Creating
Your
Destiny
Table
Of
Contents
Living
Life with Skill
Why
you need Wisdom.
O
ne
of the most critical virtues for a successful life journey is wisdom.
Solomon knew this when God offered to grant him any request. The King
didn't ask for riches, for health, or for power; he asked for wisdom.
(I Kings 3) Of course, with wisdom came riches, health and power.
Wisdom
is the ability to gather information and apply it appropriately.
Wisdom is the ability to make decisions that are sound and healthy over
the course of one's life. Wisdom is the knowledge of how to apply truth
in a given real-life circumstance. Wisdom is acting
in one's true self-interest, in alignment with God's Ground Rules for
life.
Does
this last definition surprise you?
Solomon said that when individuals acted wisely they did it for themselves
(Proverbs 3:11) Wise people, for example, understand that failure to keep
one's promises makes them untrustworthy: certainly not a reputation conducive
to success in business or relationships. Wise
people understand that it is in their own interest to earn the respect
of others, to handle the finances with an eye on the long term
and to see to it that they learn how to act appropriately within the various
contexts of their lives.
One of the
early barriers on the first part of so many people's life journey is the
notion that they must hear from God before they
can know what they are to do. I am not referring here to what
is already written in the Bible. One does not need to pray over wheth
er
or not to rob banks, lie to people or abuse our spouses. What entraps
people is seeking to hear from God about what school to attend, job to
accept or car to purchase.
Don't
Wait for God to do it for you.
One
of the first commands given to Adam was to name the animals in the Garden.
How did this come about? Did a weird looking animal with a very long neck
walk in front of Adam who had God at his side whispering the word, "Giraffe?"
Did he hear God say, "That funny animal swinging from tree branch
to tree branch is to be called a monkey"? Not at all. Adam
was expected to take his considerable talents, potential, gifts, and mental
capacity and exercise them.
When St.
Paul went from city to city with doors being closed in his face, was he
"missing God?" No, he was learning to make decisions. Certainly
the Apostle heard from God from time to time. However, the norm was making
his decisions and learning from those decisions.
Sometimes
we look back at a decision and will think, "Wow,
that wasn't all that wise," or, "My,
that was downright foolish." But what we need to understand
is that this is not the same as saying, "That was sinful." Many
people are crippled by false guilt because they made an unwise decision.
Being disappointed is one thing, but guilt is
neither relevant nor useful in matters of decision-making regarding situations
that are not issues of morality.
Just as God
gave Adam and Eve an arena within which to develop wisdom (among other
things), so parents and children have been given gardens/homes where they
need to learn the importance of seeking wisdom.
How often
do bright, healthy, knowledgeable children go out into the world and experience
failure after failure in relationships or business pursuits? How
many children who can cite hundreds of Bible verses are clueless as to
getting through life in this world with skill? And why is this?
Because they were not instructed in the necessity of seeking wisdom, of
learning to act in one's own self-interest, of learning sound decision-making
strategies.
Wisdom
is not something one attains and then moves on to other pursuits: it
is a life long process. Actually, the more wisdom one attains
the more they realize how little wisdom they have. This is because wise
people are humble. (Proverbs 3:7) Fur
thermore,
it is their humility that inspires them to continually seek more and more
wisdom.
Wise people are quite teachable. (Proverbs 8:33) One of the things that separate them from people who lack wisdom is that they are not afraid of saying, "I do not know…"
Subsequently,
wise people also understand that mistakes are
part of the learning process: so when they make mistakes they
do not waste their energy on indulging feelings of failure or damaged
pride. They simply gain more understanding and move on.
Wise
people learn from their mistakes-but they prefer learning from the mistakes
of others. Wise people love hanging out with wise people. (Proverbs
16:20) When a wise person wishes to gain wisdom in becoming a more effective
father, they seek out grandfathers whose children exhibit great life skills.
If a wise person wishes to become successful in handling their finances,
they go to people who have experienced great financial success over a
long period of time. If they wish to become more fully the person God
has created them to become, they spend their time with people who are
doing the same thing.
As a general
rule, wise people do not w
aste
much time being with foolish people. I am not speaking of those
who are less fortunate or who have experienced a temporary set back. Wise
people are generous in these situations. What I am referring to here is
that individual who never learns from his/her mistakes, who constantly
experiences failure after failure and are proud of their status as a victim.
These are fools who will only waste your time, energy and counsel. You
may wish to pray for such people but do not spend much time with them.
The quest
to become the person God created you to be is an individual quest. The
path you follow is your own. But this does not mean that you
will be alone on your journey. What you will discover is that your path
crosses the paths of others. Some of these people can serve you with their
wisdom. Some of these people you will want to help along their way with
the wisdom you have gained.
Many
of the people who can give you wisdom are no longer living, but their
wisdom is.
Right now, there are kings and queens, philosophers and storytellers,
scientists and spiritual guides whose writings are filled with a knowledge
and understanding that will speed you on your way. Why rob yourself of
their wealth of wisdom? Why not pursue such people as teachers and guides?
Of course,
the most critical person to seek out for wisdom
is God. Not only should we constantly ask Him for increased
wisdom (James 1:5) but we also should consistently peruse the scriptures
for insights on how life should be lived. God's desire is for us to mature,
for every area of our life to be drenched with His life, power and blessing.
He wishes for our success more deeply and profoundly
than we do. Go ask for help today.
- Why
you need Wisdom
- Don't
wait for God to do it for you
- The Pursuit of Wisdom
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Written
by
Dr. Monte E. Wilson, III
Andrea
Higham, Editor
© 2004 God On The Net, Inc. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced
without permission.