Monday, June 9, 2014

Wisdom, Not Information


eDevotion
Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

We have more information at our fingertips now than ever before. I’m old enough to remember the days when if you wanted to research something, you had to head down to the library, search through the card catalog, and find a book with the information you were looking for. A little later, and if you were lucky to have a modern library, you might even find what you wanted on microfiche. Not today! Now we simply turn on our computers, laptops, iPads, and even our cell phones, type in a few words, and in a matter of seconds, we have more information than we can handle.

Long before the internet, Albert Einstein said, “Information is not knowledge.” If you want to go back, say 3,000 years, the wise King Solomon, author of the Proverbs, took it a step further. He said that information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom. In fact, he wrote that wisdom is knowing God and His desires, and then to live accordingly. Wisdom isn’t found in the most complex scientific theories or in the latest discoveries in sociology or psychology. Neither is it learned in philosophy or explained by the arts. True wisdom, like grace, comes from God.

Solomon said, “The Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” [Proverbs 2:6]. The best demonstration of God’s wisdom is revealed in the cross and the message of forgiveness that comes through Christ. It is foolishness to most, but to those who trust in Jesus, it is the wisdom and power of God [1 Corinthians 1:18]. It is exactly that wisdom that motivates us to search out what it good and God-pleasing in our lives.

Christ followers have received more than just information and knowledge; God has given us wisdom—wisdom to recognize that Jesus is our only hope of salvation. 

Here’s a question for you. What does wisdom look like? James, the Lord’s brother, said it best, “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” [James 3:17]. 

The Lord gives wisdom. Let’s live in it! 

My son, if you accept My words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones. Proverbs 2:1-8

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