What A Wise Guy Looks Like

What does wise person look like?  Over the years mankind has tried to portray the wise person as an older gentleman with gray hair who doles out advice and insights.  This could be accurate, but there is another way to recognize a wise person or a person who is full of wisdom.  Read James 3:17 -

” But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.”

First of all, true wisdom is from above.  Only wisdom can come from God.  Yes, there is wisdom here on earth, but usually it is very worldly and not to be trusted.  So a true wise person is seeking his wisdom from God.  Next a wise person will exhibit a peaceable and loving, compliant, merciful spirit.  They won’t be bossing other people around, telling them that there way is the best.  They won’t be argumentative, but will try to maintain peace at all times with all people.  They will show love towards others, like God showed towards us even when we didn’t deserve it.  They will be agreeable and try to comply with others needs, as long as it doesn’t contradict God.  They will be merciful towards others, like God is towards us.  They will be busy about the Lord’s work and producing godly fruit.  They will not be a hypocrite.  They are who they are.  They are honest and not deceptive.  They will not favor one person over another.  They are fair.

So as you if you want to grow in wisdom, first seek it from God.  Next start applying these character traits.  You will soon start to see your self maturing in the Lord and becoming a wise person.

Occupy Our Churches

Do you remember the days when most everybody respected the church, the pastor or the Bible?  Seems like a long time ago.  You could pretty much count on the fact that when you went door knocking or spoke to a neighbor about church they would tell you they went to one or they really ought to get to church.  They would even appear to feel guilty if they had been out of church for a while.  Now if you ask someone about church it doesn’t seem to really matter to them.  It is just another activity to choose from.  No more important than anything else.  Matter of fact staying home to watch their favorite football team or watching the Super Bowl is way more important than worshipping God. They don’t feel one bit guilty that they don’t go to church.  People use to respect the Pastor/Minister/Priest/Rabbi.  Now they don’t.  They use to value their opinion and actually attempt to make changes in their life if they suggested some scriptures to apply to their lives.  They use to respect church property.  Now it is just another parking lot or building to make out in or graffiti up or steal things from.  Really there used to be a fear of God.  That is what was behind all the respect for God’s things.  People use to be concerned about what God thought about them or fear what they might do to them if the persisted in their sins.  Not anymore.

The habit of being in Church on Sunday morning and nights and Wednesday nights is gone.  Matter fact is even hard to get people to turn out to social events.  You would think with free food, fun activities and no Bible thumping people would be more tempted to turn out in record numbers for a social event before they would for Worship where they might get preached at.  These issues really speak to the fact that even Christians do not really understand the importance of time with God, worshipping God, fellowshipping with other believers or truly showing love to and for God.  They have let love for God be replaced with other things as priorities.  We are reminded of why we need to be at church and with other Christians in Hebrews 10: 24-25.

²⁴ And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, ²⁵ not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

It is just common sense to realize that the less time we spend with God, the more our love will grow cold.  No newly in love earthly couple can survive being apart for hardly five minutes.  They call, text and spend lots of personal time together.  They spend time getting to know each other intimately.  They spend time showing each other how much they love one another.  We are expected to have that first love with our God (Rev. 2: 3 – 5).  We are told here in Hebrews 10 that it is important to spend time together in church to encourage one another and promote love and good works.  Can’t do that if we are too busy shopping or watching football.  The last part says we should be all the more importance in doing this as we see the “day” drawing near.  That “day” is the day the Lord returns.  The day our time ends for making a difference for Christ in this World for His Kingdom.  We should all know just by looking around and common sense that we are drawing closer to that day as each day passes.

So W.I.S.E. is calling everyone to “Occupy” their churches.  Stop putting other things over God.  Let’s start an “Occupy Movement” amongst Christians at our churches.  Let’s go back to our first love, God.  Let’s go back to church and occupy it!  What a testimony to our communities if every Christian Church was over flowing and building new ones because everyone attended regularly.  That the cults and false churches would be empty because we had reached them for the Lord and they now attended the Christian churches.  How glorified would the Lord be if the World saw Christians loving God and loving being with Him at church and loving each other as they fellowshipped together.  So, let’s get going…let’s “Occupy Our Churches”.

Occupy Our Churches

Do you remember the days when most everybody respected the church, the pastor or the Bible?  Seems like a long time ago.  You could pretty much count on the fact that when you went door knocking or spoke to a neighbor about church they would tell you they went to one or they really ought to get to church.  They would even appear to feel guilty if they had been out of church for a while.  Now if you ask someone about church it doesn’t seem to really matter to them.  It is just another activity to choose from.  No more important than anything else.  Matter of fact staying home to watch their favorite football team or watching the Super Bowl is way more important than worshipping God. They don’t feel one bit guilty that they don’t go to church.  People use to respect the Pastor/Minister/Priest/Rabbi.  Now they don’t.  They use to value their opinion and actually attempt to make changes in their life if they suggested some scriptures to apply to their lives.  They use to respect church property.  Now it is just another parking lot or building to make out in or graffiti up or steal things from.  Really there used to be a fear of God.  That is what was behind all the respect for God’s things.  People use to be concerned about what God thought about them or fear what they might do to them if the persisted in their sins.  Not anymore.

The habit of being in Church on Sunday morning and nights and Wednesday nights is gone.  Matter fact is even hard to get people to turn out to social events.  You would think with free food, fun activities and no Bible thumping people would be more tempted to turn out in record numbers for a social event before they would for Worship where they might get preached at.  These issues really speak to the fact that even Christians do not really understand the importance of time with God, worshipping God, fellowshipping with other believers or truly showing love to and for God.  They have let love for God be replaced with other things as priorities.  We are reminded of why we need to be at church and with other Christians in Hebrews 10: 24-25.

²⁴ And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, ²⁵ not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

It is just common sense to realize that the less time we spend with God, the more our love will grow cold.  No newly in love earthly couple can survive being apart for hardly five minutes.  They call, text and spend lots of personal time together.  They spend time getting to know each other intimately.  They spend time showing each other how much they love one another.  We are expected to have that first love with our God (Rev. 2: 3 – 5).  We are told here in Hebrews 10 that it is important to spend time together in church to encourage one another and promote love and good works.  Can’t do that if we are too busy shopping or watching football.  The last part says we should be all the more importance in doing this as we see the “day” drawing near.  That “day” is the day the Lord returns.  The day our time ends for making a difference for Christ in this World for His Kingdom.  We should all know just by looking around and common sense that we are drawing closer to that day as each day passes.

So W.I.S.E. is calling everyone to “Occupy” their churches.  Stop putting other things over God.  Let’s start an “Occupy Movement” amongst Christians at our churches.  Let’s go back to our first love, God.  Let’s go back to church and occupy it!  What a testimony to our communities if every Christian Church was over flowing and building new ones because everyone attended regularly.  That the cults and false churches would be empty because we had reached them for the Lord and they now attended the Christian churches.  How glorified would the Lord be if the World saw Christians loving God and loving being with Him at church and loving each other as they fellowshipped together.  So, let’s get going…let’s “Occupy Our Churches”.

Overtaken by Another

Humans in general are very competitive. I know myself that I am very competitive.  That competitive spirit gets me in to trouble sometimes.  I don’t know why I think I have to win.  Maybe I lost too many times to my big brother.  Or maybe God just designed me that way, so I could accomplish something in particular for Him using that competitiveness.  Maybe it is just my sinful nature that takes it out of control when playing a game or participating in a sport.  All I know is that I don’t like to be overtaken by anyone or anything else when I feel I am competing. 

It is amazing though how many people will let their own values, lifestyle choices, religious beliefs or philosophies be overtaken by another’s.  Even in relationships people will let another’s influence or desirability overtake them.  They may be in a good and loving relationship with a spouse and someone pretty comes along and they let lustful thoughts overtake them, their values and their relationship.  Soon they are off having an affair. 

In our spiritual lives, which really should encompass everything else in our lives, we have a tendency to let ourselves be overtaken.  When we accepted Christ as our Savior, we accepted Him as our “First Love”.  You can equate this to that first man or woman you truly loved that you committed to.  There really is no second love or love that comes after that will ever be equivalent or supersede our true first love with Christ.  It is the best and most pure.  God takes this “First Love”/Commitment very seriously.  Read Revelation 2: 1 – 7.

¹ “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: ² I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³ You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. ⁴ Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. ⁵ Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. ⁶ But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

We need to make a decision.  Are we going to be overtaken by another (the World and what it offers) or are we going to overcome and eat of the tree of life in eternity?  Every relationship we take part in here on Earth takes work.  No marriage can last without communication, effort, and spending time together.  We need to remember that our lives are like a competition.  The devil is trying to compete with God for our lives.  We need to not let him overtake us.  We need to jump in to our Christian walk with a competitive spirit.  We need to be overcomers and not be overtaken.

Simply Wise

Don’t you just love it when things are simple and easy.  God seems to have designed that in to so many of the things He created or the things that He wanted us to do.  For example, He created all the perfect and simple food we as humans needed to eat to stay healthy and strong.  He gaves us vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and proteins to eat in a balanced fashion to help us to thrive physically.  Yet, in our sinful nature we come along and make things more complicated and we decide to mass produce foods that require genetic engineering, preservatives, additives and other processing to make it.  All of which is turning out to be very fattening and unhealthy for us.  When it comes to food, simple is better.  He even made salvation a simple matter.  We just simply need to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh and that He died for our sins and that He rose from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father.  Then we come along as humans and complicate the message.  Some groups make works a requirement to be saved.  Some make a religious belief system the requirements for being saved.  All these religious groups have complicated what God made so simple.

These things we do as humans to complicate matters really show we are very simple minded.  In other words as humans as the online dictionary puts it we are “Lacking in subtlety or sophistication; artless or naïve, stupid or silly; foolish.”  We are foolish when we make things more complicated than need be.  Yet, even God knows our simple mindedness and provides us with s simple solution to make us wise.  He gave us His word to make the simple wise.  Read Psalm 19: 7-

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;”

Jesus is the Word.  He gave us Jesus as the first step to becoming wise.  Then just learning the Word through the studying of the Bible will further the process of becoming wise.  What an easy system.  God makes things so simple for us.  Wisdom can be simple and can make wise the simple.

Wise Moms Pass the Torch

There are many things that we receive from our moms.  They pass down special bits of wisdom and advice to us.  They teach us how to do things.  They warn us about the dangers in life, from playing with BB guns to cheating on tests to not marrying the right person.  The wisdom of a mom is best seen when she passes down the torch of faith in God.  What better love and guidance could a mom give a child then to lead them to Jesus who will far better provide and take care of the child? 

Especially today, we see many moms leaving it up to their kids to decide if they want to go to church.  They will even let them chose which religion.  Worse yet, they let them go out in to the world of myriad of faiths and let them try to determine what is true and false.  Then there are others that let the child chose activities such as little league over church on Sundays.  These moms think that a child will naturally find their way to what is right or that every road leads to Heaven.  They think if they raise their child to be the best person they can be that that is all that is really important.  This is the furthest from the truth.  A child has no earthly or spiritual wisdom.  They are young and uninformed.  Anyone could tell them what they think is right and they would believe them.  It’s up to moms to protect, lead and guide the child until they are old enough to know better.

 One great example is found in II Timothy 1:5 -

 “…clearly recalling your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is in you also.”

Both Timothy’s grandmother and mother had passed on the torch.  As a result a child grew in to a fighter for the faith, a preacher, a leader in God’s church.  If they had just accepted Christ, but didn’t share, where would Timothy be?  I can think of two such examples of Christian moms who did not teach their child about their faith.  One felt the child would grow up and figure it out.  That child has grown up and still does not know Jesus as their personal Savior.  Another child was allowed to go to whatever religious school or church they chose.  The child was in a variety of denominations due to relative’s church’s and local area ministries.  Eventually that child stumbled in to faith in Jesus in a Biblically founded denomination and is now a minister.  The minimal guidance the second mom provided help set the child on a right path, but with a little more regular guidance the child wouldn’t have taken years and a variety of churches to come to the faith.

As Christian mom, true wisdom would be to make every effort to pass the torch of your faith in God on to your child.  Protect and guide the child in love to Jesus.  Don’t leave them to the world and its ruler.

Thank you to all the Christian moms who have passed the torch.  Keep up the great work for the Lord!

What A Wise Guy Looks Like

What does wise person look like?  Over the years mankind has tried to portray the wise person as an older gentleman with gray hair who doles out advice and insights.  This could be accurate, but there is another way to recognize a wise person or a person who is full of wisdom.  Read James 3:17 -

” But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.”

First of all, true wisdom is from above.  Only wisdom can come from God.  Yes, there is wisdom here on earth, but usually it is very worldly and not to be trusted.  So a true wise person is seeking his wisdom from God.  Next a wise person will exhibit a peaceable and loving, compliant, merciful spirit.  They won’t be bossing other people around, telling them that there way is the best.  They won’t be argumentative, but will try to maintain peace at all times with all people.  They will show love towards others, like God showed towards us even when we didn’t deserve it.  They will be agreeable and try to comply with others needs, as long as it doesn’t contradict God.  They will be merciful towards others, like God is towards us.  They will be busy about the Lord’s work and producing godly fruit.  They will not be a hypocrite.  They are who they are.  They are honest and not deceptive.  They will not favor one person over another.  They are fair. 

So as you if you want to grow in wisdom, first seek it from God.  Next start applying these character traits.  You will soon start to see your self maturing in the Lord and becoming a wise person.