When I think about wisdom and how it is gained, I immediately go to personal experience and where I have failed to use wisdom or where I simply did not have wisdom. For instance, when a friend of mine and I were much younger, we thought we would have fun with some ground bees that had set up shop in a nearby neighbor’s yard. Thinking ourselves wise, we stood at a distance and chucked rocks and marbles into the hole.
It goes without saying that we were both stung many times. It also goes without saying we gained much wisdom that day and never chose to have fun with a nest of ground bees again!
What to do when lacking in wisdom.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. – James 1:5 (ESV)
This is an interesting little piece of scripture, which (through God) comes from James, the half-brother of Jesus. Taken at face value, you might take that to mean, “Please tell me everything I don’t already know, God.”
Of course, it isn’t really that simple, though.
The way in which “wisdom” is used here refers to knowing and understanding godliness as well as to know what is pleasing to God. We’ll expand on that latter part in a later post because it is way too much to go into detail here. Collectively though, the goal is very similar to what is described in Hebrews 5:14 and really is one of the key parts of living a refining life, on purpose.
In Hebrews 5:14, we’re told that “solid food is for the mature,” meaning that it is for those who have an ability to understand and know because they have trained through a “constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
As infants, we are fed milk with an expectation that we will grow into solid foods. This is true of spiritual living, but in a somewhat metaphorical sense. It’s therefore not an instant thing, but something we continually expand as we age provided we are genuinely seeking
How Do We Mature in Wisdom?
Wisdom includes knowing how to think and act in ways taught by God as well as knowing how NOT to think or act when it is rooted in wisdom granted by the world.
There are a lot of things in life that are learned even though it would have been wiser to have never cultivated them. I’m talking about things like bitterness, jealousy, selfishness, and lying. Those things represent a sin nature. Though, as James tells us in James 3:14-15, that these things are not Godly wisdom – they in fact come from the world. He even goes as far as to call them nonspiritual and demonic.
Instead, we should be sincere as we pursue true wisdom from God. Those things include purity, peace, gentleness, being open to reason, mercy, and impartiality.
What is the Right Way of Seeking Christian Wisdom?
When I join with other believers in the sacrament of Holy Communion, I take heart. There are few expressions we people can do on this planet that can bring us so close to receiving a full tangible experience with the Lord than this. I take it with a huge degree of seriousness and sincerity.
As we all take our portions of bread, I almost ritualistically mash the bread into a ball or glob of dough, during which I pray to God asking for two things. First, I ask that he unleavens my life of the worthless, vain and fleshly ways that I have taken from the world. In effect, I am asking him to strip me of the worldly wisdom. The mashing of the bread is my symbolic way of displaying that I am willing to be a participant in that act and not just asking God to make it happen.
The second thing I ask of God, which usually comes while partaking of the cup is that God will nourish me in rightful ways and proper wisdom.
As one of my former pastors often said, we should constantly be asking “what is the proper Christian response to this event or challenge I face?”
We must pray often and earnestly seek an ability to know how to answer that question.