Daily Devotion July 11

July 11: James 3:13-18

KJV Key Verse: James 3:17
17 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.

Devotion:
This is a good question to ask at times, “who is wise amongst you?” Not so we can figure out who is wisest of all or who can boast they have all wisdom but so we can admit we all lack wisdom at times. If we have a successful business we may be looked at as being wise in the world. If we are able to do great things as doctors we may be seen as very wise. If we are able to keep a family loving each other and together we may be seen as wise. Wisdom can be measured in many different directions.

But how we use that wisdom will also be a measure of us as a person, of our spiritual side, of our compassionate side. The business person may spend all their time running their business and none of it with their family; the world may think they are wise but their family may think they are not. The same can be said for most professions and most walks in life, the measure of wisdom seems to be very subjective and dependant on others things.

Our Bibles teach us not to be wise toward the world and in worldly ways but to aim to be wise in Gods ways; that means having a measure of wisdom which can be related back to Gods ways. In this letter of James helps us to understand how we can relate what we do back to God and His commandments to us all. Throughout history we can see people who have gone against God; we can probably look into our own lives and see enough of that as well. If we ignore the advice we can get from our Bibles then we are no better than the many who have ignored Gods advice throughout that history! That is not wisdom. That is foolishness.

God does not offer us advice to perform evil but to do good and righteous things lending our lives to His ways of love, peace and mercifulness. God does not call us to measure other people for their wisdom or goodness before we offer our love and help. God does not require us to qualify and quantify everything as they do in the world. God calls us to offer ourselves first of all.

Points to Ponder:
How wise do you think you are?

Are you following Gods advice?