The Fruit of Wisdom

Since man and woman were created they have sought wisdom.  According to Dictionary.com wisdom is the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.  In Genesis 3: 1-7 we read:

“ ¹ Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden ‘?”  ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die. ‘ “   ⁴ “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate [it]; she also gave [some] to her husband, [who was] with her, and he ate [it]. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.’

Now Adam and Eve had received previous instruction from God, himself, about the tree in the garden and its fruit.  Yet Eve conversed with the snake and took its advice instead.  She decided by what it said that the fruit off that tree would make her wise.  You might say she went to the world for her wisdom, when in reality she had received the best connection to wisdom anyone could have had, God.  Then Adam gave in to the faulty world’s wisdom.

There is nothing wrong with desiring wisdom.  It is where we get our wisdom that can be all wrong.  The world’s wisdom will never really be good wisdom.  Only God’s wisdom through His Word and His Spirit’s guidance will be true wisdom that will benefit us.  Think about Adam and Eve.  As a result of their sin to seek wisdom and disobey God, they lost the benefit of walking with God in the garden and enjoying his fellowship and wisdom with ease.  Their lives became difficult and nothing was easy anymore.  So their new found wisdom truly did not pay off, because it was wisdom without God’s blessing.  So seek after God’s wisdom and be blessed.

Devoted to the One I Love

What a simple, yet great set of instructions we are given regarding our prayer life in Colossians 4:2 –

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

First we are told to be devoted to prayer.  That means we are displaying a strong affection or attachment to our prayer life.  We are dedicated, loyal and devout to our prayer life.  We are set apart for prayer.  That doesn’t mean we just pray when we can fit it in.  It doesn’t mean it is two sentences of, “Hi God! and “How are you?”.  Prayer is a time of communication, conversation and relationship growing.  We should want to be spending time in prayer with God who loves us.  Just like those conversations we long for with our new boyfriend or girlfriend.  We want to share everything with them.  We want to learn everything about them.  We can’t wait for those stolen moments to be together and talk.  Phone calls last for hours and are regular.  How come we don’t feel like that about our Lord who saved us and gave us eternal life?  How come we don’t feel that way about God who made the ultimate sacrifice for us?  Yet for someone we just met, we can’t wait to spend every moment with them.  We need to adjust our thinking and follow these instructions, because they will greatly benefit us.  Next it tells us to be watchful.  Watchful means that during our prayer time and after we are closely observant, alert; vigilant, aware, careful, not sleeping and awake.  Just like when the disciples fell asleep in the garden instead of spending just one hour in prayer with the Lord.  It meant a lot to Him and he was disappointed.  We are to be looking for something.  We are to be expectant.  It is after all a two way conversation.  Shouldn’t be expected God to converse with us?  Shouldn’t we be expected His thoughts on the subject we are praying about?  Shouldn’t we want to hear an answer?  After all He is the wisest source of knowledge and best provider there is.  Lastly we are instructed to be thankful.  We really truly should be thankful that the omnipotent and omniscient God is so loving, kind and merciful to us and wants to be a friend that converses with us regularly.  We should be truly thankful for whatever He allows in our lives.  It is all meant for good.

Devoted to the One I Love

What a simple, yet great set of instructions we are given regarding our prayer life in Colossians 4:2 –

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

First we are told to be devoted to prayer.  That means we are displaying a strong affection or attachment to our prayer life.  We are dedicated, loyal and devout to our prayer life.  We are set apart for prayer.  That doesn’t mean we just pray when we can fit it in.  It doesn’t mean it is two sentences of, “Hi God! and “How are you?”.  Prayer is a time of communication, conversation and relationship growing.  We should want to be spending time in prayer with God who loves us.  Just like those conversations we long for with our new boyfriend or girlfriend.  We want to share everything with them.  We want to learn everything about them.  We can’t wait for those stolen moments to be together and talk.  Phone calls last for hours and are regular.  How come we don’t feel like that about our Lord who saved us and gave us eternal life?  How come we don’t feel that way about God who made the ultimate sacrifice for us?  Yet for someone we just met, we can’t wait to spend every moment with them.  We need to adjust our thinking and follow these instructions, because they will greatly benefit us.  Next it tells us to be watchful.  Watchful means that during our prayer time and after we are closely observant, alert; vigilant, aware, careful, not sleeping and awake.  Just like when the disciples fell asleep in the garden instead of spending just one hour in prayer with the Lord.  It meant a lot to Him and he was disappointed.  We are to be looking for something.  We are to be expectant.  It is after all a two way conversation.  Shouldn’t be expected God to converse with us?  Shouldn’t we be expected His thoughts on the subject we are praying about?  Shouldn’t we want to hear an answer?  After all He is the wisest source of knowledge and best provider there is.  Lastly we are instructed to be thankful.  We really truly should be thankful that the omnipotent and omniscient God is so loving, kind and merciful to us and wants to be a friend that converses with us regularly.  We should be truly thankful for whatever He allows in our lives.  It is all meant for good.

The Fruit of Wisdom

Since man and woman were created they have sought wisdom.  According to Dictionary.com wisdom is the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.  In Genesis 3: 1-7 we read:

“ ¹ Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden ‘?”  ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die. ‘ “   ⁴ “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate [it]; she also gave [some] to her husband, [who was] with her, and he ate [it]. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.’

Now Adam and Eve had received previous instruction from God, himself, about the tree in the garden and its fruit.  Yet Eve conversed with the snake and took its advice instead.  She decided by what it said that the fruit off that tree would make her wise.  You might say she went to the world for her wisdom, when in reality she had received the best connection to wisdom anyone could have had, God.  Then Adam gave in to the faulty world’s wisdom.

There is nothing wrong with desiring wisdom.  It is where we get our wisdom that can be all wrong.  The world’s wisdom will never really be good wisdom.  Only God’s wisdom through His Word and His Spirit’s guidance will be true wisdom that will benefit us.  Think about Adam and Eve.  As a result of their sin to seek wisdom and disobey God, they lost the benefit of walking with God in the garden and enjoying his fellowship and wisdom with ease.  Their lives became difficult and nothing was easy anymore.  So their new found wisdom truly did not pay off, because it was wisdom without God’s blessing.  So seek after God’s wisdom and be blessed.