Godly Wisdom
From Pastor Cristy Olof
James 3:13-18
This morning on my walk, I was listening to the Bible App read the book of James. I love the book of James! Tim and I even named our second-born Colin James because of this book! The above verses caught my attention on my walk, specifically verse 13: "If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom." I immediately thought, "I want to be wise for sure, and I want to understand God's ways!" Then the challenge of "prove it" was an interesting way of spurring on my faith. Live an honorable life doing good works with humility THAT COMES FROM WISDOM!
I began to break this down for Cristy to fully grasp it. Live my life in a way that HONORS God by doing GOOD works with HUMILITY (because pride is sin and sets me apart from God and takes the glory and gives me credit instead of Jesus). Honor God with good works (humbly) that come from wisdom. Only the wisdom of God will show me the good works to do, and those bring Him honor and glory if I do them with humility. I am a formula girl. The practical and bottom-line applications are my favorites! So I wrapped up this gift of knowledge from the Lord with this: To understand God's ways and wisdom, I must let the wisdom of God prompt me to do good works (not just have good intentions), do them with humility, and then I will live an honorable life proving that I do understand God's ways and have wisdom.
The chapter goes on to read that the opposite of this is to be selfish and jealous. To live my life this way would only bring destruction. Oh God, help me to hear Your voice when it comes to doing good works. Help me to do those works humbly. Help me to live honorably for You and bring Your ways to this world. Help me to understand, live, and obey wisdom!
