Faith is a free gift of God, but living a faithful life of wisdom will come at a cost—that will be rewarded. Jesus was speaking to a large crowd filled with all types of people, including the Pharisees and Sadducees. He spoke to the crowd telling them that the cost of being his disciple would be great.

Jesus told the crowd that becoming his disciples might mean:

—Bearing their own cross,

—Choosing him, even over their family members,

—And sacrificing their lives.

Then he told them to “count the cost” and decide whether they would be willing to spend whatever it took to follow him.

Many of us have grown up around people who encouraged us to walk with God. Typically, walking with Jesus hasn’t felt costly, especially because the blessings have far outweighed the cost. 

Wisdom is the truth of God and the truth about God. It is very possible that living in God’s wisdom will begin to come at a cost. People who insist on sharing their faith may lose a promotion or even a job in the future. People who share God’s wisdom may lose invitations, or even friends, if they speak biblical truth to others.

Before you build a tower that displays all you believe, first “sit down and count the cost.” You can also count the reward. Will there be people, even family members, who go to heaven because you stood firm in the wisdom of God’s word? Will the blessings of your life well exceed the costs of being a disciple of Christ?

Some people still lose their lives because of their faith in Christ Jesus and the wisdom of his word. When we count the cost, what are we willing to pay in order to share the wisdom of the gospel with the people we know?

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Jesus taught his disciples there would be a price to pay to walk with him. Is the wisdom of Christ worth the cost? Say yes and you will live your life for his eternal reward.

Which of your friends will pray with you and for you? Which of your friends will listen and try to understand your needs? Which of your friends offer you quick opinions and which offer you wise counsel?

We have a lot of friends and acquaintances throughout our lives. Some friendships are for a season while others continue in some way through every season. All of us should pray for the Lord to guide us to the people who will bless our lives as friends and strengthen our walk with God. All of us should pray for the wisdom to be that kind of friend for others.

When I packed my mom’s possessions to move her into a new place, a friend helped me physically box up and label her things. She helped me finish a job and she helped me spiritually to accept the change. The rewards were a simplified task and spiritual blessings for both of us. 

When we have gone through medical challenges, friends were there to ease the realities of life and to pray for our spiritual needs as well. We can be there for people when they have needs, knowing they will be there for us someday as well. Friends “lift” one another up.

Which friends do you enjoy at parties or other social events? Who is most likely to help when there is work to be done? Which friends do you call when you need someone to pray or give wise counsel? Do you have someone who can fill all of those categories?

Whom have you thought about as you heard these words? Thank the Lord for the friendships he has blessed you with. God knew we needed to walk through this life as a community of faith and experience what it means to “love one another” as Christ loved us.

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Praise God for the friends who provide wise counsel and the love of God. Let’s pray for the wisdom to be that kind of friend to others because that effort brings “good reward” for each of us.

To fear the Lord is to live with a reverent awe of his infinite place and power in the world. Our understanding of God’s immeasurable character is simply the beginning of knowing him. The Apostle Paul said, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

If we studied God’s word and meditated on it day and night, we would still only begin to comprehend his greatness. Yet, that kind of thinking is the path to wisdom. If we aren’t careful, we will learn to value our own thoughts more than his. Foolish people “despise wisdom and instruction.”

Do you fear the Lord? Do you magnify him with reverent awe? 

Praying to God as your Father, knowing you are his beloved child, is good. We should rest in the knowledge that when the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, God was inviting everyone into his presence through faith in the sacrifice of his Son. But the priests were taught to enter God’s presence carefully prepared and thoughtful about his infinite greatness. 

Fearing God is the way to approach God with a personal yet profound understanding of his infinite character. When we enter God’s holy presence with reverent awe, we can experience his will and his wisdom. When we are given God’s wisdom, we would be foolish to consider it simply a suggestion. God’s wisdom and instruction reveal his loving will for our lives. The only response is our obedience.

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Fearing God is the pathway to our best advice and our most needed wisdom.

G. K. Chesterton is attributed as writing, “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.” An agnostic isn’t a person who does not believe in God as much as they are a person who doesn’t believe in believing.

In this era of endless information, we seem to lack an abundance of wisdom. We don’t lack ideas, opinions, and factual knowledge. We can search for answers about our health, wealth, and anything else we have questions about. Wisdom is knowing what to do with all we know. Wisdom is knowing what to believe and what to ignore.

I’m often surprised at the ideas and entertainment people fill their time and minds with. A science fiction movie used to be unusual; now those movies dominate the theaters. Why are people fascinated with all that cannot be true yet able to ignore what has been trusted and believed for centuries from the pages of God’s word? Why are we more fascinated by things created than we are by the Creator?

The simple will believe anything, which is really a belief in nothing. A “prudent” person is a person who thinks. Thinking takes time and energy. Discernment requires us to think with God’s perspective. Wisdom requires a desire for truth, not just a hunger for more ideas.

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Our best advice is the result of “prudent” thinking. We need to discern those thoughts and ideas that are authored by God. Wisdom is truth, and believing truth is wisdom. Will you think often about God’s wisdom and choose to believe him?

God created us to need other people in order to prosper in our lives. Just like our fingerprints, our gifts and abilities are uniquely our own. One of the best examples of the infinite wisdom of God is creation itself. We are each created to be loved and known personally by our Creator and to be cared for by him. God directs our paths, and he often directs our paths to intersect with others.

There are people God will bring into our lives for his unique purpose and some who will help us fulfill his calling in our lives. Each of us has wisdom to give as well as a need to receive wisdom from others. God’s word reminds us that we need to listen to those around us in order to gain the wisdom we need for our future. 

This month we will consider the many ways God uses others to guide us to a greater wisdom for our lives and a greater wisdom for our souls as well. Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. 

Are we willing to listen?

“Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” —Proverbs 11:14

A lot of people are able to give advice, but whose advice should you follow? The proverb teaches us that if we live our lives based solely on our own abilities, at some point we will fall. No one is created to know everything or with the ability to be right in every situation.

We need advice from others if we hope to gain a diverse and well-rounded understanding of our circumstances. How do we surround ourselves with people who will offer us wise counsel?

Seeking counsel from experts who write for the internet is common these days. Their advice comes instantly with one quick line typed into our computers. Our presumed “safety” is often looking at the number of stars, the comments, or the open rate of an article.

We can gain good advice on the internet, but “God advice” will require another level of thinking. When it comes to spiritual matters, we need to seek counselors who understand their need for God’s unique wisdom.

There is safety in the advice that is the direct result of a faithful prayer. There is wisdom in the advice that is born from a knowledge of God and his word. One of the goals of life should be to surround ourselves with people who can counsel us with good advice and God’s wisdom.

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. It’s important to consult the experts, but it’s equally important to submit their advice to the perfection of God’s teaching. We should surround ourselves with counselors who understand our need for God’s wisdom because they can offer his good advice and careful instruction.

*This episode originally aired on May 3rd.

Have you ever seen the phrase in Scripture “And God said” and wondered how the Lord spoke to that person? How did they know it was God? Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t seem to speak to you or others that way today?

God still speaks to his children, but we have his voice in a way that those in biblical times did not. Most of us have several Bibles on our shelves, not to mention access to God’s word through our technology. In the first century, only the priests and rabbis had access to the Old Testament scrolls. In the New Testament days and beyond, only some knew how to read. The letters and Gospels were usually read aloud to groups in the churches. For centuries, the Bible was painstakingly handwritten by priests who preserved the integrity of each word. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that people were given the chance to own a Bible, and it was the 1900s before owning a Bible became commonplace. 

We refer to the Bible as “God’s word.” But we could also refer to the Bible as God’s voice to his people today. We shouldn’t just read the words; we should learn to hear God speak his word, from the pages, especially those phrases that begin with “And God said.” 

Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan when he said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus used Scripture to answer Satan’s temptations and taught his disciples to do the same.

There are many remarkable statistics about the accuracy and history of our biblical text. Suffice it to say that the Bible is known to be a sacred and miraculous volume of historical and proven truth.

The Bible is God speaking his wisdom to us from its pages. Reading the Bible is time spent listening to the word and will of God. The Bible is the unchanging wisdom of our unchanging God. When you read Scripture, you can hear the words “And God said” from each page. The Bible is everything everyone needs to know in order to know and trust God’s authority in their life and live in obedience to his will.

God’s voice is the best source of his wisdom. He can speak into your life at any moment but will most often speak to you from the pages of his comprehensive, historical, miraculous word.

Yielding to God’s wisdom is spiritual strength. We live for God when we study and obey his voice of wisdom, written and preserved for us in the Bible.

(Today’s devotional was originally run on February 2, and is being re-run for leap year.)

Paul told the church in Ephesus, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:10–11a). It’s always been a challenge and a choice for God’s people to live according to his truth rather than our own. 

God’s word is the wisdom and discernment we need to make our daily choices. Scripture is our armor, our personal protection against the ideas and opinions the world imposes that can weaken our faith. We are called to stand firm against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). It’s so important to remember that we never stand alone or without God’s protection. 

We can stand firm, confident of our values and our calling, when we trust God’s word as our truth because it's the truth. 

The polls and predictions are interesting and often valuable information. The opinions of others are born from their God-given right to choose. The caution and protection of Scripture is understanding that our right to choose doesn’t guarantee our choices are right. We have to fasten on the belt of truth for it to serve as our protection. 

Do you truly believe something that is contrary to God’s truth? Has the culture become more convincing than Christ? Sometimes our right to choose truth becomes more important to us than choosing what is right. God’s word isn’t always popular, but it's always true. 

The Lord gives wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. The Lord gives us the ability to stand firmly each day when we choose to trust his word as our truth.