Those who do the work of the ministry understand that we are increasingly at “war” with the values and goals the world teaches. One of the earliest pictures in Scripture is the battle between Cain and Abel. Throughout Scripture we see God’s people advancing his cause through battles and defending their cause for the sake of his Kingdom purpose.

Paul wrote, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). If you want to serve God, it will be difficult not to accrue some animosity along the way. That’s why the advice of Proverbs 24:5–6 should be considered and highly valued.

The proverb teaches God’s people to be wise because that places us at a position of strength and might. A person who knows God has increased their spiritual power so they can “wage war” against the world’s ideas that are counter to God’s plans and priorities.

Satan has always been and will always be at work in the world perverting or redefining God’s word and will. God’s wisdom is our best guidance that will help us wage war against Satan and his armies. We don’t wage war alone. As the author of the proverbs says, “In an abundance of counselors there is victory.” 

The armed services have a “ranking” system for a reason. Some soldiers have the wisdom and experience to lead others into a battle and are given positions like sergeants, generals, or admirals. Others go to battle by following the direction of others. Victory depends on everyone fulfilling their important role.

You have probably sung the hymn lyric, “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus, going on before.” Christians are to follow our Lord into whatever battle he calls us toward. We are called to be soldiers and serve our General. We serve in an army that has already been promised victory. Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. As we gain wisdom, we gain spiritual might and, when necessary, we are able to wage war against anything that stands against God’s truth. 

We can sing the wisdom of the hymn hearing the call, “onward Christian soldier.” Wisdom is our powerful weapon in an important war.

Doctors suggest an annual check-up in order to remain healthy. Our car’s dashboard will light up when we need maintenance. Our monthly bank statement helps us to know if we are spending and saving like we should. We need “checks and balances” in our lives, and Paul suggests that we know the same is true for our spiritual lives as well.

How long has it been since you placed your spiritual growth under a bright light to determine the health of your soul?

Paul said, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.” You are reading or listening to Wisdom Matters because you understand that your soul needs to be strengthened by the wisdom of God’s word. But living for God is different than simply living with a knowledge of God. We need to examine our actions and our choices and discern how closely and carefully we are living according to the wisdom of God’s word.

Thinking and carefully measuring our spiritual growth takes time. Are you more likely to consume spiritual meat or spiritual milk? Meat is the time you spend searching God’s word for yourself and listening to God’s voice of direction in your own life. Milk is the amount of time you spend listening to the words and ideas about God that someone else has provided. 

I’m glad you are part of Wisdom Matters, but my hope is that my thoughts will drive you to search the Scriptures for the thoughts God wants to author just for you. We all consume both meat and milk. Paul used that picture to describe what a mature Christian should be consuming more often. Babies take in only milk. You are strong and growing when you learn to consume God’s word for yourself.

Paul said, “Make the best use of time, because the days are evil.” We live in a busy culture that doesn’t leave us much time for quiet, prayerful, individual study of God’s word. The days are evil because this world is Satan’s kingdom. Each time you step away from the world to spend time with God, you have made the best use of your time. 

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Allow resources like Wisdom Matters to draw you into God’s word so that you can then pursue his will and wisdom for yourself. We all need “meat” to grow and stay spiritually strong. I’m happy to provide the “milk” as a healthy beverage on the side.

All of us have given and received both good and bad advice. Christians are called to be discerning but not judgmental, and that is often a fine line to walk. Proverbs 12:26 provides a key factor that will help us discern good advice from bad. 

The proverb tells us, “One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor.” If a person is right with God, their advice or suggestions will be motivated by a desire to help us live in obedience to God’s truth and fulfill God’s plan. The proverb also wants the reader to know that a wicked person, a person who is motivated by something other than God, can lead us astray.

Maybe you are a person whose advice is often sought by others. There is a word from this proverb that should give our words some boundaries. When we are asked for advice, we should pray before we speak our thoughts and ideas. Our words need to be Spirit-led and Spirit-motivated. If we give someone our thoughts instead of God’s, they may not be sound advice and might even lead that person astray.

The discernment the Holy Spirit provides will always agree with biblical truth. We are taught to seek advice in Scripture but also warned to be discerning about every word of advice we are given. A righteous person will give us our best advice. Living as a righteous person will enable us to offer the best advice to others. 

None of us can be perfectly right with God all of the time. Life circumstances can draw us away from God if we aren’t watchful. That said, it’s important to discern the times in our lives when we are able to give advice from the other times when we might need to seek it from others.

Our words can be authored and used by God to bless others, and they can also do harm to someone’s life. God is gracious to forgive but calls us to be thoughtful and careful with the advice we use and the advice we give. Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. One thing is certain: the safest advice to live and give will always be the wisdom learned at the center of God’s will.

The Apostle Paul was teaching Timothy to be a leader in the early Christian movement. Timothy was a young man and needed to be careful with his choices so that he could fulfill his calling to the ministry. It has been said that the most significant influences in a person’s life choices occur in their early twenties.

Paul gave Timothy advice that all ministers and all Christians should consider. Paul taught Timothy to “have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths.” There were a lot of those myths in the first-century Greco-Roman culture, and those philosophies had crept into the church.

The mythology of the Greeks and the famous Greek philosophers were very popular in the first century. We might compare that influence with the influence that media and technology have on our culture today. The early Christians enjoyed the plays and speeches they heard at the coliseums. When popular or smart people trusted a false god for their crops, their health, or their politics, it was easy for the early Christians to want to add those gods to their thinking as well. Every culture has had popular influences that were not godly thinking.

Paul used a good example for how to handle an ungodly influence. He said “bodily training” is often a good thing but then talked about how much more important it was to train for and value what was godly. Some of the popular influences in our lives can make our earthly lives more successful, but Paul discussed our greatest influences should positively impact our eternal lives as well.

There are benefits to reading the “experts” in their fields and learning from their advice.  Working for success in this world isn’t a bad thing. Paul was teaching Timothy that those “advisors” were not giving the most important advice. Paul wanted Timothy to surround himself with people who had a godly perspective. Their advice would be helpful on earth and helpful to Timothy’s kingdom purpose as well.

One of the greatest myths of the first century and our culture today is that we can separate our lives from our religion. Some teach that the rules of the church don’t apply to the rules of the office. That isn’t biblical thinking, but it is increasingly popular thinking. 

Have you been influenced by the irreverent, silly myths that have always existed in popular thought? Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. We all need to train ourselves to live with a biblical perspective on all things. That will be our blessing on earth and our blessing for life eternal.

If you are like me, you have a wide assortment of friends and family members with whom you interact. We have friends we want to travel with and others who might fall more into the category of fun acquaintances. We associate with people at work or church whom we enjoy in those settings. The proverb above isn’t to be applied to everyone in our lives, but it should be applied to those relationships that have a strong presence or influence.

The proverb teaches us to “make no friendship” with someone who is driven by anger or wrath. Like God, we should look at a person’s motivations. Only then can we discern the importance or value of the relationship. Anyone we spend a great deal of time with will eventually begin to impact our own thoughts and character.

I was a young newlywed when I went to work as a secretary in a real estate office. One of the men I worked with had been in the Navy. To put it bluntly, he spoke like a sailor! Sometimes a string of words would fly out of his mouth and embarrass us both. I tried not to judge him because that was the vocabulary he had been exposed to for years and years, and he was a good person. 

After I had worked with him for several months, his language began to impact my thoughts. One night I was pulling dinner out of the oven and hit my hand on the side of the oven. I was shocked when the first word that popped into my head was not a word I would ever want to repeat.

I was around this person a lot and his language influenced my thoughts. Thankfully, he didn’t influence what I actually chose to say! He was someone I learned to appreciate in many ways, but not someone I would choose as a close friend. I didn’t become “entangled” in his vocabulary, even though it did influence my thoughts. That is what the author of the proverb was teaching. We should be “in the world” but always aware we shouldn’t become “like the world” we live in.

The people we take into our hearts, and especially into our souls, should be people whose influence draws us closer to the Lord. Our friendships should encourage and support our sanctification rather than weaken the character God has called us to have.

If a person is driven by anger, wrath, or any other kind of sin, be cautious to limit their influence in your life. Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Our deepest friendships should bless us with godly influence and help us walk more closely with God.

If you had to create a list of wise people, whose names would you write? There are people we know and trust to give us wise counsel and biblical advice. As I type these words, I am thinking of the list I would write. They share one common character trait. Their lives, words, and character reflect the meekness of wisdom.

In order to understand “the meekness of wisdom,” we need to understand what the word meek means in the Bible. Our culture doesn’t define it the same way anymore. In the Bible, meek is the picture of a powerful stallion controlled by and submitted to the small bit placed in his mouth. A meek person is never a weak person in Scripture. In fact, it is the opposite. 

The meekness of wisdom is simply found in a person who has gained a powerful knowledge of God and has been filled with his strength. Their wisdom is then submitted to the direction and control of God.

Who is wise and understanding among you? The person whose life indicates that they are filled with the powerful wisdom of God and yielded to his leadership. I look for these people and cherish their help.

We should be able to create a list of wise people to study and learn from. At the same time, we should make it a personal goal to live our lives in the “meekness of wisdom.” It will require careful study, dedication, and most of all the reverent humility necessary to submit ourselves to the authority of God.

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Who are the “wise and understanding” people in your life? 

Oh Lord, let us listen, learn, and be willing to gain your wisdom. Then Lord, may we have the meekness to live with our strengths submitted to your will.

We have all made some quick decisions that turned out quite well. On the other hand, if you are like me, it’s the quick decisions that have most often required my repentance.

We have all received a hasty text from a friend that hit us the wrong way. We have all sent a text like that as well. We can communicate so rapidly these days that often our choice of words is not a thoughtful choice. We can even hit “send” only to realize our words went to the wrong person. Texting and emailing have made our lives much easier, but it is important to slow down long enough to consider how our hastily written words might impact the reader.

If we are diligent, we cannot be hasty. Diligence means steady, earnest, and devoted to working carefully with great effort. Christians have a lot of influence that depends on our lives and words. We should be diligent about our choices, careful to give the time needed to think things through.

The wisdom of Proverbs 21:5 teaches us that we should be diligent with our plans. In other words, we are to work through our plans carefully considering God’s will in all the possibilities. If we are diligent with our choices, they will likely lead to an abundance of God’s blessings.

The proverb goes on to warn that those who are hasty come to poverty, having to do without. Wisdom teaches that it is the thoughtful person who makes fewer mistakes, hurts fewer people, and gains greater reward. 

Wisdom isn’t gained in a day; it is the result of carefully, diligently working to live thoughtful lives. It takes time to think. It takes time to be diligent. Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. God’s word teaches us to slow down and live diligently. Therein lies an abundance of God’s blessings.

Who in your life have you invited to “speak up” when you wander from God? Whose friendship is both enjoyable and valuable to your life? Who would list your name if asked those questions?

Our culture has become so careful with words that often words have lost any real meaning. Opinions have become truth to the people who hold them, whether or not the opinions are truth. People are often more willing to speak up when they agree than they are when they disagree, even when they know what is right. We live in a culture that values tolerance, even when what we tolerate causes harm to ourselves and others. 

The wisdom of Proverbs 27:5–6 is no longer the wisdom of the world. Yet, it remains the timeless wisdom of the ages. Empty words that sound nice are not as valuable as the truth, even when the truth hurts the hearer.

A true friend, if they are faithful to God and faithful friends to us, will speak the truth even when their words might wound. A friend who tolerates our weaknesses won’t help us grow stronger in the Lord. If a friend truly loves us, they will want us to be right with God and live for his blessing. All of us need that kind of friend from time to time, and all of us need to be that kind of friend as well.

A valuable friend is someone who will help you live right with God and true to his word. A Christian earns the right to hold someone accountable by living a strong spiritual life and loving their friends. We can invite those friends to help us remain accountable to our God. 

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Every Christian should have friends whose advice and instruction are wisdom for us. We should also work to become that kind of wise and helpful friend to others.

Romans 12:1 teaches us to present our bodies, our earthly lives, as a living sacrifice to God. We are to be holy and make acceptable choices because that is an act of worship to him as our Lord. Romans 12:2 teaches us why we should want to live a holy and sacrificial life and how we can do that.

Our faith in Jesus has changed our lives more than we probably realize. If we could snap our fingers and see ourselves as we could have been without faith in Jesus, we would probably be shocked by the differences.

Jesus has “transformed” our lives in ways we may or may not realize. We have a new way of thinking and feeling about the things of the world. We have a new sensitivity toward people and their feelings. We have new standards for what are acceptable and right behaviors. 

We can sense God’s favor and we can sense God’s displeasure as well. We can think with God because our faith in Jesus has renewed our mind. We can know what God is thinking because we know his word and his will for us. God doesn’t want the world to influence who we are. God wants us to reflect his holiness, knowing and doing what is good, acceptable, and perfect.

Your faith has changed your life, and it will continue to change who you are, how you think, and all that you do—as long as you continually live in sacrificial service to God. None of us will, but all of us can. We each have a daily, moment-to-moment choice to either live a conformed life or a transformed life.

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Wisdom is knowing that your faith can change every moment you submit to God.

If you have chosen to subscribe to Wisdom Matters, you are likely a person who has chosen Jesus to be your Savior and your Lord. You are also likely to recognize that living faithfully is a constant challenge. Some days we walk hand in hand with God while other days we might feel we have wandered, strayed, or even become completely lost.

A lot of Scripture is written in a continuous tense, meaning we are never to stop. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). Jesus spoke those words in the continuous tense. In other words, Jesus said, “Ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking.” 

Christians are continuously filled with the power and Presence of Christ through his Holy Spirit. There is never a moment we are without his strength, power, advice, and direction—unless we choose to focus on something else.

How do we live with a constant faith, continuously filled and controlled by God’s Spirit? We can follow the psalmist’s advice. We can offer our praise to God all day, thanking him for his voice, his guidance, and his peace. We can constantly pray for his will and his strength. We can ask ourselves throughout the day if we are pleasing him with our words and choices. God wants to bless us continuously with an awareness of his holy, perfect Presence in our lives.

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Here is some good advice for this moment. Realize that if you are a Christian, his Spirit never leaves you and his Presence is always within you. Sense his joy, right now, as you realize the enormity of his gift. Spend time with him, simply enjoying your loving Father who enjoys the time he is spending with you.