James 3:13

AMP – Who among you is wise and intelligent? Let him by his good conduct show his [good] deeds with the gentleness and humility of true wisdom.

NRSVUE – Who is wise and knowledge among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.

VOICE – Who in your community is understanding and wise? Let his example, which is marked by wisdom and gentleness, blaze a trail for others.

Discerning Wisdom

Wisdom, biblically, is more than just our knowledge and influence. Wisdom is shown through our discernment, which is shaped by our relationship with God. James call his audience, and us, to examine if our maturity reflects the wisdom shown through the Book of Proverbs. The core of why this is important is this: our respect for God is the beginning of our wisdom.

We show this wisdom through our daily actions, relationships, words, and our obedience towards God’s commands. Our faith in Christ produces a life that led by righteousness – a right standing with God shown through a reflection of His love, mercy, and justice. His wisdom doesn’t look for attention, doesn’t seek victory over others, or personal status. Wisdom from God produces humility, servitude, dependence upon God. Christ showed us what this looks like through humbling himself in obedience to God’s commands. Christ also called us to let our actions reflect that same obedience.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: Wisdom helps us discern what is of God and what is not. How is God’s wisdom shown in your life?

Opposing Division

Wisdom shows us that every part of our life should reflect God’s righteousness. To ensure that our words, actions, relationships, and more align with God’s will of reflecting love, mercy, and justice to all that we come across. Love, mercy, and justice are need in the world now more than ever. To be able to set aside our divisions, hatred, bias to create a united front that allows people to exist in community together. Racism, homophobia, and xenophobia are still present evils in our world, louder than ever. I’m writing this the day before the 25^th anniversary of 9/11 and it led me to reflect on how much fear is still in the world, warranted or not. Unfortunately, fear is what drives our hatred, is what lead us to multiple wars overseas, and what led to the internal divisions, riots, and hatred we spew on each other.

None of this is apart of God’s wisdom. None of this goes in line with righteousness. God encourages us to love our enemy. God wants us to stand up and speak out for the marginalized, caring for them as God cares for us. God doesn’t look at the world as we do – focusing on appearance, influences, stature – but views us all by our hearts. God calls us to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome in the strangers, visit the sick and imprisoned. To treat what society views as the least in the world as the greatest. No one should be left in the margins. No one should have to fight systems for the means of survival. We should all work together, regardless of how we believe it should be done, to reach a means that all of us, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, economic level, and social status, can live in a means of comfort, sustainability, and justice.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What is one area of the world that you would like to see more wisdom in and why? How could you add such wisdom to that area?

The Path of Wisdom

The words of Micah 6:8 come to mind with how to act with God’s wisdom:

AMP – He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you Except to be just, and to love [and to diligently practice] kindness (compassion), And to walk humbly with your God [setting aside any overblown sense of overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]?

NRSVUE – He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?

VOICE – No. He has told you, mortals, what is good in His sight. What else does the Eternal ask of you But to live justly and to love kindness and to walk with your True God in all humility?

God shows us through our relationship with Him, His commands, and how He interacts with Israel what His will is. While Micah is speaking out against people that knew these commands and chose to ignore them, it’s important to recognize that goodness aligns with the character of God. What God requires of us is to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly. Justice requires a right-standing in judgment, honesty in business, and protection for the vulnerable. People will use their power for personal gain, but God’s kingdom runs on justice and righteousness. We are called to live in compassion, faithfulness, and kindness instead of putting on an act of doing what is right. Humility means that we remain dependent, repentant, and submissive to God’s will. We can’t let out pride guide us, for it’s through God’s way that we find a life like Christ.

As we approach and ever-important election year, these three things are going to be important to see. We need to our leaders to lead with justice, providing equality in all parts of life, creating spaces of honesty and accountability for businesses, creating legislation to help protect our vulnerable populations, and avoiding using their position for personal gain. We need leaders that share compassion with their constituents, showing faith in their work to fix our broken systems and move to a place of a better world, and not leading with vitriol, but kindness. I’m not saying that we need a Christian leader, especially given the high publicity of Christianity with the rise of Christian nationalism and conservatism. I agree that there needs to be a separation of church and state. What I will say is that we need leaders that don’t lean on their wealth, their status, their recognition and achievements, and instead lead into the skills, talents, and needs of their communities.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: How can God’s wisdom help you during this election season?