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In over 50 years as a pastor, I’ve witnessed many dumb decisions.
After listening to people say, “I just paid $50,000 for a race car without telling my wife,” or “I told my daughter never to come back home,” or “I left because I don’t love my husband,” I’ve often asked my wife …
Why do people make such dumb decisions?
The simple answer — they lack wisdom. Getting wisdom isn’t complicated, as James writes, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you” (James 1:5). But a few verses later, James says that those who lack wisdom are “unstable in everything that they do” (v. 8).
It shouldn’t be a surprise that wisdom makes the difference between good and bad decisions. But how do we get this wisdom that God generously gives? Back to James …
But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6-7).
Faith brings wisdom. The Greek word in the Bible for faith is “pistis,” meaning an idea in which you are “strongly persuaded is true.” Faith isn’t a mystical good feeling or something we get from singing “Away in a Manger” at a Christmas Eve service.
From reading the Bible cover to cover about 100 times (twice a year for over fifty years), I’ve concluded that to receive wisdom, we must have faith or be strongly persuaded in three beliefs …
- Jesus is God and our Lord and Savior. He saves us and gets to tell us what to do.
- The Bible is true and accurate. It’s not just an inspirational story but divinely inspired God’s Word to us.
- Be filled with the Spirit, as Paul writes, “May [God] give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (Ephesians 1:17). Too many believers don’t know how to hear the Spirit’s voice.
Wisdom comes from a strong persuasion (faith) that God exists, He sent His Son Jesus, that Jesus is the Word, that the Spirit writes the Word in the Bible, and also believing Jesus when He says, “[The Spirit] will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
With God providing Jesus, the Bible, the Spirit, and wisdom, why do Christians still make dumb decisions? How do we keep our faith and lives from becoming waves tossed back and forth in a stormy sea?
The Book of James contains two great passages on gaining wisdom: James 1:5-8, which defines faith as the key for gaining wisdom, and James 3:13-18, which describes “wisdom from below” (avoid) and “wisdom from above” (chase after).
We find these signatory marks in “wisdom from below” in James 3: bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.
We also find these signatory marks in “wisdom from above” in James 3: pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere.
To discern the correct fruit of our decisions before they mar our lives, first check your motives for bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, then ask the Spirit within, “Will this decision bring peace?”
Remember …
But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying (James 3:14, NLT).
And …
And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness (James 3:18).
And finally …
Have faith!