“Wisdom” || What Makes a Believer? || Week 7 (FINALE)

Welcome to Week 7 and the finale of “What Makes a Believer?”. This series is about the different characteristics of what a believer is. There are a ton of characteristics to talk about according to my Study Bible. We’re taking the time to talk about seven different characteristics that I feel can be expounded upon. I want to reiterate something:

I DO NOT HAVE A DEGREE IN ANY FORM OF THEOLOGY. I AM NOT A PASTOR. I DO NOT HAVE ANY PREACHING OR THEOLOGICAL LICENSES. I AM JUST A YOUTH AND CHILDREN’S MINISTRY LEADER THAT ENJOYS DIVING DEEPER INTO THE BIBLE. THESE ARE MY OPINIONS BASED OFF MY STUDIES, SCRIPTURES, AND PERSONAL TESTIMONY. 

I say all that even though no one has come to me and questioned what I’ve said, how I’ve said it, or that I’ve taken scripture out of context. I always want to call that out to make people aware of it before we jump into it. It’s a failsafe for me honestly.

Last week, we discussed how believers are to be sincere. This week, we will talk about how believers are to be wise. What does it mean to be wise? Let’s do my favorite thing and define it. To be wise means: “having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgment”. There are three parts to wisdom per the definition: experience, knowledge, and good judgment. These aspects are something that we see a lot in the Bible. We see the experiences of Jesus and the apostles as they progressed through their ministry. We see the knowledge of the authors, especially in the New Testament, regarding their historical value and importance of the scriptures in general. We see good judgment from a variety of characters in the Bible and from God himself, and how we can receive and use that same type of judgment. So, let’s see what the Bible tells us about wisdom. Join me in the only focal scripture for today.

1st Scripture: Proverbs 16:21

The book of Proverbs, or “The Proverbs of Solomon”, pulls together the most important 513 of the 3,000+ proverbs pondered by Solomon, along with others that Solomon likely influenced. Proverbs is a book of comparisons between common, concrete images and life’s most profound truths. Proverbs are simple, moral statements that highlight and teach fundamental realities about life. Our focal verse is Proverbs 16:21 and it says:

  21 The skilled mind is called discerning, and pleasant speech enhances teaching.

My ESV study bible calls this “skilled mind” the “wise of heart”. So it takes some skill to be wise. That makes sense to me. It would take a lot of skills to attain the experience, knowledge, and judgment capabilities needed to become wise as a believer. Discernment takes those three points of wisdom into consideration. To have the experience is asking God: “What should I do?” To have the knowledge is asking God: “What do I need to know?” To have good judgment is asking God: “Is what I am doing a part of Your plan?”

Those are tough questions to ask and even tougher questions to have answered. What you should do may take you out of your comfort zone. What you need to know maybe not a lot to make you upset or too much and now you are overwhelmed. Seeing if what you’re doing is a part of God’s plan again is something that could upset you, make you uncomfortable, scare you, among many other emotions. That’s where this wisdom and discernment comes in. This is where patience and a keen ear comes in. Look at the 2nd half of this verse though.

“Pleasant speech enhances teaching.” These are “honeyed words” (hang on a moment) that reflect intelligence, judgment, and discernment in speech. This is an elegant speech from the wise. What are the honeyed words? Check out Proverbs 16:24. It says:

  24 Pleasant words are flowing honey, sweet to the taste, and healing to the bones.

These words are sweet to say and good for others. That’s wisdom should be. It should be positive from your mouth. It should be instructive for others. As Solomon says, it’s “healing to the bones”. Make sure the wisdom you say meets these two caveats. Also, don’t make up your own wisdom. People can see right through that. If you don’t have any positive words to say, then say nothing. It’s not worth adding more fuel to the fire. This leads to my only point:

1st Point: Use your wisdom wisely. 

Make sure you discern how you give and receive your wisdom. That is the last piece of wisdom from me for this message and for this series. I really hope you enjoyed this series as much as I did. Stay tuned for whatever comes next. As I mentioned before, there will probably be one more blog wrapping up November among some other things. Who really knows? I am still looking at taking December off for a time of rest. We’ll see. It’s the end of September when I’m writing this, and as 2020 has shown, who knows what’s next. See you then! Stay blessed!