“13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
When my oldest sister was very young, she was playing in the front yard with the sprinkler. My parents, told her to go to the back yard and play. Grappling with this charge from mom and dad, she pondered what to do. What happened next was the funniest thing I have heard in a while. My sister decided to take the sprinkler to the back yard only she does not turn off the water nor does she take the sprinkler off the hose. She picks up the sprinkler and tries to run it through the house, the shortest distance, to the back yard. However, the hose was not long enough so the sprinkler continued to spray and our living room got watered that day. Sometimes what we think is the best course of action might not be the wisest.
James, the brother of Jesus, is speaking here about two kinds of wisdom. The wisdom of the world and wisdom of the Lord. Verse 13 is a charge for all of us that automatically think we have all the wisdom and came in floating on a cloud. Before you downplay this group, let me dive a little into it first. James asks of this crowd, “let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” The definition of humility is, “a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness”. We can all say we have acted with humility and I truly think most all of us have at one time or the other. But lets think about how you acted when things don’t go your way. When arguments arise, when disagreements come to light. How do you act? Did you get angry? Did you get out of control? Did you go into isolation mode and not talk to that person, your wife, your husband, your coworker?
Since we have all been there, verse 14 is a call to order for all of who think we were right and they were wrong and what whatever we did was justified. It reads, “But if you harbor bitter envy an selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.” Verse 15 is the concrete bottom of our actions, it reads, “Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” Yes, the truth is that all the bravado that just got you into trouble and you are thinking you have won the fight was not a Godly thing, it was what the devil wanted you to do. You just got played! Thinking that this fight was a good thing and the other person needed to hear it as you threw the Bible at them to justify your behavior and to demonize theirs is the wisdom on the world, demonic, destructive, and not from God.
The good news is that James outlines wisdom from God and how, if we use it, our lives should look and what this behavior reproduces. The wisdom of God “is first of pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who so in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” If you use this Godly wisdom then I doubt you will ever get into “it” with your spouse, your friend, your coworker ever again. The bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:19 that the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. In other words, the only way to understand Godly wisdom is to get it from the Bible because anything else in this world will lead you astray. Look back at the last time you won the fight, how you felt and what you said to the person who was there to get the recap? If it did not end in something that was giving birth to righteousness then you need to go back to the Word and get it right. Don’t let the damage of your worldly wisdom break what the Lord has given you. Satan would like nothing less than to steal, kill, and destroy everything the Lord has given you.
Prayer: Father, I declare that I will erase any worldly wisdom left inside of me. I replace it with your wisdom and I pray that I bolden that with a deeper understanding of your love and your Word. In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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