SCRIPTURE: 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. James 3:13 NIV
THOUGHT: Yesterday I talked about finding the source of the headwaters of wisdom. I love that word-picture, probably because I love a little adventure and beauty and nature. In my mind’s eye, the source of a river could be a wild and surprising place, maybe water gushing from a hidden source. And I do believe that when you find that place, spiritually, “the mouth of God,” it can be a wild and beautiful place. That’s what inspires your awe. That’s what knocks you to your knees. That’s the place where you know God as God, and there’s no more confusion about who should be on the throne.
Don’t you find it a little ironic that the first thing an encounter with God does is create humility? Until then, we’re just little kings and queens, prancing about with our ideas and ideals about how the world should be. Exerting our own control. Pleasing ourselves, even if it’s by neurotically pleasing others. Then, we get a little demotion. By grace, it’s not even very far actually – to sons and daughters of The King. But there’s the first gift of humility. When Isaiah encountered God, the first thing he said was, “woe is me! I am ruined.” He saw himself honestly, and then God could give him a very big job to do, knowing Isaiah would never forget that truth. So it is with us.
James contrasts wisdom from heaven and worldly wisdom in this passage (and I’m going write about that for the next few days). He says that real wisdom shows up covered in humility, and people with wisdom and understanding live good lives and walk out the good that is inside them. Deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. Christianity is really not, then, a way of acting. It is a way of being. We don’t clean up the outside so others think we’re good, or wise, or humble. We become good and wise and humble by encountering, and then nourishing relationship with our great, big God.
PRAYER: Oh God, I need more time at the source to soak you in, to be “ruined” by the truth of who you are, to be bathed in the humility that comes from the wisdom I can never find anywhere else.
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
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