God (4:4)
- Jealous, bitter (3:14; 4:5)
- Has no hope (3:15)
In contrast, some attributes of God’s wisdom:
- Not what the world sees (4:4)
- Pure, peaceable, reasonable, merciful, sincere (3:17)
- Gentle (3:13)
- Humble, contrite (4:10)
- The source of all good things (1:17)
- Available for the asking (1:5)
- Impartial (2:9)
- Patient (5:7-8,11)
This is my top list of challenges in light of all this:
- Ask God for wisdom. God says that he will give wisdom if you ask in faith (1:5-7)
- Humble yourself. God’s grace will empower you to have his wisdom and combat the world’s wisdom. (4:6)
- Resist the Devil. Aggressively combat the sin in my life. (4:7)
- Don’t Waffle! Called “doubleminded”, we cannot vaccilate between the world and God. God will not answer your prayers when you hold on to the world. Instead, you are told to purify your heart (1:6-7; 4:8)
- Pray for each other. God promises physical healing and forgiveness when we pray for others . (5:15-16)
- Be contrite when we fail. Humble ourselves and purify our minds. Ask others to pray for us. Know that God has forgiven us and start again. (4:9-10)
- Practice what I learn! (1:22-25; 2:17,22)
Sapphire Sky 