Recently in Wisdom Category

It takes faith to believe in darkness.

I know these words may seem foolish. Many would say that the darkness of the world is the one thing that we don't need faith to believe in. It is all too obvious that we live in a dark world! True enough--but without biblical faith it is impossible to grasp just how dark this world is. While many may agree that the world is dominated by darkness, they also believe that somewhere is a glimmer of light that man can find by himself. They have an ongoing belief that as our eyes adjust to the darkness we will be able to see a tiny crack of light spilling out from under a doorway, and that will lead to a better life. Yes, things are dark, but there is light and hope, if only we will have faith in the human spirit. Christmas is one of those times people in the world think they see light spilling out from hidden doorways. This is evidenced by comments like why can't the Christmas spirit last all year long? It takes faith to believe that the darkness is total, that there is no hope apart from the grace of God. Sadly, many come to ultimate despair when their search for light ends in futility. They give up because they believe they have failed to find light in darkness--they just didn't look in the right places. The reality is that there is no light in a world without Christ.

If you fly on an airplane or travel any distance by ship, your safety hinges on what is unseen. This may not sound accurate, since the pilot flying the plane looks through a window and the captain of the ship stands on the ship's bridge to view the waters ahead. But visual recognition, particularly on long journeys, is not the most helpful means of navigation. In fact, trusting what is seen in these situations often leads to disaster. (It is true that ocean-going ships can use the stars for navigation, but modern electronic positioning is the more dominant form.) For successful and safe directions on long trips in this modern era, trusting what is unseen is vital. For a journey to have a pleasant end, it is important to know where you are in reference to where you want to go. Determining the longitude and latitude of one's position is a safe way to determine where you are. If you use a GPS form of electronic navigation, the longitude and latitude coordinates are readily available from your GPS device. This topic becomes more interesting when you understand that these lines of longitude and latitude are arbitrary and unseen.

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Tedd Tripp. I asked Tedd to list four important truths that he believes that parents should weave into their parenting based upon his interactions and experiences in teaching families.  Tedd listed these:

Wisdom from above. Wisdom from God. What does it look like? This one sentence in James 3:17 lists seven facets of the wisdom that comes from heaven. The first three facets show the radical nature of following God.  Let’s look at them one by one. However, before we start it is only fair to issue a warning to anyone who chooses to read further. Reading—and then implementing wisdom from heaven—will be hazardous to your flesh. It is simply not possible to take these words seriously and continue to live and speak just as you have been doing for years. The change may be painful, but it is the change of putting off what is old and destined for destruction anyway, and putting on that which is new and bound for heaven, where this wisdom originates. If you are not sure that you want the wisdom of heaven to shake up your life and your parenting, then please stop reading now. As Jesus told the Laodiceans, and as James stated in the first part of chapter 1 of his epistle, you can’t have it both ways. It is either God’s wisdom or yours; wanting both will result in a life of misery and doubt. If you want the wisdom from God that this verse speaks of, please listen to the warning James gives:

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Okay, are you ready? Have you asked God for courage to keep going? Good—let’s go for it.

Wisdom from above is, first of all, pure. This means that what is most important is doing what God wants and only what God wants, for his glory and honor. There are no mixed motives . Purity speaks of a heart fully devoted to God and his ways. Your spouse and children must see that your overriding desire is to have a pure, genuine heart that places God first. Your parenting must flow from your love of Christ and not your love of self. If you demonstrate purity, your children will come to see that you are not insisting on obedience because it pleases you, but because it pleases God. 

Next, wisdom from above is peaceable. Think back over the last week. How has your spirit been with your children, with your husband or wife? If your family were asked, would they say you have been deeply committed to peace in your family? Remember, God knows that we are not perfect, so I know that your track record, even for a week, will not be a perfect one. But even so, have you been sufficiently committed to peace that those around you would quickly say that peaceableness has been your goal as you deal with them? If this is painful, remember that I warned you. But don’t stop now. You have asked God for the courage to change. He will be faithful to help you. If you want to practice the wisdom from above you must be about peace – so much so that your family will see and acknowledge it.

The next facet of God’s wisdom is gentleness. True gentleness expresses strength, confidence and power. Biblical gentleness is never a sign of weakness; rather, it is having the wisdom to use only the strength appropriate to the situation. If you commit to bring to your parenting only that which is from God, you will develop a deep confidence in the truth of his Word.  Peace follows, because you know that what you are asking for is what God wants. That is how you become a person of peace even when you are doing battle for God. If there is purity and peace, then there can and must be gentleness. But this is gentleness that indicates a quiet confident strength – you know what God wants and are seeking him for the power to bring honor to him in spite of your own weakness.

It would be easy to write a lengthy post on each of the seven facets of wisdom in James 3:17. Perhaps at a later date, I will. But for now, take a hard, sincere look at godly wisdom. Purity, peace, and gentleness —do these belong to you as a parent? If not, God will powerfully answer your sincere, faithful prayer for this wisdom of his from above. It will change your life.

Next we will look at something that I was afraid of for years as a father of teenagers—I was afraid of being open to reason—not a good attitude, as I came to learn. But more on this in the next post. As always, I look forward to your comments.