Wisdom is gained through life via experience and/or observation of the actions or interactions with others. Sometimes wisdom is inherent in the situation, such as knowing it is not wise to jump off a building because the consequences are known to have a dismal outcome.
Godly wisdom is gained through study of the Word, prayer, and shared knowledge with other Christians such as your minister or Sunday school teacher or other scholars of the Word. I find that wisdom comes with experience, learning from your mistakes and failures as well as through reading the Word and observing others. When you do something contrary to the will of God, fail to listen to the Holy Spirit, or ignoring what you have learned as to the commandments of Jesus, you gain wisdom from those mistakes and failures.
Wisdom is not a short study exercise; it is part of a life’s long journey that grows as you grow in your walk with Jesus and being in tune to what the Holy Spirit is telling you. The bible verse above tells us that we need to get wisdom and with it, get understanding.
With understanding, coupled with wisdom, you are able to better discern right from wrong, what is godly and what is not, and what the Lord wants from you. Wisdom and understanding are pillars to our walk with Jesus, for without them we are by default foolish and will make mistakes and create failures for ourselves on a regular basis.
By having wisdom and understanding, we can be assured that when faced with moral rights or wrongs, we can have the understanding, based on gained wisdom, to make the right choice or help others who have yet to reach the level of wisdom that you are at. Not only can we impart wisdom to others, be we can gain wisdom through understanding of observation of what others have done right or wrong, moral or immoral, godly or ungodly.
The Bible is full of wisdom and by reading the Word, wisdom can be gleaned through the documented life of Jesus' teachings and other writings in the other books of the Bible. The Bible imparts to us the wisdom that the Lord wants us to have to be successful in our walk with Him. He wants us to be wise in our daily interactions with others and with Him so when we need help we can use the Bible as our guide to making wise decisions and to have a better understanding of what Jesus wants for us and from us as follower of Christ: A foundation of wisdom and understanding to guide our lives.
To be wise does not equate to being smart nor does being smart make someone wise. One can learn math and memorize formulas and processes to get to the right answer, but wisdom is being able to apply that knowledge to what lies at hand. I may know what is right and what is wrong, but it takes wisdom to do what is right. A fool has no wisdom and is guided through life by instinct and worldly knowledge of what society says what is right or wrong.
The Bible indicates that life begins at conception, for the Lord knew us in our wombs, and therefore we have the knowledge and wisdom of when life starts. A fool who is unwise may have knowledge of what the world says about when life begins, and therefore has no wisdom, or understanding, of the biblical aspect of when life occurs and is therefore likely a supporter of abortion and is unwise.
The same goes for homosexuality. The bible is very clear on what a relationship between same sex couples equates to. Those of us who have read the bible and read the verses regarding this have gained wisdom from the bible about what constitutes a relationship in the eyes of God. Those fools who don't know the bible, who don't know the foundation of family that God has imparted to us, are likely supporters of or are neutral when it comes to their stance to same sex relationships.
You see, when you gain wisdom from reading the word, listening to the Holy Spirit, and knowing the teachings of Jesus, you can discern and have an understanding of the commandments of God and the guidance He puts forth for us to live our daily lives to eventual eternity with Him in heaven. God is wisdom and we would be wise to listen to what He has to say in His Bible and understanding through the Holy Spirit. To ignore these teachings makes us fools and fools make bad decisions and are unwise to the things of God.
For those who don't know the Bible, I consider you fools. Those who don't know Jesus or even Christians that ignore the guidance of the Holy Spirit or pick and choose what they want to believe in the Bible, I count as fools too. The Bible is our guidance to life, to life eternal in heaven. To pick and choose what teachings and guidance to follow that are put forth in the Bible, or ignoring the understanding gained through listening to the Holy Spirit, puts you out of line with what God wants from us and gives us Christians a bad name. There is nothing worse than an unwise Christian to impart their "wisdom" to others that in the end are contrary to what God actually means.
If you are not wise and have no understanding, you probably don't realize this because you are blinded by the world and your own ignorance. I by no means am a completely wise person because I believe wisdom comes to increase as you walk with Jesus and study the Word; I'm humbled everyday by my lack of understanding and wisdom in various aspects in my walk with Jesus. I am young and have a long way to go. Yet I can say I have more wisdom than a lot of people in the world, including those who proclaim they are Christians because they go to church on Christmas Eve and Easter.
Do you want to be wise and have understanding? I do. I want more of it every day and seek it out daily. By humbleness in study, and listening to the Holy Spirit, we can all gain more wisdom and understanding of the Word and the Lord. Jesus will not fail us in our quest for more knowledge to gain wisdom and understanding. He wants us to have wisdom because with wisdom, we are aspiring to emulate Him more and more and to live our lives according to His will.
For you fools out there, study the Word. Listen to the Holy Spirit, and follow the teachings that Jesus and his disciples have given us in the bible. By studying the Word and listening to the Holy Spirit, we gain the wisdom we need to survive this fallen world. We are able to discern what God wants from us, how to live, and how to walk to increase our closeness to Jesus. By sitting on the sidelines and not seeking the Lord or his teachings leave you stagnant in your level of wisdom and understanding, which to me makes you foolish and unwise and unable to move forward to a more complete closeness with Jesus.
How much wisdom you want or have is your decision. I, for one, want as much as I can soak in daily. I want the wisdom of the Lord so I can have better discernment and understanding of what He wants from me. I want wisdom so I can impart the message of salvation to the unsaved for the glory of God. I want wisdom to lead others Christ. I want wisdom to ensure I'm on the right path to salvation. What kind of wisdom do you want? That is for you to answer for yourself.
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” (James 3:17, KJV).
Your fellow wisdom seeker. God bless and may you gain more wisdom daily.
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