March 7th 2012

Sometimes wisdom does not have to be all that wise.

Read Galatians 6:7-10 and journal your thoughts

Today’s Scripture talks about reaping and sowing, basically Paul is telling us we reap what we sow. This is like saying if you plant a tomato seed, then don’t be surprised when you get a tomato. You would not plant a tomato seed and expect a cucumber, that makes no sense. This is simple cause and effect right?

This is the type of wisdom Paul is talking about here. Essentially he is saying you create the type of world you live in. If you live lives of selfishness, destruction, and hatred then do not be surprised when you are met with selfishness, destruction, and hatred.

On the other hand, if you live lives of loving your neighbor, then don’t be surprised if you are met with love in your time of need. If you live out helping others, then don’t be surprised when others help you in your time of need. If you live a life of comforting others, then don’t be surprised when others comfort you when you need it.

Sometimes this seems like common sense stuff, but sometimes we get so consumed with the everyday stuff in our lives that we forget about it. When we live our life in the Spirit, then we will reap the Spirit.

Today take some time and meditate on what it means to live in the Spirit in every part of your life.

March 6th 2012

Have you ever been in one of those situations where you felt completely helpless, you just have no idea what to do next?

Read James 1:5-7 and journal your thoughts

There are these times in our lives, no matter how old we are, or how wise we are, when we enter these situations where we have no idea what to do. Maybe it’s just something we have never had to deal with before. It’s like; you are not wise in this area of life. So pop quiz hot shot, what do you do?

It’s in these moments that we have to learn to humble ourselves, admit that we don’t know everything, and ask God to help. Sometimes it’s hard for us to ask for God’s help and actually expect Him to do something. The question so many of us wrestle with is how does God work? Without going into a ton of details, we should begin by asking ourselves a question; what are we doing to meet God in His work? For example, if we are asking for wisdom are we doing anything to meet God along the path to finding that answer? Or are we simply sitting back and waiting for God to divinely download all this information into our brains? Are you making time or space for God to answer you?

Sometimes we find this space by looking through the Scriptures. Then there are those times when you should go to ask someone for advice, someone who walks closely with God who you can trust. Then there are those times, like we talked about yesterday, when we should take a step back and see what God is doing in other situations around us. Are we aware of how God is speaking to us?

Today pray that God would make you aware of how He is speaking to you

March 5th 2012

Do you ever those moments when you really just want God to make you wise?

Read Luke 2:52 and journal your thoughts

Did you catch that? Even Jesus had to learn how to be wise. Sometimes it is easy for us to just sort of assume that Jesus even as a child knew everything, but if that was true then could he really be an example for us? Could we really model ourselves after someone who has such a big advantage over us? But Jesus didn’t, he had to learn, just like us.

There are times in our lives when we just want to be wise, we want to have it all figured out, but Jesus had to learn. He made the most of opportunities and situations by taking time to learn from them. In the same way, we are called to learn from our situations and to learn from the opportunities that God has given us.

Today pray that God would use the opportunities and situations around you to show you what He is doing and how He works in the world.

March 4th 2012

Yesterday we talked about why we need to be wise, today we are going to ask the question; whose standard of wisdom are we following?

Read 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 and journal your thoughts

If we are really honest with ourselves there are times when we look at the wisdom of the Scriptures and then look around at the world around us and say to ourselves; really? Jesus talks about things like losing your life to find it, loving those who hate you, and giving everything you have. Really Jesus? How do I pay my bills if I give everything away? How do I survive if I love those who hate me? How do I find my life if it’s gone?

These things are the standard of the world; we are dealing with tangible realities, things that make sense to a rational thinking person. This is where things get tricky, because trusting God is not always rational. Stepping out into the river and hoping it’s going to dry up (Joshua 3:14-17) does not make a whole lot of sense, but that is exactly the type of wisdom we are called to show. The type of wisdom that even when things do not make sense we can still trust in the God who is working in everything.

Today pray that you would be able to trust God even when things don’t make much sense

March 3rd 2012

Yesterday we talked about the question; why should we trust the wisdom of this God? Today we’re going to ask the question why we should want to be wise.

Read Matthew 10:16 and journal your thoughts

Does it catch you a bit off guard that Jesus tells us to be like serpents? For us in our time, this saying may seem a bit strange, but to a Jew in the time of Jesus this makes a lot of sense. You see, the phrase innocent as doves but wise as serpents comes from the Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah which is part of the Haggadic midrash. To us, it’s essentially a collection of wisdom of the Rabbi’s.

Basically Jesus is sending his disciples out and gives them this piece of advice, that the very world he is sending them into is going to do everything it can to betray them. So they need to be wise as serpents, which did everything they could to keep themselves out of trouble.

While the disciples faced a very real threat of facing courts and persecution for what they were saying, we more often than not, do not face this type of thing. Generally speaking, we live in a fairly open and free society which exposes us to a lot of things that could pull us away from Christ. So the call for us is the same as the call of the disciples to be wise as serpents to not get lured into the traps of this world while still engaging and restoring it.

Today pray that God would give you the wisdom see the things that would pull you away from Him.

March 2nd 2012

Yesterday we talked about the difference between knowledge and wisdom, but why should we trust the wisdom of God?

Read Psalm 111:10 and journal your thoughts

Notice how the Psalmist begins by talking about “Fear of the Lord” as being the beginning of wisdom. This is a phrase that is used over and over in the Psalms but what exactly does that mean? Now there are two types of fear used within the Scriptures one has to do with a hopeless it’s the end of the line sort of mentality, like the Hebrews having their back against the Red Sea while the Egyptians come bearing down on them (Exodus 14). The other type of fear is very different it has to do with reverence or respect, this one is more like a subject kneeling before a king. The subject respects the king and his decisions.

In today’s passage, “fear” has more to do with the second than the first. There are some in our culture who read into this the type of fear of the Lord, like a tyrannical king who would yell “off with his/her head” at the smallest injustice. But does that really sound like the God of the Scriptures? The difference is like how a wife views her husband after he beats her (Exodus 14 “fear”) and the wife who respects her husband because she knows that she can trust him with her heart and he would never do anything to hurt her (reverence “fear”).

This brings us to the questions why do you follow this God? Do you follow Him because if you don’t the He might just zap you, or because of a level of respect for who He is, because of His love for us, for what He has done, and what He could do? We can trust the wisdom of this God because He is like the husband who we can trust with our hearts.

Today pray that God would help you through whatever struggles you have trusting Him

March 1st 2012

What is the difference between knowledge and wisdom?

Read Matthew 7:24-27 and journal your thoughts

Did you catch it? For so many of us in our culture we seem to equate knowledge with wisdom. It’s not our fault; our culture is heavily influenced by the enlightenment period which put a heavy emphasis on knowing. As long as you knew the right thing then that’s all you really needed. This line of thinking heavily influenced the way we do all kinds of things in our culture including our education system and the way we do church.

Knowledge does not equate wisdom, but knowledge is a part of wisdom, but it is also so much more. According to today’s verse, Jesus equates the person who “hears his words” (translation: knows all the right answers) but does not put them into practice is like the person who builds their house on sand. You see, it is not enough for us to just know all the right answers; we actually have to live out the right answers.

Read 1 John 2:6 and journal your thoughts

We are called to live lives just like Jesus did. This is the difference between knowledge and wisdom; it is the difference between knowing the right answers and doing them. Or to put it another way the difference between knowledge and wisdom is this. Knowledge is the understanding that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is the understanding that you don't put tomatoes in a fruit salad.

Today pray that God would help you to not only know the right answers but to live them out.