Teachings on Exercising Wisdom

“Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness

    will find life, righteousness, and honor.

A wise man scales the city of the mighty

    and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue

    keeps himself out of trouble.

‘Scoffer’ is the name of the arrogant, haughty man

    who acts with arrogant pride.

The desire of the sluggard kills him,

    for his hands refuse to labor.

All day long he craves and craves,

    but the righteous gives and does not hold back.”

 (Proverbs 21:21-26 ESV)

Some people on this earth pursue wickedness and evil deeds while others pursue righteousness (the righteousness of God) and kindness toward God and toward their fellow humans. But let me say here that kindness is not lying to people to make them feel good. Kindness is doing for others what is for their good, as God defines good, and it is speaking the truth in love to them, not the lies which will ultimately do them much harm, even if temporarily the lies may feel good and they may be received as “kindness.” 

And righteousness is not a false righteousness, and it is not pride, but it is all that God deems right in his eyes. It is all that God prefers, that he chooses, such things as agape love, compassion, mercy, faithfulness, honesty, integrity, moral purity, godliness, surrender to him as Lord, and walks of faithful obedience to his commands. For it is about living righteously by following after our Lord and all that he desires and requires of us who profess his name and who claim him as our Lord and Savior.

Pride sets people up, one against the other, in a kind of competition to see who can outdo the other. The proud then believe that they have to prove that they are somehow superior to the other, or they feel that they have to put down the other person to make themselves feel superior. But wisdom is better than the strength (power) of man. Wisdom uses logic and reason, coupled with kindness and agape love, to persuade others rather than to “one up” them, or rather than to conquer them with brute strength.

We are wise who learn to control our own tongues and who do not just blast out whatever comes into our minds. Now perfection in this area seems to be far-reaching, but we who follow Jesus Christ with our lives can learn to control what we say, at least to a large degree, and at least as a matter of practice. We should be thoughtful people who think before we speak. But then what comes out of our mouths comes from what is stored up in our hearts, and so to control our tongues is to have our hearts right with God.

A “scoffer” is a person who makes it a practice of deriding and ridiculing other people, often in a mocking and disdainful kind of way. This is not the same as those who speak the truth in love to others, and who speak the truth of what the Scriptures teach about sin. These are people who make sport of mocking those who are different from them, or who disagree with them, and for the purpose to make the other person look bad and them look good. It is to show contempt for others who are different from us.

And, yes, those who make it their practice to deride and to show contempt and to mock and to make fun of others, especially for entertainment purposes, and especially to put them down and to raise themselves up, are those who are arrogant and haughty, who act with arrogant pride. But, again, this should not be the accusation against those who are teaching the Scriptures in their purity and who are having to call sin what it is and who are having to expose the lies of the enemy. We should not confuse the two.

Now this is interesting about the sluggard. His desire is to do nothing, basically, or only what feels good to him, and only what makes him happy. For he (or she) is someone who is lazy and who does not do any more than what is required of him, and maybe not even what is required of him, for he is all about self-indulgence and being selfish and pleasing self rather than about caring about others and loving them and doing what is best for them, and for himself, in reality. So he does nothing, or at least the minimal.

But his desire for self-gratification over doing what is right and just and proper will be the death of him, at least in the end it will be. For this is speaking of someone who continually craves what is of the flesh and not what is of God; and what pleases the flesh, and not what pleases God. And, yes, we are required to do what pleases God and not to just please ourselves. For we were not put here on this earth for self-pleasure but for us to do what pleases God and what expresses love to other humans.

So, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be those who pursue the righteousness and kindness of God. We are to be those who have forsaken our former lives of living in sin and for self and who are now following our Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands in holy living. And we are to be those who are showing the kindness of God to others in the way in which Jesus did for us in meeting other people’s needs and in sharing with them the truth of the gospel which can save their souls from hell.

And we are to be those who regularly (in practice) exercise godly wisdom and discernment and who no longer walk in the ways of the flesh, but who now walk in the ways of the Lord in holiness, righteousness, moral purity, uprightness, honesty, integrity, faithfulness, and in obedience to our Lord. Therefore we are to control our tongues, and we are not to scoff (mock) others just because we disagree with them, but we are to speak the truth in love to them, and we are to call out false doctrines and false teachers.

We are not to be arrogant and full of pride, though, for all that we have that is good comes from God and not from ourselves. And even our abilities to do what we do come from the Lord, and not from ourselves. And not one of us deserves the salvation that our Lord provided for all of humanity. Only by the grace of God, and in his power and strength, can any of us live godly lives free from the control of sin. All glory to God! And then we need to be diligent in serving our Lord, and we are not to be lazy and self-absorbed. 

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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