CAC Living Water Devotional - Genuine Wisdom

CAC Living Water Daily Devotional 8th September 2021 - Genuine Wisdom

Topic: Genuine Wisdom

Text: James 3:13-18

James 3:13-18  Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Memorise: For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there (James 3:16)

EXPOSITION

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Men have rejected true wisdom in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and have chosen to live their lives according to their own perceived intelligence, which results in jealousy, envy, ambition, strife, and every kind of evil work. On this day, which commemorates International Literacy Day, it must be realised that true wisdom can be measured by the depth of a person’s character. Just as you can identify a tree by the type of fruit it produces, you can evaluate a man’s wisdom by the way he acts.

Foolishness leads to disorder, but genuine wisdom leads to peace and goodness. Bitter envy and selfish ambition are inspired by the devil. It is easy for us to be drawn into wrong desires of the society, and sometimes by even well-meaning Christians. By listening to the advice: “Assert yourself,” “Go for it,” “Set high goals,” we can be drawn into greed and destructive competiveness. Seeking God’s wisdom delivers us from the need to compare ourselves to others and to covet what they have. Jesus is the power and wisdom of God, and in Him we have all we need for purity of heart and cleanliness in thought, word and deed (cf. 2 Pet. 1:3).

In his epistle, Apostle James is seeking to direct us in the way of wisdom and peace, together with humility, goodness and grace, whilst he desires to warn us against foolishness and hostility, selfish ambition and every evil thing. May we seek after the wisdom that comes from God, which is a pure wisdom, in thought, word and deed. May we strive after the wisdom from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering and without hypocrisy. Receiving Jesus into your heart equals to receiving the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:30), then in every way, one would like to be like Jesus.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Father, grant me the grace to seek all I need for purity of heart and cleanliness in thought, word and deed from Jesus Christ.

2. Lord Jesus, help me through the power of the Holy Spirit to seek after the wisdom of God which leads to peace and goodness.

3. Holy Spirit, empower all Christians to strive after the wisdom from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, in Jesus’ name.

EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Psalms 119:2 – 119:64; 1 Corinthians 12:11 – 13:1