Seeking and growing in wisdom is paramount to one’s faith in Jesus Christ. To seek Him and His righteousness requires a genuine, purposed, and soft heart. As we have studied numerous books of the Bible this past few years we have been reminded that the folly of mankind is often most evident when knowledge and understanding is sought out not in God’s word, but rather, in the thoughts of mere men.
In Isaiah 55:8, we read, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” declares the LORD” (NASB). This is a powerful statement from God. We may wonder why we often see the world place its trust in the thoughts, sensibilities, and philosophies of men rather than God. Lives and souls lie in the balance as people choose whom to hear and follow. Reflecting on the books of wisdom and poetry of the Bible will continually direct our minds to the profound truths by which we should live. Consider these three scriptures from Proverbs, a book of wisdom, which focus on the spiritual blessings we have in Christ as we “incline our ear” in reading His word.
Proverbs 1:2-3 (NASB) – “To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, to receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice, and equity;”
Proverbs 4:7 (NASB) – “Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth”
Proverbs 15:33 (NASB) – “The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.”
Each of these verses teach us that there is only one source of true wisdom and that once we have received His word, we should meditate on it daily so that we will not forget what we have learned. We also find here that we must be entirely humble and reverent as we approach God, wanting to please and glorify His name. The book of Psalms begins with a verse that connects our aim to thirst for righteousness with very practical direction from God. Psalm 1:1 (NASB) states, “Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” Reading these scriptures teaches us that reflecting upon and meditating on God’s words daily will build us up like a healthy, strong tree. Grounded in the truth, our faith will not be shaken by the world’s shifting interests or the winds of change. We can faithfully endure the storms of life.
We can always learn from the life of Jesus. In all that He said, all that He did, and how He interacted with an incredible range of people, we clearly see His example for us to imitate. Starting in verse five of the eighth chapter of Matthew, we learn about the interaction between Jesus and the centurion, a Roman officer. He tells Jesus about the poor condition of his servant and after Jesus tells the centurion that “I will come and heal him” in verse seven, we then see the faith and character of this man when he says in verses eight and nine, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it” (NASB). Jesus’ reaction is powerful and important. “Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel” (Matthew 8:10, NASB).
We are so blessed to have an understanding of the mind of Christ and the power of His matchless love. Like the centurion’s recognition of the authority of Jesus, we remember that we have given our lives to Christ. In turn, all that we do should be prayerfully considered. Our faith in Him directly reflects the depth of the relationship we have with our Lord. As His servants, we aim to speak to those around us about how we are “blessed”, happy in our obedient relationship with Jesus. We confess that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Starting in Romans 10:8-10 we read:
“But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” (NASB).
In Matthew 5:6, Jesus said, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled” (NASB). This is a call to action for the Christian. With humble hearts and minds, we should always have an earnest desire to seek to be guided by Him as we strive to live a life pleasing to the Lord.