Wednesday, January
2, 2019
If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:13-18(NLT)
It’s easy to recognize a porcupine
– especially up close! Wisdom is a
little tougher to nail-down. But James
tells us the foremost quality of wisdom is its purity. Joined to purity is a love-affair with peace,
constant gentleness, willingness to give-in, mercy, good deeds, impartiality,
and unfailing truth. Where do you find
such people?
Ordinarily, when I think of Godly
wisdom, the picture includes someone solemn, spewing out sayings that make you
ponder and wonder; it’s usually someone older (although finding those at my age
is getting to be more of an issue).
But, sometimes wisdom, especially
as James describes it, shows up in unexpected ways, and in the least-expected
people. Elizabeth’s Aunt Frances comes
to mind. I met Aunt Fran the year Elizabeth
and I met in high school (1964). She was
in her early 30’s, the youngest sibling to Sofie, Elizabeth’s Mom. There were 20 years (or so) between Sofie,
who was the oldest, and Frances, the youngest of more than a dozen. Fran was more like a sister to my bride than
an aunt.
Fast forward to this past
November. Frances was still living in
New York, so phone calls were the visits we wish we could have had in
person. On the last call before Fran
died, Elizabeth was discussing her upcoming cataract surgery. Her aunt’s comment was in true Yogi Berra
style: I have no problems with my eyes;
I just can’t see.
We laughed long and hard over that
with Aunt Fran. And in the days following
we asked each other as we passed in the house, rode in the car, or talked about
Elizabeth’s upcoming cataract removal: Do
you have any problems with your eyes that seeing wouldn’t fix? Aunt Frances provided us with many such
moments over the years with her innocence and unguarded sharing of whatever was
on her mind at the moment.
It’s only now, after she has left
us, that some of what she said has begun to sink-in. If true Godly wisdom is characterized by pure
hearts, peaceable lives, and gentle good deeds, Aunt Fran wasn’t far from what
Jesus tried to teach us.
In Jesus’ earthly ministry, and later
speaking through the apostle, John, to the church at Laodicea, the Lord
reminded us that self-satisfaction was opposite of any kind of wisdom. He reminded the Laodicean church that, though
they were well-off financially, and didn’t suffer persecution as others did,
their way of serving God was the worst kind of poverty – indifference towards
the things of God caused by spiritual blindness. They had eyes, they just couldn’t see. Jesus recommended:
…ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. Revelation 3:18b-19(NLT)
Sometimes Aunt Frances had a
little trouble connecting the dots. But
she was fun, positive, unguarded and always gently going about the business of
blessing your life with good deeds and a peaceable heart.
I’m going to miss her, but I’m
going to think about her often. I’m
praying God will let me have a Frances-kind of pure heart, because,
as Jesus told us:
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8(NLT
For You Today
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