Who is Wise?

James 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 

More than once in the Bible, there is a distinction made between worldly wisdom and  godly or spiritual wisdom.  This passage is no different.  In the world that we live in, a person that is so-called “wise” will usually be great self promoter.  Others will know that he is wise because he will be the first to share that information in one form or another.

On the other hand, godly wisdom is just the opposite.  James gives us three separate characteristics of a person that is wise in God’s eyes.

1.  He Will Show it out of the Manner of his life!

Instead of grandstanding or bragging about his superior knowledge and understanding, the man of God will demonstrate his wisdom in the small things in life.  While the world nudges us and encourages us to “try” sin, a wise person will refrain because they will be able to sense the danger long before they suffer the consequences.  A wise person will also recognize that his life is on display and will live in such a way to be a positive example to the one’s that he is around

2.  He Will Show it by his Works!

If we are the kind of people that God wants us to be, we will be always open to seeing the possibility for service.  Wisdom helps us to understand that our purpose is to let our light so shine...

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

We let our light so shine by our good works.  But again, that is not for the purpose of our own exaltation, but the glorification of our Father.  Everything that we do should be done with the motive of making our heavenly Father look good.

3.  He Will Show it Through His Humility!

True wisdom does not need to be placed on a marquee or shouted from a mountain top, it will be noticed through the way that we conduct ourselves.  

All of us want to be wise.  If we want to be wise, we need to choose the right team. There is one team full of worldly wise people that are all fighting to be at the top.  On the other team is our choice to be spiritually wise.  If we want to be in that camp, our wisdom will grow with the asking.

James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 

Once we do that, we must start acting like one that is wise by following the characteristics that James lays out for us today.  Even if  we would not consider ourselves wise, let us act like we are, and we may surprise ourselves just how wise we feel.