Widsom

Father, You say that if we ask for wisdom, you will give it to us freely. We ask that you would help us to start to comprehend what wisdom is. Be with us as we study your word to see what you have to say about it. Holy Spirit, you are the Spirit of Wisdom, come inhabit this space as we consider how we may become wise. Jesus, you are the Word of God, you are the very words on the page, but you are alive, help us to be conscious of you as we look at this topic. Amen. Well, I bit off a whole lot when I promised that I would start walking with you through the nature of Biblical Wisdom. I took a whole semester class on it when I was in college, many moons ago, and I was a cocky little punk back then. So, what is Biblical Wisdom? Where does it start? How can we grow in wisdom? According to Proverbs 1:7, wisdom begins with the (humble) fear of the Lord. I’ve talked about humility a bit in the past, and even mentioned the fear of the Lord, but in case you don’t remember, here is a refresher. This whole concept is profoundly counter-cultural, it flips most of the world’s way of life on its head, as it is based on the Kingdom of Heaven, not the kingdom of this world. So, what is humility? Humility is an accurate view of who you are in relation to God, then others. Humility places others and God at the center of your life, rather than you. It does not give you low self-esteem or reduce you in any way. Rather it changes your focus. What is the Fear of the Lord? It means that you honor and obey Him, you respect Him. What does that look like? Giving of yourself without concern for repayment, following His ways, doing what is right and never seeking to injure yourself or another. The Fear of the Lord makes His opinion of you and your thoughts and actions more important than what others think or say. The Fear of the Lord will lead you to following Torah (not Mishnah or Talmud, mind you, but Torah). You heart is turned toward Him, not toward other things or people, that is the Fear of the Lord. So, what happens when we put humility together with the Fear of the Lord? Fireworks. That is where wisdom, Biblical wisdom, takes root. That is the starting place, because as a humble person, you are flexible and willing to learn, and willing to honor one who knows and understands more than you do. You aren’t a cocky piece of work that thinks you’re the cat’s meow and can’t learn anything from anyone. This is entirely against the grain of Western society and culture, where we are told, particularly as men that we have to be “alpha”, or macho, self-absorbed, and the kind of person who will squash anyone or anything that gets in his way. That, coupled with making much of God, and choosing His ways over those that the world would have us walk out, with all of the destructiveness baked into those other ways. We will want to connect with others who are walking in the same way that we desire to, so that we can learn how to do life better. So, for today, biblical wisdom begins with the humble fear of the Lord. It does not end there, but that is its genesis in our lives. Next week, we will get into some of the different kinds of wisdom that are discussed in the Bible, and yes, there are at least a handful. We will take a look at more scripture where those different kinds of wisdom show up, then seek to gain more through prayer.

St. Porphyrios was a modern Orthodox monk, who lived during the 20th century, in Greece. He was known for being extremely discerning. Whenever a negative thought comes along, simply redirect your focus. Choose to press into the Lord and His Love, and His love will drive away those thoughts, whether of harm, anger, lust, or any other dark thing. Those things cannot exist in the presence of Jesus’ accepted love for you. Rest in Him. Breathe in His love, it is the atmosphere you were designed for. This will make your life much more peaceful.

The prayer of St Francis of Assisi... I used to sing an arrangement of this prayer in choir when I was in college. This is about asking God to make us more loving, less self-centered, and more Christ-like. Simple. Can’t say too much about it, as it nicely encapsulates the core of what it means to become sanctified or to grow closer to theosis. We are called to be smaller, and to exalt others over ourselves, not be the center of our own universes. That does not mean that we are nothing, that we do not matter and should be trampled upon. However, it does mean that we think of others more often than we do ourselves.

Humility is the key. Ever wondered how to avoid Sin? St. Anthony has an answer for us, today. Humility is how we avoid these things. If you are humble, you will not seek to glorify yourself. When you are humble, you are not the center of your own world. When you are humble, gluttony, sloth, and lust fall by the wayside more easily. Those 7 deadly sins are all based in pride and self-centeredness. The antidote is humility. What is humility again? Humility is embodied love for others. How do we show this? Putting others first. This does not mean that we seek to become doormats or anything like that, but that we choose to serve God by serving His image-bearers. Become more interested in others and in the Lord than you are in yourself.

I have some deep Lutheran roots. Here is a combo breaker from the Renaissance, from the pen of Martin Luther, the “Great Reformer”. Yes, he has his issues. That is not the point today. Prayer is life for us, as Christians. After all, it is just a conversation with God that never ends. That is not to say that there won’t be silent moments, just like any human relationship. Much is communicated even in those moments, but prayer = breathing for your spiritual life, just as the Bible is spiritual food, and the Spirit is the Living Water we need in order to keep pressing on toward the goal.

Back to Patristics, with St Gregory the Great. What do you fear? If your only fear is not losing God’s friendship, then you have a ways to go to perfection. That is deep, but perhaps also based on a misunderstanding from this great early theologian. Can we lose God’s friendship? Not if we walk in HIs ways and seek His face. However, such a thing can be achieved if we walk away from Him in meaningful ways. I believe that that is the foundation of double predestination. God knows who will choose Him, but gives each one the freedom to choose, even once we do make an initial choice to call Him Lord. I don’t have the time to unpack this here, but I think that perfection is knowing that God’s love is all-encompassing for those who have accepted and yielded to it.

Lord, Come. Open our hearts and minds that your wisdom would pour into and through us as we study what wisdom is. Help us to grasp what wisdom is in Your book. Help us to gather skills and to have open eyes and ears to notice patterns in the world that others may miss. Teach us to understand ourselves and others better, that we would be able to make better judgment calls in our lives. I have gone off the rails because I wandered away from you in the past. Forgive me. Help me to stay aligned properly as I move forward. Help me to know when and how to say things to benefit not only myself, but others more and more as time goes on. In Jesus’ name, Amen. There are 2 Hebrew words that often get translated as “wisdom”: Chokmah – related noun which is usually translated as “wisdom” Chakam – wise or crafty in word, action, or mind If some one is chakam, they have skill in some area or other, whether as a politician, plumber, or proctologist. It has to do with having information to recognize patterns reliably so that you can make good decisions. If one has chokmah, it takes skill and adds a spiritual dimension to it, as one has to have a right relationship with God in order to have true chokmah. This is the form of wisdom we will focus on in this series. We will also talk about the kinds of folly and fools, as that is a fun topic, and as we get better at recognizing them, even in ourselves, we can understand how to handle different kinds of people better. That is a large part of why we should want to have chokmah, rather than simply be skilled in certain areas, though that is a part of the picture. That kind of skill does not require God to accrue, but to turn that skill into a more generalized wisdom, at least in reference to the Bible, that is, we need to be in constant relationship with the Lord. Let me give an example: Say you had a friend who was a patriot, but had been forced to sit through some leftist indoctrination as a part of his or her job in sales. Now imagine that they had stumbled their way through a rough deal, then got to 4th and goal, only to have their clients turn on them, accusing them of being manipulative or somehow “forcing” things to happen in a way that would only benefit your friend, but not their client. Now say there were things that the friend could have done better, but that was water over the dam by then, then the friend comes to you, hurting over what the client was saying, and freaking out over possibly losing half of their commission on the deal. On one hand, the friend readily acknowledges their errors over the course of the deal, on the other, they neither wish to destroy relationship nor lose money. What would you tell them? Do you have the wisdom and discernment to navigate that situation without making it worse? I didn’t. I was the conservative equivalent of the screaming liberal, and I not only blew up that relationship, but lost money on top of it, because I chose to throw that liberal claptrap in the client’s face. I was going to let it ride, but couldn’t leave well enough alone. I even thought hard about simply giving them what they wanted, as these were some of my wife’s acquaintances whom I was helping. I am more broken up still over the broken relationships there than I am about the lost commission. Money is just money. People matter far more than money. That is wisdom, hard won. Take it for what you will. So, what is wisdom? On a basic level, it is the ability to recognize patterns in people and situations, then insight to know what to do about those patterns to turn them for the greatest possible benefit for all involved. On a Biblical level, it is that, plus a constant relationship with the God of the Universe. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Wisdom, He is the personified wisdom in Proverbs 8, calling out to the simple and the fools as they go on their way. In the Bible, there are 3 options, you are either growing wise, becoming a fool, or very early on, you are probably simple. We will talk about those other two options starting next week. The Simple one and the Fool. We will talk about the state of being simple next week, then start talking about folly the week after. This week, we will be doing a series of memesplanations on humility, what it is, and how it benefits us to be humble. On the main channel tomorrow, we will be talking about BlendOS, Elementary OS, and Escuelas Linux. Please smash that Rumble button, Share this if it touched you, and Subscribe to the channel. Be Blessed, and choose Wisdom this week. Thanks for watching!

Humility. Yes, I’m harping on it. If Jesus humbled and emptied himself on our behalf, then why won’t we follow suite? Why do we cling to our pride? Hear this as coming, not from me, but from a respected mentor or pastor. Release yourself from the burden of your pride today. Ask the Lord to help you see yourself accurately, to esteem yourself as He esteems you, rather than forcing YOUR way. Making sure that you get YOURS, and seeing that as the lion’s share of whatever is in question. I could go on, but we will be talking about this most of the week, so I’ll go easy today.

Here is another definition of humility, and it plays into that kenotic (self-emptying) thought from yesterday. Humility is the ability to not defend yourself when you are able to do so. Not firing off that devastating quip to put the rude person in their place, whether that looks like blessing them or simply walking away, and allowing God to work on them, rather than creating a scene and causing more ill will and bad blood to exist between you and the other person. This goes into what meekness is, strength, under control and service to love, rather than strength just existing and crushing whomever it wants to.

Chrysostom with more truth about humility. If we really think about it, love is humble. Love is the keystone to all things positive in the Spirit. If that is true, then that would put humility right where Chrysostom puts it in this quote. One cannot be meek without humility, one cannot be gentle without humility, it is difficult to be kind without being humble, etc. One cannot be wise without humility, that is called being a know it all or a smart ass. As Paul said, Knowledge puffs up, but wisdom builds up.