Wisdom from Heaven

"But 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." (James 3:17)

Had enough of the world's brand of self-serving wisdom? Want to define success differently in your life? James turns the focus on God's version of wisdom. Notice that it's not so much about getting my way.

First, this wisdom is pure. That means it's not some of one thing and some of another. God's wisdom is all one thing all the way through. It is all about God from start to finish. It's all about His view of the universe and His view of my life. Those living on God's wisdom will always be moving in the same direction -- the one He chooses.

With this wisdom, I am so confident God will have His way I can quit fighting to get my own way. This wisdom tells me I'd rather have His way, anyway. So I can work to make peace. I can spare the time to look at things from your point of view and be willing to have my mind changed. I can afford to show mercy and make choices that cause good things to happen for everyone.

With God's wisdom, I'm not trying to beat you to build myself up. I'm trying to serve you because I know He will build me up when the time is right.

Think: Do the consequences of living by God's wisdom -- purity, peace, thoughtfulness, etc. -- appeal to you? What keeps people who live by God's wisdom from getting walked on by everyone else?

Pray: Ask God to give you the desire and courage to live by His wisdom in your world.

Do: Write down each of the attributes of heavenly wisdom listed in today's verse. Rate each one on a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being high) by how much of that thing you notice in your own life, lately. (E.g., peace-loving: 6; considerate: 4; ect.)

Disorder More Evil

"For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice." (James 3:16)

Do you have a picture in your head now of what worldly "wisdom" is, what worldliness is? We've looked at how James describes it -- envy and selfish ambition. Put another way, this "wisdom" is about defining success by getting what I want most out of life.

One reason that fails is the same reason a basketball team fails when the players are more interested in their own stats than they are in winning the game. Nobody passes. Nobody plays defense. Everybody shoots the ball every time they get it. That is disorder. And that team loses the game almost every time, even if one or two players "succeed" in getting high scores.

The other problem with defining success by getting my way is that I'm more and more willing to do "whatever it takes" to get my way. If the choice is between hurting you and succeeding by getting what I want, I can get used to the idea of hurting you. I can get used to the idea of all kinds of evil if the other option is "losing" at life.

Think: Can you think of any examples of disorder and evil in our world that seem to come from a worldly definition of success? What would be the opposite of this definition of success?

Pray: Ask God to help you not to live according to the world's definition of self-serving success.

Do: Write down a number between 1 (low) and 10 (high) describing how committed you are to getting what you want out of life. Then write a number rating how committed you are to accomplishing what God wants with your life.

Earthbound Unspiritual Demonic

"Such 'wisdom' does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil." (James 3:15)

The world's wisdom fails, even though it sounds like a pretty good worldview to us most of the time. Again, we're talking about a plan of deciding what you want by looking at what other people have ("bitter envy") and finding a way to get it in order to try to make yourself happy ("selfish ambition").

It sounds good to us, because it's the way we've always looked at the world. It's the operating system installed in our sinful hearts. James describes three problems with it.

First, it's earthly, meaning this wisdom can't provide a "bird's eye view" perspective on life. Next, it is unspiritual, limited in understanding to only what the senses can perceive. And it was written by demonic sources.

So the serve-self-first view of life is earthbound, spiritually blind, and demonic. Yikes!

Think: What's wrong with these three characteristics of worldly wisdom? What would be the advantage of wisdom that was heavenly, spiritual, and NOT of the devil?

Pray: Ask God to give you the desire and the courage to reject the serve-self-first wisdom of the world.

Do: Read John's definition of everything in "the world" in 1 John 2:16.

Success = Envy and Ambition?

"But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth." (James 3:14)

How do you define success in life? That's the giant question James is trying to get his readers to wrestle with. Yesterday, he set up one version of success: wisdom and understanding. Not many people reach it, but it is obvious in those that do from their good lives, from their humility, from their great choices.

His other definition of success is the one we're all more familiar with. It goes like this: "Look around. Notice what you really want out of life. Get hungry for it. Then make a plan and go out there and get what you want!" Wow, that sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

The problem is that what sounds good to us is just a nice way of saying "bitter envy" (decide what you want by looking at what other people have) and "selfish ambition" (making a plan to make yourself happy by getting what you want).

James said if you're like almost everyone else in the world defining success by getting all the money, fame, and power you can -- don't pretend you're not doing that and don't brag about it like it's a good thing. Admit it -- and then be willing to hear why that version of success fails. every. time.

Think: Why do you think it sounds almost healthy to us to make a plan to try to work to get everything we really want out of life? Do you believe that version of success if flawed? Why or why not?

Pray: Ask God to help you to be willing to understand what His version of success would mean for your life.

Do: Make a quick list of 3 people you know who seem to have been successful at deciding what they wanted out of life in terms of money, fame, or power -- and getting it. Notice whether it seems to have made them happy or not.

Wisdom Shows

"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." (James 3:13)

Are you a wise person? According to James, if I knew you I wouldn't have to ask that question. Having a high wisdom quotient (WQ?) isn't something that comes from filling in the right ovals on a multiple choice test. Wisdom shows.

Wisdom stands out in our world in the same way that having purple hair or being eight feet tall stands out. What we're going to see in this week's devo's is that living wisely -- with the "wisdom of heaven" -- is not the norm in this zip code. It's weird, even.

So if you're a wise person, people will notice. They'll see you living a good life. They'll see you making choices like a humble person, like someone who knows the story isn't about him.

Come back tomorrow to see what wisdom ain't.

Think: If "wisdom is as wisdom does," do you think many people would describe you as a wise person? Do you know any smart people who are not very wise? How about the reverse of that -- people who live wisely without being very "book smart"?

Pray: Ask God to help you to be a wise and understanding person so that it becomes obvious by your good life and deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

Do: Make a quick list of the 5 wisest-living people you know.

All the Way Full

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." (Colossians 2:9-10)

Do you feel full? Do you feel filled up? In focusing on our need to keep Jesus at the center of our lives this week, Paul wants urgently for us to understand we're not missing anything. Spiritually speaking, we don't have any empty spots. We don't have any lost pieces that would finally make the puzzle of our lives makes sense.

Jesus, Paul insists, was also filled up all the way. He was completely full of God. He was all of God all the way through -- in a physical, flesh-and-blood human body. And if that's not wild enough, when we became Christians through faith in Jesus we got filled up with Him.

That doesn't mean we have become little gods. It does mean that we have enough, all we need, to do what God wants us to.

Think: Are you sometimes tempted to think you're missing something you need -- gifts, age, money, experience, faith, education -- to live for God right now, today? Do you understand that you'll never have any more of Jesus than you do right now, that you have all you need to start serving Him this moment?

Pray: Thank God that as a Christian you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

Do: Read the rest of Colossians 2 to keep following Paul's train of thought.

Don't Get Caught

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." (Colossians 2:8)

Does it really matter what someone believes? Do we have to get so picky about the specifics? Isn't it enough if someone just believes in the same God we do? Do we have to make a big deal about believing the right things about Jesus?

Yes, it matters! Paul's fantastic word picture describes false ideas as traps and those tricked into believing them as captives. That's not inclusive language. Paul is clearly saying some beliefs are right and others are dangerously wrong. The wrong ones are those that don't keep faith in Jesus at the dead center of a person's worldview.

Paul refuses to say, "Who knows what the truth is? You believe your thing; I'll believe my thing. We'll both be okay, right?" Nope. He says, "I love you too much not to tell you I think you've been trapped by a nice-sounding lie. Unless you change your mind and put all of your hope in Jesus, you will stay in that prison of false belief. Get out now."

Think: Do you ever feel pressured by your culture to not sound so convinced that Jesus is the only hope of being in heaven with the Father forever? How do you respond to that pressure? Is it more loving to pretend not to be certain or to tell the truth as you believe it?

Pray: Ask God to help you not to be taken captive by false philosophies that depend on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than on Christ.

Do: Make a quick list of two or three human philosophies that do not depend on Christ.