No one is born wise.

If I asked you to picture someone who is wise, you might imagine an old college professor who has horn-rimmed glasses, your great aunt Tilly or the neighborhood guru. Although these people may have great knowledge, they may not necessarily have wisdom. Because, you see, wisdom is greater than knowledge.

Most of us admire people that we consider to be wise.  We will seek their advice when we encounter the big decisions that life brings our way.  However, I don’t think that many of us act on the notion that wisdom is something that we can pursue, but to pursue it we must first know what it is.

Wisdom, in short, is the proper application of knowledge. Many people accumulate vast knowledge through schooling and experience, but are not wise. Many others are wise, although they have had little or no schooling. To take the knowledge that you have and apply it properly is to be wise.

Real wisdom looks like godliness. It is Divine. It is manifested in good behavior. It is demonstrated in gentleness. If you think that you are wise, you can find out by looking at your life. (That is an exercise in itself.)

• An understanding of God’s ways
• An honorable lifestyle
• A desire to do good works
• Humility
• Purity
• Peace loving
• Gentleness at all times
• Willingness to yield to others
• Full of mercy
• Sincerity

Some people boast in their great wisdom (which is actually only accumulated knowledge).  They are "book soaked" rehashing lines and even whole paragraphs as absolute truths. They are competitive and argumentative, and they are arrogant, prideful, and full of themselves. They want people to notice how wise they are. And in a sense, they are right. They do have some wisdom. But it is not true wisdom from the Divine. It is Wisdom stems from three places:

Earthly
Wisdom that is not from the Divine is earthly. That is, it is worldly. It takes into consideration the philosophies and practices of the world system. The dog-eat-dog, look out for number one, climb the corporate ladder by stepping on others kind of wisdom. This is the wisdom that we see people using in the world today.

If I have knowledge that you have ripped me off, I will use my earthly wisdom to decide to sue you. If I have knowledge that you are doing something wrong, I will use my earthly wisdom to blackmail you. If I have knowledge of your weaknesses, I will use my earthly wisdom to gain the advantage.

Never rely on the world's wisdom to make a wise decision.

Natural
The next source of wisdom not from the Divine is the natural. This word in Greek is "psoo-khee-KOS," where we get our words "psychic" and "psychology." It is most often translated "soul” but it is not soul it is mind influenced by emotion.

The wisdom that our mind, our psyche, gives also seems to make sense: if I am struggling with an issue, my psyche uses that knowledge to tell me, "think about it, mull it over, dwell on it." If I'm angry at someone, my psyche says, "you don't need them. It's okay to hate them. They are the source of your pain." When I have personality problems, my psyche uses that knowledge to tell me, "Find out where it all began. See if there's someone you can blame it on, so you don't have to take responsibility."

Again, natural wisdom is the application of your knowledge, but it's not Divine wisdom

Demonic

This wisdom obviously has a demonic source. It stinks. This is out and out deception on a spiritual level, which causes us to give in to the wisdom of the world and our psyches.

SO ...

If we cannot use the world's wisdom, or our pysche's instinctive wisdom, where can we get true wisdom?

ASK.

Consult with the Divine.

You'll know when you have the wise answer, the response of wisdom, because it won't be argumentative and contentious. It won't be self-seeking. It'll be gentle and peacemaking. It'll be merciful and true.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Resource:

 Study Notes: James 3:13-18 by Ron Daniel (www.rondaniel.com)

Myself