Wisdom From Above

The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

James 3:17

A ten-year-old boy in St. Cloud, Minnesota, barely missed being hit by a UFO (in this case, an “unusual flying object”). A local television station reported that a laptop computer fell out of a medical helicopter and tumbled through the air, hitting the ground with a crash that sounded like a gunshot. It landed inches from the boy. The little fellow ran to his aunt, crying, “Something just fell out of the sky and almost hit me!”

That’s not what the Bible has in mind when it talks about the “wisdom from above” (James 3:17). No matter how much data is on a laptop, it can’t crash into your brain. Only God’s wisdom can descend from the sky and change your thinking.

The Bible speaks of two kinds of wisdom—wisdom from below and wisdom from above. God’s wisdom has little to do with age, and spiritual maturity isn’t determined by experience. It is a matter of having an open heart toward the Lord and an open Bible on your desk. The books of Proverbs and James are great resources for those wanting to understand the wisdom from above. Why not scan one of those books and find a verse to memorize today?

No chain of pearl you wear so adorns you as wisdom.

THOMAS WATSON^a