Wisdom Matters

God doesn’t want to be our governor; he wants to be our King. God doesn’t ask his children to work for him from nine to five. He asks us to serve him 24/7. Why do God’s demands require our complete commitment?  The Sermon on the Mount was the foundation of truth for Christ’s entire ministry. It's found in Matthew 5–7. Jesus was preaching what it would mean for a child of God to walk in obedien...

When God spoke to the prophet Isaiah, he was really telling him, “Come, argue it out with me.” God would rather our words be real and our hearts honest when we come before him. He knows our struggles and when we struggle to believe. God is big enough for every doubt, every fear, and every disappointment.  God told the prophet to come to him and we will argue it out. It's easy for God to invite...

God judges our lives much differently than we judge others, even ourselves. In Psalm 139, the psalmist cries out to God because he has been misjudged and slandered by others. He doesn’t defend himself to his enemies. Instead, he goes to God and asks for God to judge his heart and his motives.  The fact the psalmist wants God to judge his heart is his best defense. He wants to know what God thinks...

The Apostle John is the only apostle believed to have lived a long life and died a natural death. By the time John wrote his letter that we know as 1 John, he had watched the Christian church grow, thrive, and weaken. The Christian church offered an audience that some outside the faith wanted to influence or serve for personal gain.  These outside speakers presented a message that appealed to many...

People are created in the image of God; therefore, we were created to “think.” So, it's important to remember that, apart from God’s Spirit, we aren’t able to think like God.   We are human beings, living in a fallen world. Many of our thoughts are formed from our own desires, opinions, and dreams. God’s thoughts are always formed from his perfection.  God is not capable of a wrong or selfish...

God’s perfect peace is beyond understanding. His peace is the calm that carries a grieving spouse or parent through the funeral. His peace covers the fears that are real but don’t need to control or cloud our faith. God’s peace doesn’t deny realities; it's the greater reality our faith provides.  His peace isn’t found because of our efforts to achieve it. God’s perfect peace is the result of b...

My favorite moment at a wedding is the look on the bride and groom’s faces when they first see one another. There are many other people in the room but only one face that each other most wants to see.  I love watching people at the airport as they are looking for that family member who has been serving overseas. Urgency changes to joy when they spot their loved one’s face. So it will be when we me...

Charles Sheldon published In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? in 1896, and there have been more than fifty million copies purchased since that time. The book is one of the best-selling books of all time. It's a Christian classic that illustrates the truth of Psalm 119:15.  How would our lives change if we applied the precepts of Scripture and the “ways” Jesus taught his followers to live to our...

Information is easily and quickly accessible, but wisdom requires some time to acquire. It seems a simple thought, but it takes time to think. Those who think wisdom is simple are more likely to believe answers they have googled. The prudent person understands that wisdom is taking the necessary time to think about what they know, to determine what they should do.  We have all made snap decisions...

My favorite description of the Holy Spirit is found in Paul’s word to the church at Corinth. He was writing about the wisdom that the Spirit imparts to believers. The Holy Spirit is able to know our thoughts and the thoughts of God. Paul concluded that lesson by writing “we have the mind of Christ.”  It's common for us to think of ourselves in human ways. We know we aren’t perfect and make mis...

It's more common to quote Proverbs 3:5 with verse 6 as well. Verse 6 isn’t possible without verse 5, but our focus is almost always drawn away to the good news verse 6 provides.  Verse 5 tells you to “trust in the Lord with all your heart.” The only way to trust God completely is to “not lean on your own understanding.” It's a spiritual discipline to learn to trust God as we are called to...

Peace is one of the best indicators that your life is centered in Christ. It's the peace of Christ that accompanies his perspective on the things of this world. It's the peace that carries us through difficult days or decisions. It's the peace that follows a time of personal worship or prayer. God’s peace results from an awareness of who we are in Christ Jesus.  God’s peace is beyond h...

We should never underestimate the power of God’s word or the power of his word in us. People need God’s joy. A sense of “gladness” should motivate us to speak of God and share his word. But God’s word needs to fill our lives if we want to share it with others.  Every night our news can create anxiety in our hearts. Imagine the anxieties that might have weighed on the hearts of those in ancient tim...

Christians can do anything Jesus calls and strengthens us to do. Equally important is the knowledge that if we do things in our own strength or personal motives, Jesus is not at work; we are. The key to living with the strength and purpose of Christ is understanding it's much different than our own.  Spiritual things happen through the Spirit of Christ. Remember, Jesus said, “I can do nothing...

Paul had just listed many of the sinful human behaviors that were causing divisions in the early church and damaging their witness. Then he provided the solution for fixing those natural human behaviors. Paul didn’t say, “Act kind to one another.” Rather, he said, “Be kind.” Another translation could say “Become kind.”   The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to change us, to help us become m...

The “peace that passes all understanding” is never fully understood, except through experience. It isn’t the peace we can work hard to achieve. It isn’t the result of our efforts or the consequence of a choice. The peace Christ has left with us is unique because it's only experienced as a gift received from his Holy Spirit.  Jesus left us with his Spirit so that we would have his gift of peace...

How would our lives be changed if our highest goal was contentment with all we have?  Getting ahead is a great goal unless you are getting ahead of God in the process. Jesus told his disciples to take up their cross and “follow” him. It’s easy to lose sight of Christ in our lives when we are focused on things that, in that moment, we want more than what we have.   Our goal is to be content with wh...

We usually talk about the subject of prayer when we discuss this verse, but it's also important to look at these words from a different perspective. Paul was telling the Philippians to pray about everything. But this verse is also about God, your Father.  God doesn’t want us to fret and worry. We don’t have to be anxious about anything. Why then are we anxious so much of the time? What are you...

Temptation existed in the garden before Adam and Eve chose to sin. Temptation isn’t a sin; it’s only the possibility or opportunity to sin. Therefore, we shouldn’t think about all the things in our lives that tempt us as much as we should think about the actual choices we make.  Martin Luther summed it up this way: “You cannot prevent the birds from flying in the air over your head, but you can pr...

God created each of us with free will, and we are each designed to desire freedom. Yet, every generation has had people who are enslaved in some ways. Some have been enslaved, but most submit their freedoms because of their personal choices.  Paul described slavery as a “yoke.” The yoke was a heavy burden placed on the neck of an animal so it could then be forced to walk a certain path and work fo...

Christians have always known that Christ will return again because he promised he would. The first-century Christians expected it to be in their lifetime, and those expectations have existed in every century that followed. There are always those who point to certain occurrences in their day and time and become convinced that the return of Christ is imminent. One day, a generation of Christians wil...

The Holy Spirit is the living presence of Christ in our lives. After Jesus ascended to heaven, he continued his earthly ministry through Christians, who were led by his Spirit. Our relationship to Jesus is strengthened by spending time with him by abiding in his Spirit. The more we invest in that connection, the more we will come to know Jesus as our Lord.  Paul described the gift of the Holy Spir...

Romans 12:2 is rarely studied without Romans 12:1, but sometimes it's important to look at verse 2 alone. Usually, more time is spent on verse 1 and the need to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Granted, verse 2 doesn’t happen until verse 1 has been obeyed.  That said, we accomplish verse 1 by obeying verse 2. How is it that we set apart our daily lives for service to the Lord?  For...

Some situations cause me to hear my mom or dad’s voice telling me what to do, as if they were with me. My husband and I have been married a long time, and we often finish each other’s sentences. Our thoughts come from a lot of different voices in our lives.   Paul’s words to the Corinthians taught me to “think about” my thoughts and consider their source. I coined a phrase for my life after studyi...

The Lord knew that our thoughts would drive our actions. Jesus commanded us to “fear not” because choices made from a place of fear are rarely choices based on faith. The Lord knew the world would always be filled with sinful temptations and tendencies. Our thoughts matter as much as, if not more than, our words. We know to be careful with our words; Jesus would want us to be careful with our thou...