4:127 – Are You Wise?

#faithbites #faithjourney wise

Scripture

Working in academia, I often see people jockeying for who is the wisest or smartest person in the room. At our school of medicine, people who are used to being the smartest in the room, aren’t because there are so many fields represented. Today, I was describing students i was working with and shared stories about their intelligence and how they made connections to previous material. There were definitely smart people in that room.

Being wise, or having wisdom is another story all together. We can be wise and not smart or smart and not wise. Smart is linked to information or knowledge. Being wise is how we apply that knowledge to our life.

Today’s topic comes from the Verse of the Day, James 3:13.

Today’s Questions: Do you consider yourself wise? If so, how do you show your wisdom to others?

Scripture

• James 3:13 – 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.

Reflection

My brother used to tell me that I’m book smart but not street smart. I think my wife would agree. Street smarts is a form of wisdom. It’s the ability to understand what is going on around you and reacting accordingly. In our scripture, we see that wisdom isn’t shown by being the smartest person in the room. It is shown by living a good life and doing deeds, in humility, that show wisdom.

What does this look like for us? It’s giving unselfishly of your time, talent, and treasure. It’s sharing and giving without thinking of reward. In other words, being humble in all situations.

i want to be considered wise and not a blowhard or ignorant. For me, it’s a life long process of living at what we do and how we impact others.

As we close, let’s look for ways to increase our knowledge and our wisdom for when we are wise and humble, we all succeed.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us wisdom and knowledge. We pray that you help us be humble in all of our activities. Sometimes we struggle with how to wise. We ask that you forgive us, help us, and energize us to be humble servants. In your name, Amen.