Thursday October 21, 2010

"Journey Through James - Part 6"

Two Kinds of Wisdom

 ¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. ¹⁶For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
 ¹⁷But 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. ¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

So what are the two kinds of wisdom here? The first kind is the kind that comes from the devil. This comes when we carry ourselves around with envy and selfish ambition in our hearts. And what does that breed? Disorder and evil practice. In other words - not good! Remember that Satan is very crafty and parades himself around as an angel of light so on the outside, he looks great. But once he has trapped us, he only wants to harm us.
The second kind of wisdom is the kind that comes from heaven. What's the difference? It is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. It should be pretty easy to tell the difference between godly wisdom and satanic wisdom. And how do we show this wisdom? By our good life, and by the deeds done in humility (i.e. giving to the poor, helping someone out, etc.).

Dearest God, we ask that you give us your heavenly wisdom, and help us to recognize when the wisdom comes from the evil one. Forgive us for any times that we have used evil wisdom thinking it was of you. Help us to flee from the devil and the desires of the flesh, and run to you instead. Thank you for all that you teach us through your word. We love you, amen.

Lots of love,
Aubrey <><