Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.” (2 Chronicles 1:10-12 ESV)
If you could have one wish granted to you today - what would it be? Would it be money, power, success, or even better looking? The list could go on and on.
To begin, there is a difference between wisdom and knowledge. The dictionary defines "wisdom" as the ability to discern what is true or right. So our English word "wisdom" has both moral implications--discerning what’s right--and intellectual implications--discerning what’s true.
Wisdom is the God-given ability to perceive the true nature of a matter and to implement the will of God in that matter. Dr. Larry Lea
Wisdom is what is true and right combined with good judgment. Bill Hybels
It is true that just because a person can have a mind full of facts, he/she can still lack authentic wisdom.
Let me give you the final requirement for acquiring wisdom: To live wisely, we need to build a life plan that is consistent with God’s plan.
Look at Proverbs 19:21: "Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails."
A wise person aligns his or her life to God’s purpose. To do otherwise would be foolish since he or she knows that God’s purpose would prevail and would be what is meaningful in the end.
To live wisely, we need to redefine what we mean by success. We need to abandon our quest for self-fulfillment, and abandon ourselves to Christ fulfillment. We need to find out how God has uniquely wired us and how this uniqueness can be used by God to help other people. We need to break out of our consumer mentality that we bring to church with us, and begin viewing ourselves as followers of Jesus, men and women who passionately pursue Jesus and God’s purposes in our lives.
Look at Proverbs 19:21: "Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails."
A wise person aligns his or her life to God’s purpose. To do otherwise would be foolish since he or she knows that God’s purpose would prevail and would be what is meaningful in the end.
To live wisely, we need to redefine what we mean by success. We need to abandon our quest for self-fulfillment, and abandon ourselves to Christ fulfillment. We need to find out how God has uniquely wired us and how this uniqueness can be used by God to help other people. We need to break out of our consumer mentality that we bring to church with us, and begin viewing ourselves as followers of Jesus, men and women who passionately pursue Jesus and God’s purposes in our lives.
We need to build a life plan that’s consistent with God’s plan.
Today God is inviting us to pursue wisdom. We begin this pursuit by entering a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Once that relationship is established, it’s a journey that calls you to passionately pursue wisdom, to embrace an accurate moral code and to build a life plan consistent with God’s plan.
Perhaps you have had your heart set on many things in life. My prayer for you today that you would ask God for one thing - that your life would be filled with the wisdom of God that you might be everything that God want you to be.
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