Skip to main content

Wise in Christ

James 3:13-17
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthy, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is fist of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

James is one of my favorite books of the Bible. In fact, I have almost all of these verses underlined and as I sit here and pray about what to write, the question that comes to mind is how does one inherit wisdom from God? For one, by asking, but also, by reading and studying His Word. When I apply the knowledge from what I have studied to my life, I become wise in Christ. The verse that speaks to me the most when I read this chapter is, “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” We cannot inherit wisdom if we do not let go of the things that keep us from growing closer to the Lord. I am by far guilty of holding jealousy in my heart and being selfish in almost every aspect of my life. These hidden, yet very noticeable characteristics, are hindering the plan the Lord has for my life because as James says in chapter three verse eleven, “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?" How can the Holy Spirit penetrate my heart if I continue to harbor these things deep inside? As week three is upon us, already there have been so many breakthroughs in my life that the Lord has shown me. It has been a daily prayer for Him to bring the things I struggle with to surface and almost every day, something new arises. It first amazes me just how much I have buried inside, and then I am amazed at how absolutely horrifying my flesh is. However, even with the Lord revealing these things, I do not feel as though anything is changing. I still feel angry, I still feel bitter, I still feel confused, but at the end of the day, these are still just feelings. In all reality, I need to ask the Lord to put my feelings aside and show me the truth because feelings are temporary but His truth is eternal. Through His truth and applying it to my life, I will become wise in Christ. 

Application
Every day this week, I will serve someone in my house selflessly and do it for the Glory of God. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letting Go

Psalms 51:6 “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.” The Lord desires nothing more than to have a personal relationship with us. He desires honesty, even when honesty seems impossible. However, it is in this honesty and truth that we are able to experience growth through the only One who is able to provide it. Behind honest with God hurts. Being broken hurts. But God knows what He is doing and even in the midst of what seems like the most difficult trials we are facing, He is in control. What we hold in our hearts will always come to surface, but how it is dealt with when it is surfaced is entirely up to us.So do you want your way or the better way? No one ever said life as a Christian would be easy, in fact, this past week has brought me to terms with the fact that it is everything but. The Lord has asked me to surrender an aspect of my life that I have been struggling with for some time now. Being in Uganda is an opp...
Post a Comment
Read more

Picture Perfect

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a god work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” They say that good things take time but to be completely and utterly transformed into the likeness of Jesus takes a lifetime. I will never reach perfection until I meet Jesus face to face at the gates of eternal paradise but this by no means indicates that He will keep me at a standstill. In fact, with confidence I am able to state that by His gracious hand, a good work has indeed begun within me and will continue as long as I remain willing. I have recently been reading “The Making of a Man of God”, written by Alan Redpath, which gives a clear summary of what having a willing heart looks like, stating: “Let a man be right with God, reconciled through the blood of the cross, humbled at the foot of Calvary; let him be broken, coming to God guilty and hopeless and needy; and at that moment God takes hold of him and transforms and uses all his ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Purposeful Waiting

Lamentations 3:25 “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” Waiting is difficult. So much so that waiting on the Lord seems almost unbearable. Because of my fallen nature, my mind is consumed with self, focusing on fulfilling the desires of my own heart rather than walking the path of righteousness that the Lord has set forth in front of me. Why? Because I assume that the plans which I create for myself are better than the plans of the One who created me. The Lord knows the desires of my heart, He placed them there purposefully. If only I would surrender them to Him, waiting on His good and perfect timing would not become such a heartache. I would not have to bear the consequences of wrongful decisions because my reliance and trust that the Lord is going to provide for me will prevent me from falling into the lie that compromise is okay. Compromise is the enemy receiving victory as I settle for less than what the Lord so desperately wants to give me ...
Post a Comment
Read more