The Wisdom of Purity
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November 24, 2013 |
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 "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy" (James 3:17).
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
In the world, it might seem that those who use cunning cleverness are living comfortable lives. But they can have many troubles inside such as at home, in businesses, and workplaces and they may also face sudden crisis that cannot be resolved.
Unlike such people, those who have achieved sanctification of the heart and received the wisdom of goodness can enjoy prosperous lives in God's love and blessing. Then, what is the wisdom of goodness given by God?
1. A shortcut to receive wisdom from God
What is the difference between knowledge and wisdom? A new-born baby does not have any knowledge in him just like a blank sheet of paper. As he grows up, he stores what he sees, hears, and learns through his senses in his memory unit. This is termed 'knowledge'. The acquiring of the different kinds of knowledge and its effective utilization defines 'wisdom'.
Thus, 'wisdom' is 'the ability or result of an ability to think and act utilizing knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight'. In particular, God-given wisdom is necessary to be successful in life; in saving many souls; accomplishing the kingdom of God, and in virtually all respects of life. Now, how can we receive the wisdom of goodness from God?
Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…" Therefore, to receive God-given wisdom of goodness, above all, we need to keep away from evil through reverent fear of the LORD (Proverbs 16:6).
James 3:17 reads, "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." Here, 'the wisdom from above' refers to God's wisdom. The shortcut to receive the wisdom of God is to cast off every form of evil by the fear of God and become sanctified.
2. Wisdom of goodness coming from a pure heart
After realizing other people's evil intention towards them, those who lack goodness of heart might hurt their feelings and embarrass them. Even though they do not directly hurt the other's feelings, they might respond with sarcastic words.
But those who have the wisdom of goodness do not look down on others or hurt their feelings, and yet they help others to discover their faults. All the ways of God's wisdom are the ways that belong to goodness. To the extent that we have goodness in our hearts, we can communicate with God more deeply and receive God's wisdom of goodness. But if we have evil in our hearts, we cannot easily practice wisdom of goodness that the other person gives to us. Therefore, to cast off evil from our hearts is the way to receive wisdom and gain benefit through that wisdom.
If we are wise, we will understand this point and pray in a way that can move the heart of God. For example, suppose you are a cell leader. Even though you try, revival is slow, and some members of the cell complain about you. When you pray about this situation, you can please God through your prayer to the extent that you have no evil in your heart.
"Father God, I am thankful just for being saved, and on top of that You gave me the precious duty of a cell leader! I want to be able to serve the cell group members as my own body. We have the love and tears of the Lord, and I can bear the fruit with His love. Let me thankfully accept the advice of my cell group members that they offer to me out of love. Let us be united and bear more fruit."
Those who don't have any evil will naturally avoid expressions that can grieve the heart of God. But good words or good prayers will not just come out because we try. If we have evil in our heart, that evil will be contained in our words without us realizing it. Thus, according to what kind of heart we have in prayer, the answer may be fast or slow in coming. God is pleased with prayer of goodness and answers it quickly.
Sometimes, you may suffer from the misunderstandings of other people. They say you did something that you never did or that you said something that you never said. In this kind of case, rather than trying to settle what is right and wrong, it is much better to let God handle the situation. The more excuses you give for yourself, the more rumors about you will be created. Even though you reveal your innocence through argument, this will reveal others' faults, and it may damage relationships.
In 2 Timothy 2:23 it says, "But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels." As stated, speculations lead to quarreling and cause peace to be broken. In this kind of situation, if you just keep quiet and accept others, when they find out about this, their hearts will be melted down and they will develop deep trust in you.
So, when some unexpected hardships come your way, do not just feel the difficulty in it, but think about what you should realize as a result in it. And if you pray about it with the help of the Holy Spirit, it may turn into a chance of blessing.
Proverbs 3:6 says, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." If you don't try to prove your innocence or give excuses but quietly try to realize the will of God, you will then be able to realize things about yourself. You will realize what you lack that is keeping you from being protected. Even if you are wrongfully accused, it doesn't matter. Because God is looking at you, He will repay the loss, and it will only become spiritual and material blessings. This is the wisdom of goodness.
But no matter how much we learn this kind of wisdom, we cannot make it our own if we have evil in our hearts. If our pride is hurt and we become angry about it and grumble and complain about it then we fail the test. Only when we cast off this kind of evil and become sanctified can we bear the fruit of wisdom.
3. Wisdom without goodness is meaningless
Absalom was the third son of David. He was beautiful in appearance and he had excellent wisdom. But the problem is that he used his wisdom in an evil way because he was evil.
Absalom had his men kill his half-brother Amnon because Amnon raped his sister. And, with a grudge against David, he began to plan a rebellion. He trained soldiers and his guard and for a long time, he worked to gain the hearts of the people. He made it look like David did not love the people and he continued to steal the hearts of the people.
Absalom even got David's advisor Ahithophel to take his side. It seemed that things were proceeding very well, as planned. But the rebellion of Absalom ended in failure. Why? God caused the wisdom of Absalom to fail. Ahitophel gave Absalom a way of sure victory, but Absalom didn't take it. But he rather listened to the advice of Hushai, who was in fact giving advice that was good for David. Absalom was very intelligent, but once God made his judgment weak, in a moment he chose the way of destruction.
Wisdom as such without holiness is useless. If we do not have goodness, we cannot understand it even when we hear wise words. But if we receive wisdom of goodness in a sanctified heart, we can discern between what we should say and should not and, what we should do and what we should not. Then, our words and deeds will be guaranteed by God, and we will bear the fruit of blessings and God's answers abundantly.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if we can give joy and happiness even to those who are causing us misfortune, God will bless us wherever we go. Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will cultivate the good heart that is recognized by God and make your families, workplaces, and places of business happy ones with the wisdom given through your good hearts.
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