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.

Not On Our Own

Have you ever attempted to do something you were not skilled at?  For example, you are not a contractor, but you tried to add a room on to your house.  Or you are not trained as a chef, and yet you decided to cater an event. There was an I Love Lucy episode that had Lucy sewing her own dress and doing her own hair care.  Two things she had never done before.  In the end she didn’t end up looking so good.  The problem was that she tried to it on her own with no guidance from anyone with sewing knowledge or hair care knowledge.  Her goal was to save money.  She might have still saved money if she had hired someone to sew it for her, instead shopping like she normally did downtown New York.  Then she could have still had nice looking cheaper clothes and depended on someone else to do the work.  Sometimes we have trouble giving control over to others. We want to do the work all on our own.  Our pride gets in the way.  However, God will give us assignments to do and not expect us to do it on our own.  Read Philippians 4:12-13.

¹² I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret [of being content]—whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. ¹³ I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.

God gives us instructions in these verses that for us to be able to do something for Him in His Kingdom work that we need to do it through Christ.  We cannot do it on our own.  It will not be 100% successful.  It could come out fine, but it may not come out wonderful.  God wants us to depend on Him to do the work.  We are like the vessel that carries the water to water the plants.  Our vessel won’t do much good for the plants if we don’t have the water in it.  We need Jesus to control us and work through us.  We cannot sew our own dress.  We do not want to look like Lucy did.  So hire a good tailor.  Let Jesus take control.  Let Him build your room, cater your dinner, sew your dress, and water your plants.

The Adequacy of Being Inadequate

Most of us struggle with feeling inadequate.  When we were in school we felt inadequate to sing in the high school musical or make a speech.  When we were looking for our first job, we felt inadequate to answer the questions during the interview.  When we were meeting someone we knew that was not a Christian, we felt inadequate to share the gospel with them.  The list could probably go on and on.  We try to do things to improve our self-esteem.  We take a speech class.  We get a book on interviewing.  We take an evangelism class at church.  Yet, when it comes down to it we still feel inadequate.  The truth is we are in adequate for most things in life.  After all, we are human.  We are imperfect creatures.  We are sinners.  Yet, with all that knowledge about whom we really are, God who is perfect and holy still asks us to do things for Him.  He calls us to serve Him and reach out to others.  There is a reason for that.  Read Philippians 4:12-13 and I Timothy 1:12-14.

¹² I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret [of being content]—whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. ¹³ I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.(hcsb)

^12-14I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. (msg)

God is trying to give us a little bit of wisdom in these verses.  He is trying to show us that yes, we are inadequate in ourselves, but He does not expect us to do it on our own.  It will be God who is able to do it.  Strengthen and adequate are carrying the same meaning in these verses.  In a way this is a good thing to know…that we are inadequate.  It keeps us from bragging on ourselves and should push us to brag on God.  Therefore, we can now glorify God through our inadequacies.  What great adequacy there is in being inadequate for God.

Words of Satisfaction

Remember that song, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”? Not the best lyrics, but it is trying to make the point that the man tries all these different things and can’t get any satisfaction out of them.  This song represents a very sad way to live.  Yet, God has made us to live our lives in ways that are more than just satisfying; our lives were to be fulfilling.  Jesus came that we might have an abundant life.  One of the ways that God teaches in His Word to get satisfaction is through the words we speak and share with others.  Read Proverbs 12:14.

A man will be satisfied with good by the words of his mouth, and the work of a man’s hands will reward him.

Many times we don’t really realize how important our words are.  We carelessly speak words, thinking it doesn’t really matter.  We say to ourselves, “What does it matter what I said.  They will forget what I said anyways.”  However, in reality, once you have said something you can’t take it back.  You can try to apologize or delete that post from Facebook, but if someone has seen or heard your words you cannot erase them from their minds.  Rash, foolish or angry words will end up bringing us bad things.  We will get no satisfaction out of them.  Good, kind, helpful, loving, wise words will reap all kinds of benefits.  We will gain satisfaction from them.  Basically this is the concept of “reaping what you sowing”.  What an encouragement to know that God will bless us for the good words we use. If you plant good seed, you will get good plants.  So think of your words seeds and maybe you will see great rewards grow out of them.

 

Never Pass Up God’s Opportunity

There are several shows on TV that deal with buying storage units and then going through them hoping to find something of value buried in them.  It’s a risky proposition.  You can spend money on something that just holds junk that you need to get rid of.  It’s also a lot of work.  You have to lift, dig, shove, move, re-pack, refinish, research, find buyers and sell it all.  So the question is, “Is it worth the effort and money?”  Or should you pass up the opportunity?  One time according to Trutv.com “In 2000, the actor Nicholas Cage filed a police report claiming that an extremely rare comic book, Action Comics #1, (valued at more than a million dollars) had been stolen from his Los Angeles home. More than 10 years later, a collectibles expert was contacted by an anonymous man who found the book after discovering it in a purchased storage locker. The collectibles expert contacted a comic book expert who happened to be the same man who had originally sold the book to Cage in 1994. Despite having received insurance money for the comic, the actor was eager to settle up with the insurance company and retrieve his property.”  This is just one of many examples where the work was worth the effort.  This was definitely an opportunity that shouldn’t have been passed up.  Jesus tells a parable that teaches this concept in Luke 10: 30 – 35.

30 Jesus took up [the question] and said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw [the man], he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

We don’t really know why the two religious men passed up the man who had been robbed.  Perhaps they didn’t want to be inconvenienced or they knew it would cost them time and money.  Whatever the case the Samaritan stopped and took care of the man.  He gave up time and money to help.  It may not seem like an opportunity to help someone in need, but God sees it as an opportunity to share Him with others.  He gives us everything we have.  He gives us health, time, and money.  He expects to give of what we have to serve Him and others.   Every time to serve God is a great opportunity.  It’s opportunity that should not be passed up for our own selfish reasons.  If God shows us the opportunity and we know it is from Him, then we need to respond to the opportunity.  It is just common sense to not pass up God’s opportunities.  He will bless us for honoring Him and representing Him to others.  What we might spend in time and money will not compare to what we gain from God.  It’s like the great reward these storage unit buyers find.  

Here are some great opportunity quotes by some successful men:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas Edison

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” Charles Swindoll

“Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.” Alexander Graham Bell

 

 

Handed Over

Sometimes we think that as Christians that we probably represent niceness and goodness to those around us.  We think that they will naturally be drawn to us because we represent Heaven and God.  Kind of like a “Touched by an Angel” episode.  Monica the angel would suddenly have a job somewhere and be accepted automatically by those around her.  If there was someone with a tough shell that she had to deal with she would speak some soft and sweet words of love to them and their exterior shell of hardness would melt.  Unfortunately it does not happen that way too frequently in real life.  It would be wonderful if it did.  Reality is we will face difficult people and difficult situations.  Sometimes it will be to the point where those people will be threatening our life.  Read Matthew 10:16 -20.

16 “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves. 17 Because people will hand you over to sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues, beware of them. 18 You will even be brought before governors and kings because of Me, to bear witness to them and to the nations. 19 But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how or what you should speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour, 20 because you are not speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you.

Common sense is to know that you will not be liked and will face trials because of who you represent.  Jesus warned the disciples of this.  If we love the Lord and are walking in His ways and representing Him in the world as we witness to those we meet, they will not necessarily like us.  We remind them that they are not living the way they should.  We remind them that they are in sin or in rebellion to God.  We remind them that they have to make changes.  Changes are never easy.  Who wants to give up what they are comfortable with?  Pleasure usually comes with sin, and we lovers of pleasure and self-indulgence.  It is easier for those living the way of the world to get rid of you by being mean to you, or threatening you or even finding legal ways to get rid of you.  From Jesus time until now men have been making laws or twisting laws to fit their needs of the moment.  Even Jesus was drug through six illegal trials.  The leaders were so against him that they twisted what they could twist and broke what laws they could break.  The same thing goes on today.  The public passes a proposition that is on the side of God and a few men who want to live their lifestyle use another part of the system to stop the proposition from happening.

So don’t be surprised at what you might face as a Christian in your work place, neighborhood, town and government.  It’s just common sense that if they didn’t like God himself, they won’t like you.  Just keep plugging along doing what God wants, and He will take care of you the best way that is needed.

 

Encouragement in the Storm

You see several types of responses out of those who have come through a severe storm.  Some are shaken and fearful.  Some are angry.  Some are thankful.  Some come out with a new compassion for others and view on life.  I recently watched an interview with Gary Hunley, Missouri Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Unit Leader, who lost his home in the Joplin Tornado.  He lost his home, but he found an answer from God on a previous prayer.  He received a new found compassion for victims of disasters and now new he could relate better to what they go through.  He felt he would be able to minister to them with much more understanding.  God increased his faith and gave him purpose in the storm.  He knew even after this tragedy in his own life that he could still serve God and others.  The disciples grew in their faith, as well, when they were placed in to the middle of a storm in Luke 8: 22-25.

22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

The disciples saw their Master calm the storm.  They learned from Jesus that they just needed to have faith.  They learned that Jesus cares for them and would protect them.  They learned that Jesus would get them through the storm and help them to make it to their destination.

Encouragement comes from going through the storm and seeing God work.  It will grow our faith.  We may have had little faith at the beginning of the storm, but once we see God take care of it, we will be stronger in faith.  It may sound strange, but look at the storm hitting in your life as an opportunity to see God work, an opportunity to grow in faith, and an opportunity to witness to others.  This might help encourage you as you enter the storm with a new purpose in mind.

 

Encouragement For Those Times When You Deal With Mockers

So many Christians are going through their daily lives just trying to live good and upright lives and yet many will be attacked by those who don’t believe.  They are treated badly, ridiculed, teased, mocked and scoffed at for no real reason sometimes.  Other times the actions of a few mis-guided Christians cause the Christians who are on the right track to be bombarded because of their actions, such as in the case of those who were mistaken about the May 21st and soon to be the Oct 21st dates that they promote.  We have to learn to accept as followers of God that we will be mis-treated and mis-understood during our lives this life on Earth.  If Jesus was mis-understood and mis-treated, we will be too.  However, we can put our hope in God during those times.  We can learn from His Word that He does take care of those who mis-treat His children.  Their time of judgment is coming.  Read II Peter 3:3-7.

“3 First, be aware of this: scoffers will come in the last days to scoff, following their own lusts, 4 saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.” 5 They willfully ignore this: long ago the heavens and the earth existed out of water and through water by the word of God. 6 Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded by water. 7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth are held in store for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

In Noah’s day there were scoffers that would not listen to Noah’s message that he preached to them warning them of the judgment that was to come to those who would not obey God.  He suffered through 120 years of hard physical work building the ark while he emotionally suffered through the mocking and scoffing of those who watched him.  In the end he saw God’s judgment come to pass and the mocking ended.  He saw his faith rewarded for his persistence and endurance during the mocking times.  Joshua and Caleb were others who also had great faith and endured others lack of faith.  In Numbers chapters 13 and 14 we read about the people of Israel reaching the edge of the promised land.  Moses sends out 12 men to spy out the land and come back give a report.  Only Joshua and Caleb give a good report and show faith that God will take them in to the land.  As a result the people get to the point where they are even going to stone Joshua and Caleb.  They scoffed at them.  God suddenly intervenes and the people stop while Moses goes and hears what God says.  The end result was that the people would not enter the land.  They were judged as despising God and would have to wonder in the wilderness until they died and then their children could go in.  Only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to cross over.  They received the promise after enduring the mocking.  The others received judgment.

As we see in II Peter, all people will receive their judgment for their mocking and scoffing.  God will keep His word to us and see us safely to eternity, despite the mocking we may have to endure.  God will punish those who despise Him.  So cling to that hope and promise.  God’s promises found in His Word will serve as encouragement for those times when you deal with mockers.

 

In the Habit of Being Thirsty

When I am hot and thirsty, somehow over the years I have programmed myself to think that a nice glass of soda with ice will satisfy me.  My thirst will be quenched.  Unfortunately, the result isn’t always as good as I hoped.  The soda helps, but doesn’t really do the trick.  My habit of reaching for a soda is not really wise, when I am thirsty.  When I was young I should have trained myself to drink water, even if I didn’t prefer its taste in the beginning over soda.  Drinking water regularly may have been difficult, but it would have been better for me in the end.  My body would have been a whole lot healthier.

It is the same with our spiritual life.  Most humans have a tendency to reach for items that bring us pleasure.  We enjoy our hobbies and our friends, more than we enjoy spending time with God.  We enjoy a good adventure movie more than we enjoy reading our Bibles.  We enjoy our accomplishments in our careers more than our accomplishments in our work for the Lord.  In the end those choices will not be the best for us.  They are temporary pleasures that make us spiritually unhealthy.

David was running from King Saul and had ended up in the wilderness.  A place that was very dry and desolate.  While he was there he took the opportunity to pen Psalm 63.  His life was difficult and he had no clue how it would all end.  Yet, in this Psalm we see David’s wise heart.  He declared to us his habit of being thirsty for the Lord:

“1 God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. 2 So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory.”

What do you thirst for in this life?  Are you in the habit of wisely thirsting for the Lord?  Are you pleased by just seeing His strength and glory as you spend time looking at Him through His Word or His Spirit’s eyes?  You are in a dry, spiritually desolate place in this world.  This alone should cause you to thirst after the Lord.

Wisdom to Do the Work

God is so good to us.  He leads us to do work for Him.  He calls us and gives us a direction to go.  We may even get excited about it and then many times we begin to doubt that we can do the job He has set for us to do.  Yet, God continues to be patient with us on many of these occasions.  If we would just stop to reason it out a bit and have some faith in our almighty God, we would realize that He wouldn’t bother to call us to do a job for Him, unless He had provided a way for us to do it.  He wouldn’t tell us to build a church for Him, for example, unless He had provided the funds, the supplies, the blueprints and the workers.  He wouldn’t have called us to talk to someone about the salvation Jesus provides unless He gave us the courage and words we needed.  He wouldn’t give us children to raise godly unless He provided the knowledge, skills, funds, and scripture.  We see this concept taught in the building of the tabernacle in the desert by Moses and the Israelites.  To Moses the command to build a place of worship in the desert for Almighty God must have sounded impossible on the first hearing of it.  Yet, God provided the plans, workers, wisdom and supplies that would be needed.  Exodus 36: 1-3 says,

“1 Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the skilled people are to work based on everything the LORD has commanded. The LORD has given them wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of constructing the sanctuary.” 2 So Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person in whose heart the LORD had placed wisdom, everyone whose heart moved him, to come to the work and do it. 3 They took from Moses’ presence all the contributions that the Israelites had brought for the task of making the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning.”

It is such a blessing to know that we can be as dumb and unskilled as a pile of mud and God will provide us wisdom and everything else we need to get the job done for Him.