Have you ever planted a garden but weren’t motivated to weed and water your garden? What happens? Your heart is the garden, and you plant truth and wisdom from God’s Word into your heart. Fearing God and obeying His commands is the beginning of wisdom. Let’s say you fear God and obey Him and pray for wisdom, but what do you do to cultivate that wisdom, so it grows in your life and produces fruit?
Review of the two types of wisdom.
There are two kinds of wisdom; which one are you cultivating? We learned in part 3 that worldly wisdom comes from experience but is biased. It is often jealous of others and selfishly wants what they have (James 3:14-16). God gives godly wisdom. What is godly wisdom? James 3:17 says, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” Therefore, a person who seeks to be wise is also at peace with themselves and those around them. So, strive to be humble, gentle, and sincerely open to reason and other people’s ideas and desires. I can only imagine what the world would be like if everyone would get rid of their self-centered pride and arrogance, then humbly value others as more important than themselves (Romans 12:3). A wise person is humble and seeks to do good for others (James 3:13).
How do we cultivate the wisdom God gives us?
I found seven ways we can stay motivated to cultivate wisdom, knowledge of God’s truths, and insight in our lives. As I have been studying wisdom, I realize that we need to desire wisdom, knowledge, and insight (understanding) more than anything else. I learned that wisdom keeps us on the path of righteousness and protects us from evil. I also realize that wisdom, knowledge, and understanding must be cultivated every day.
1. You need to delight in growing God’s truth in your heart by desiring to learn the wise truths of God found in the Bible. Psalm 51:6 states, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.”
2. Know that life is short, so seek to be wise with every day God gives you. Psalm 90:12 states, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
3. Do not forget to seek the Bible’s wisdom daily. Love wisdom more than gold and silver. When you get wisdom, you also get the knowledge and insight of truth to make the right decisions. According to dictionary.com (2022), insight is penetrating mental vision or discernment and the ability to see into inner character or underlying truth. Wisdom will guard your mind and your life. Proverbs 4:5-6 states, “Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. 6Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.” And Proverbs 4:7-9 states, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. 8Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. 9She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”
4. Be prudent, and you will have wisdom. Dictionary.com (2022) says that prudence is being cautious about practical matters, using discretion, and being frugal (careful). Someone who is prudent does not make rash decisions. Proverbs 8:12 states, “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.” Discretion is the quality of being discreet (careful, restrained), especially concerning one’s choice of actions or speech.
5. Seek and take godly advice to build wisdom in your life. Proverbs 13:10 states, “By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.” And Proverbs 19:20 states, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.”
6. Discernment is recognizing what is true and correct, which eliminates unhealthy beliefs to increase wisdom, so you know the right decision to make. Proverbs 14:8 states, “The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving.”
7. Discipline gives you the power to grow in wisdom, knowledge of God, and understand the truth by removing sinful and foolish thinking. Proverbs 29:15 states, “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.” God also reproves us when we are not wise but act on our foolish thinking. Hebrews 12:6-11 tells us, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. 7It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children, not sons. 9Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” The goal of discipline is to be holy, which means to be set apart to bring glory to God. When we act on sinful and foolish thinking, we don’t bring God glory, so He lovingly disciplines us. The discipline of God also teaches us to be wise so we make the right choices.
Conclusion:
If you desire free, organic fruits and vegetables, you need to grow them yourself. Sure, you can go to the farmer’s market or the grocery store to get fruits and vegetables, but they will cost a lot. In the same way, you can go to church to learn about wisdom and get some wisdom, but the wisdom you get when you dig into the Word of God will be a more significant benefit. Just as a garden needs to be prudently weeded and diligently watered to produce a harvest. So, our hearts need to be kept free of sinful, foolish thoughts and filled with God’s truths, so we produce a crop of wisdom. You also need to discern when you have an insect problem and know what organic pesticide you need to kill the harmful insects destroying your plants. So, you need discernment to know when you have an unhealthy belief and what truth will eliminate it. Taking advice is like putting fertilizer on your garden, so your plants grow better and produce more.
I pray you are blessed and grow in all knowledge, insight, and discernment.
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