"Who is wise and understanding among you? He should show his works by good conduct with wisdom's gentleness. But if you have bitter envy and selfish amibition in your heart, don't brag and lie in defiance of the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy."
-James 3:13-17, HCSB
So heavenly wisdom is contrasted here with earthly wisdom. Those who consider themselves to have inherent wisdom try to brag and defy the truth. But heavenly wisdom is pure, loves peace, is gentle, complies, is merciful, inspires good fruits (works), and is impartial. In the NASB, the quality of "unwavering" is also accredited to heavenly wisdom. I think this says a lot about how we should discern what kind of "wisdom" we are following in our lives. Any kind of wisdom which contradicts the Bible and what it teaches is not true wisdom. We should not listen to wisdom which exalts self or defies the truth. Instead, we should follow wisdom which is pure (undefiled, holy), peaceable (not stirring up strife or drama), gentle (full of love and compassion), compliant (submissive rather than abrasive or rebellious), merciful (rather than unforgiving), impartial (not showing favoritism or hypocrisy), unwavering (grounded steadfast in the truth), and yielding good fruits or works. I don't know about you, but this is definitely something God needs to work with me more on.
YAY! I didn't know you had a blog. I love it! Keep posting girl! Good stuff.
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