Wisdom Matters

Paul probably wrote his letter to the prosperous Roman colony of Philippi while under house arrest in Rome. He had intended to go to Rome, but not as a prisoner of the government. Yet, while under house arrest he wrote several letters that are now part of our Bibles. Paul had no idea that people would be reading his words to Philippi thousands of years later. 

Paul had been a successful, acclaimed Pharisee. His salvation cost him everything he had worked to have. The Apostle had been hunted, slandered, imprisoned, and arrested. He also lived with a condition he called his “thorn in the flesh,” which brought him a great deal of pain. Now, he was chained and a prisoner of the Roman government. 

Yet, the Apostle could say, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Paul had learned that his ministry was not limited to human effort; it was only bound by the will of God. Paul worked tirelessly for the sake of the gospel and endured great hardship. But Paul trusted God to use his work and bless the outcome, regardless of his earthly challenges. 

The word content in the Bible means accepting the circumstances God has allowed, knowing that God is always and abundantly sufficient for whatever needs we have. The key to contentment is accepting our limitations and understanding that our God has none. 

If Paul could be content to write from his prison, we can learn to be content with our circumstances. Our limitations cannot limit God. His will and his word will succeed. When you feel discouraged, just consider Paul’s words and his circumstances. If the Apostle learned to be content, so can we.  

Allow the words of Christ to dwell in you richly, knowing that contentment is our choice because of our salvation.

God doesn’t want to be our governor; he wants to be our King. God doesn’t ask his children to work for him from nine to five. He asks us to serve him 24/7. Why do God’s demands require our complete commitment? 

The Sermon on the Mount was the foundation of truth for Christ’s entire ministry. It's found in Matthew 5–7. Jesus was preaching what it would mean for a child of God to walk in obedience under the New Covenant. To sum it up, God’s children would need to make him their King. 

Jesus taught his disciples that the relationship the Lord wanted to have with them was that of a sovereign authority with a subject. Why is that the relationship God wants to have with each of us? 

Jesus taught that when we seek God’s word and will, and when we live a life that is righteous (right with him), then God is able to provide his blessings, now and eternally, to our lives. Jesus had already taught the crowd the Beatitudes, the model prayer, and other lessons about living a godly life. After he said those things, he taught them to “seek first” God’s sovereign reign in their lives. Jesus wanted his disciples to seek to be righteous so that all those promised blessings in the Beatitudes and other passages could be added to their lives. 

When we make God our King, he is able to direct our choices so that we live a life he is able to fully bless. God demands our complete commitment because that is the way he is most able to reward our earthly lives, now and eternally. 

What has become a higher priority than fulfilling these words of Christ? Allow the word of Christ to dwell in you richly and the Lord can add blessing upon blessing to your life now and to your life eternal.  

We have a King, not a governor.

When God spoke to the prophet Isaiah, he was really telling him, “Come, argue it out with me.” God would rather our words be real and our hearts honest when we come before him. He knows our struggles and when we struggle to believe. God is big enough for every doubt, every fear, and every disappointment. 

God told the prophet to come to him and we will argue it out. It's easy for God to invite us to a debate because he already knows how to win. God wants to win because he wants his best for our lives. 

The rest of the verse is a message that even a prophet of God needs to hear. The Lord told Isaiah that even though his sins were like scarlet, they could be as white as snow. In this era of history, scarlet was among the most saturated colors that a fabric could absorb. At the same time, a pure white color was rarely seen. Newly fallen snow would be the perfect example, or pure, washed wool. 

Our sins can saturate our lives at the deepest levels, but God can forgive and redeem us to be pure and guiltless in his eyes. That’s why God wants us to argue things out with him. He wants to win the argument so that we will submit ourselves to his truth and his ability to purify our lives. 

In what areas are you angry or disappointed with what God has allowed? What sins do you accept as part of your life that God doesn’t? What have you chosen to believe that his word teaches against? 

God wants to “argue it out” with you. He wants you to come to him with your thoughts so that he can fill you with his. Imagine: the God of the universe invites us to reason things out with him. Don’t hesitate to bring him any argument.  

He wants you to allow the word of Christ to dwell in you richly. That blessing is worth every discussion.

God judges our lives much differently than we judge others, even ourselves. In Psalm 139, the psalmist cries out to God because he has been misjudged and slandered by others. He doesn’t defend himself to his enemies. Instead, he goes to God and asks for God to judge his heart and his motives. 

The fact the psalmist wants God to judge his heart is his best defense. He wants to know what God thinks of his thoughts and his actions. He wants God to “search” his life and know him at his deepest, most secret levels.

It's comforting to realize that we can trust God to judge us in a way that benefits us. The psalmist wants to know God’s conclusions about his life because those are the only judgments that matter. 

How would our lives be changed if we petitioned God to search our hearts and thoughts? If we knew God’s judgment of our lives, would anyone else’s opinion carry much weight? 

We often make choices we think will bring approval from those around us. The psalmist sought the correction and approval of the best judge, God himself. He knows us, he loves us, and he wants the very best for us. At the end of the day, if we find ourselves right with God, does any other opinion truly matter? 

Allow the word of Christ to dwell in your life richly and, like the psalmist, you can eagerly ask God to search your heart and your thoughts because he will see his Son in your life. At the end of the day, his approval is all you truly need.

The Apostle John is the only apostle believed to have lived a long life and died a natural death. By the time John wrote his letter that we know as 1 John, he had watched the Christian church grow, thrive, and weaken. The Christian church offered an audience that some outside the faith wanted to influence or serve for personal gain. 

These outside speakers presented a message that appealed to many of those who were young in the faith and not strong in the teaching of the apostles. John’s heart for the people is seen in the way he addresses them as “Beloved.” They were his church, his “children” in the faith, and he didn’t want to see them lose sight of the true gospel message. 

John told the church he loved, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” It has always been important to distinguish between what sounds or seems like something God would say and submit those words to biblical truth. The culture has usually taught a message that differs from the message of Christ. 

As John said, “Many false prophets have gone out into the world.” John gives the same warning to Christians today. We don’t have to wonder if the culture is still influencing God’s people with a message that conflicts with God’s word. False prophets will always teach a false message. But John would warn that some of those false prophets will enter the church as well.

A false prophet is anyone who teaches a message contrary to the truth of God’s word. We have all heard a message like that, and, most likely at some point, we have delivered false truth as well. Many words are spoken “in the name of Christ” that aren’t authored by the “word of Christ.” 

How can you tell if someone is a false prophet? Allow the word of Christ to dwell in you richly. The best way to determine if a hundred-dollar bill is counterfeit is to study one that isn’t. The same is true of God’s word. When truth dwells in us “richly,” we will be able to discern more easily what is only partially true. Beloved, don’t believe every spirit. A true prophet teaches biblical truth, even when that truth is unpopular or unappreciated.  

A true prophet has allowed the word of Christ to dwell in their life and their message.

People are created in the image of God; therefore, we were created to “think.” So, it's important to remember that, apart from God’s Spirit, we aren’t able to think like God.  

We are human beings, living in a fallen world. Many of our thoughts are formed from our own desires, opinions, and dreams. God’s thoughts are always formed from his perfection. 

God is not capable of a wrong or selfish thought. Paul taught the early Christians that even as they had thoughts no one knew except themselves, so God has thoughts that no one but the Spirit can comprehend. And Christians have been given the Spirit of God. We won’t think like God, but the Holy Spirit within us will think as God.  

Every day we will have thousands of thoughts, and some of those thoughts will be authored or inspired by the Holy Spirit. God wants us to have his perspective, his priorities, and his plan. We can trust that the Holy Spirit will be directing us through our thoughts. We need “only listen” to our thoughts and pray for the spiritual discernment to distinguish those which are authored by God. “No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” 

Pause to consider the fact that you have been given his Spirit. You will have God thoughts every day. What did the Lord’s Spirit say today? You can trust that he will speak to you tomorrow. 

Allow the word of Christ to dwell in you richly. Christ’s words are the thoughts of God, inspired by the Spirit of God, so the children of God can comprehend the presence of God’s thoughts in their daily lives. We can know what God is thinking through his Holy Spirit!

God’s perfect peace is beyond understanding. His peace is the calm that carries a grieving spouse or parent through the funeral. His peace covers the fears that are real but don’t need to control or cloud our faith. God’s peace doesn’t deny realities; it's the greater reality our faith provides. 

His peace isn’t found because of our efforts to achieve it. God’s perfect peace is the result of being “kept,” or held, by his sufficiency rather than our own. Sometimes the most difficult part of achieving his peace is learning to submit our best efforts to his perfection. 

We do all that we can hoping we will achieve all we want. God’s perfect peace is the result of trusting in the One who fully knows what we need. The person whose mind is “stayed” on God understands that every other resource is imperfect. When we “stay,” or fix, our minds on God, we don’t escape our challenges; we simply allow God’s peace to transcend our challenges. 

Jesus said, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). When tough times come, it's common to feel like God has let us down or our faith isn’t strong enough. But the promise of Scripture is that we “will have tribulation.” We can take heart, not because God promised to spare us from trials, but because he promised that we would overcome those trials. Our peace is trusting his promises for life eternal rather than expecting that those promises are alway provided for in our lives on earth.  

How can we have God’s peace? We can allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly. Jesus said we would have tribulation, then he said we would overcome—because he did. In the tough times, we fix our eyes on Christ, fill our minds with his truth, and then we can receive the peace that passes all understanding because we trust his love.

My favorite moment at a wedding is the look on the bride and groom’s faces when they first see one another. There are many other people in the room but only one face that each other most wants to see. 

I love watching people at the airport as they are looking for that family member who has been serving overseas. Urgency changes to joy when they spot their loved one’s face. So it will be when we meet Jesus face-to-face. The skies will open up and we will see him come, eager to take us home. 

First Chronicles was written to the nation of Israel as a reminder of their history and to encourage them with the knowledge that the Lord had always been faithful to them, ensuring future generations would be able to know and follow God. Why would that always be true? 

There will always be people who look to the Lord and his strength. Faith is a legacy we leave to others when we “look” to him for our wisdom and strength. The verb look describes the action of looking for something in order to possess it for ourselves. Our most valuable possession is the Lord and the strength he provides. 

To look for the Lord, we “seek his face always.” When a mother wants her young child to listen with focus, she takes the child’s face in her hands and says, “Look at me.” That is a picture of what Scripture means when it describes “seeking God’s face.” We are to focus on him, undistracted by anything else. We are to look for him like the groom looks for his bride. We are to seek him with urgency knowing our joy will be seeing his face.

How can we seek God “always?” We allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly. The voice of Christ is “present” in his word. When we look to the Lord in Scripture, we find his strength and we learn how to recognize his presence throughout the day.  

And one day, we will meet him face-to-face. That wedding is a day to look forward to now.

Charles Sheldon published In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? in 1896, and there have been more than fifty million copies purchased since that time. The book is one of the best-selling books of all time. It's a Christian classic that illustrates the truth of Psalm 119:15. 

How would our lives change if we applied the precepts of Scripture and the “ways” Jesus taught his followers to live to our own lives? In His Steps is about a church that decides to ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?” and how that one choice changed their lives and their town as a result. 

In the Bible, a “precept” means a commandment or an instruction. The psalmist told the Lord, “I will meditate on your precepts.” It's so important to read God’s word as the pure truth it is. It's equally important to think about God’s word until it becomes the truth we live.  

What choice did the word of God cause you to make today? How did God’s laws and Christ’s teaching alter a decision you were making? That is the result of meditating on the word of God. The words become knowledge, the knowledge becomes wisdom, and then wisdom governs our lives.  

The psalmist says to “consider” the ways of God. In the thousands of thoughts we have each day, how many of those thoughts are dedicated to thinking about Sheldon’s important question: “What would Jesus do?”

When we “allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly,” we allow the example of Christ to be formed in our thoughts. If the most important influence we have is the example of Christ, then we will walk “in his steps.” 

Every day is an opportunity to “dwell” with the word of Christ and do those things that Jesus would do. Christians are the hands and feet of Christ in our world. We should meditate on his word so we can walk in his ways.

Information is easily and quickly accessible, but wisdom requires some time to acquire. It seems a simple thought, but it takes time to think. Those who think wisdom is simple are more likely to believe answers they have googled. The prudent person understands that wisdom is taking the necessary time to think about what they know, to determine what they should do. 

We have all made snap decisions and some of them have worked out well. Sometimes our quick choices have led us to do something we needed to undo later. We live in a culture that values quick decision making. We also live in a culture that believes the most efficient road to knowledge is the internet. But that's true only some of the time. 

We also live in a culture often driven by opinion rather than truth. “The simple believes everything,” and that has become more and more evident among those whose thinking has been impacted by technology and the media.  

Knowledge is most effective when it has been thoughtfully considered and prayerfully thought through. It takes time to submit what we have come to know to the One who knows all things. That is the difference between having knowledge and having wisdom. 

God provided his word and his Holy Spirit so we could have God’s thoughts in our lives. Most of our choices have both a physical and spiritual perspective. If we know God’s word on the subject, we have the truth. God doesn’t always function in the realm of the practical or logical. In fact, God often leads us in a direction that requires faith. He wants us to know we are better off trusting him than ourselves. 

It takes time to think about what we know in light of what God has said. That is why Scripture tells us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. When we are prudent and “give thought to our steps” the words and will of Christ direct our choices. It takes some time, but mostly it takes our willingness to include our Lord in our thought process. 

Jesus wants us to believe him and not to believe anything which he has said isn’t biblical wisdom. That is the difference between being simple-minded and prudent with our choices. Taking time to think with God will save us from making a lot of unwise choices and help us undo a few mistakes we made along the way. 

Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly so that we may discern God's truth over the world’s.