Wisdom

 Proverbs 13:20 ESV

 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.


When the Bible talks about wisdom, it's not on about I.Q. Biblical wisdom is the ability to discern and to walk the right way in life. Foolishness Biblically isn't about having a low I.Q. Foolishness here is choosing the wrong way in life.

Who we choose to hang out with matters. 'Bad company corrupts good morals'. On the flip side, good company can help to reform bad morals.

It's not a guarantee. Nevertheless, as a general rule, if we walk with the wise, we're likely to become wise. I don't think this is literally about joining a hiking club; it's about our general direction of travel.

If we choose to hang out with foolish people, that's probably going to be detrimental to us. That's why it's all the more amazing that Jesus, wisdom personified, was known as a 'friend of (foolish) sinners'. God's grace can transform a fool into a wise person.

'Heavenly Father, please help us to be wise about the company we keep, and to be good witnesses of you to foolish people in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen'.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Listen

 James 1:19 ESV  Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;  As the Turkish proverbs goes, if speaking is silver, listening is golden. Speaking is easy; listening is hard. James calls us to be quick to listen and slow to speak. We have two ears and one mouth. This suggests that we should listen about twice as much as we speak! We have a good record of Jesus's words, but he is the ultimate listener too, to respond appropriately to his hearers. James isn't just telling us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, or even to seek to emulate Christ. He reminds us that we're brethren. We're adopted into God's family through faith in Jesus. Anger isn't necessarily wrong. In our anger we're not to sin. We're not to be quick tempered. 'Abba God, we praise you for adopting us into your family. Please help us to display the family characteristics: to be good, temperate listeners. For the glory of your name, a...
Read more

Listen

  Psalm 143:8 ESV Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. What’s the first thing we do when we wake up? Is it to scroll our phones and check our notifications? Or is it to check in with God through His word, without technological distractions? If we trust in the Lord, we ought to long to hear from Him first thing in the morning. We need daily reminders of His unfailing love. His mercies are new every morning, thankfully. Every day, we need God to direct us. We might be in a groove (or a rut!) of regular practices, yet we should be open to being flexible to whatever life throws at us and what God has for us. He can help us deal with anything that seems to attack us. Morning by morning, we should lift our souls to the Lord. We are to wait in expectancy up Him. He will never fail us. ‘Dear Lord, we come to You this morning expectant of Your goodness to us afresh this day. Please ...
Read more

Listen!

  My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations. Hosea 9:17 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/hos.9.17.ESV Hosea's condemnation of Israel isn't cause for anti-Semitism, but sombre self reflection. If God rejected people who assumed they were His, then we should beware if we're professing Christians. Even if we aren't Christians, but think God is on our side, we should examine ourselves. Do we listen to God? We might not get to hear Him audibly, but we can listen to His word the Bible. Are we listening? If we ignore God, even if we're paying Him lip service, it doesn't bode well for us. God doesn't reject us like an overly jealous lover. Instead, if we reject Him, He will reject us. Even to this day, there's a Jewish diaspora throughout the world. Biblically, this is because they have by and large rejected God and their Messiah Jesus. In His mercy, God has returned many to their homeland, but s...
Read more