Got Wisdom?

The "Got milk?" advertisements are everywhere. And like all good advertisements, they are designed to make us want what they have based on what we perceive as lacking in our lives. Beautiful and successful people sporting a milk mustache create within us a desire to drink milk so we can be beautiful and successful too.

As good and healthy as milk is, there's something we need far more, especially in the society in which we live: wisdom. Thankfully, it's ours for the asking.

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. ~James 1:5 (AMP)

I love the fact that our God is a giving God. He grants wisdom liberally and does it without criticizing.

Here are some other scriptures on wisdom.

Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-God,
insight into life from knowing a Holy God.
It's through me, Lady Wisdom, that your life deepens,
and the years of your life ripen.
Live wisely and wisdom will permeate your life;
mock life and life will mock you. ~Proverbs 9:10-12 (MSG)

Do you want to be counted wise, to build up a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom. It's the furthest thing from wisdom--it's animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you're trying to look better that others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats. Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor. ~James 3:13-18 (MSG)

Here's the breakdown:

WISDOM:

• is NOT mean-spirited ambition.
• is NOT about how we talk, but how we walk.
• is NOT twisting the truth to make yourself sound good.
• is NOT two-faced, hot one day and cold the next.
• is granted by our giving God simply by asking.
• begins with fear and reverence of the Lord.
• deepens and ripens and permeates our lives.
• is gained by living well and living humbly.
• begins with a holy, set-apart life.
• is characterized by getting along with others.
• is gentle and reasonable.
• is overflowing with mercy and blessings.
• can be enjoyed only if we do the hard work of getting along with others, and treating each other with dignity and honor.

Father God, thank You for being a generous and giving God. Thank You that all we have to do to gain wisdom is humbly ask You for it. Help us learn to depend solely on You and to give you the fear and reverence You deserve. Grant us strength to do the "hard work of getting along with others, treating each other with dignity and honor." Teach us to be holy, even as You are holy. We ask this in the perfect and precious name of Jesus, Amen.