It's The Dying Part We Have Problems With

It should not surprise us to know there is a difference between the holy and the common. Often the holy belongs to the Divine and the common to man, except where man is being transformed by the Divine. I think most of us have encountered people who speak with a wisdom that seems beyond this earth. They open their mouths and we can't seem to get enough but that is only one aspect of wisdom. To speak wisdom is one thing and to live it is another. This is what the Scriptures point out:

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. (James 3:13)

We all know that a Christian life is not something meant to be hidden away but instead our lives are on constant display. What we have been taught is not theory and is not for the purpose of writing better books but instead to put into practice. The best wisdom is what can be applied to our daily living. Yet we must be constantly aware that there are two types of wisdom that fight for our attention and even though they are easy to tell apart we allow ourselves to be confused.

The first is described by Scripture:

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. (James 3:14-16)

Obviously this is the common wisdom, that which appears to be wise but in the end only leads to destruction. If can easily be identified by its selfish nature. It somehow lifts up the person and teaches the person to remain focused on himself. But Divine wisdom is not like this at all:

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. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:17-18)

So with such clear indications of the focus of these two kinds of wisdom you would think we would clearly choose the Divine; but we don't. Only those who clearly see themselves as servants of Jesus know what it is to deny themselves in all areas of life in order to have their life put on display. These days we try to avoid such responsibility and would rather hide away with the excuse that we are forgiven, not perfect. Yet, the Scripture tells us that we should be bold in our righteousness, living lives that testify about Jesus' love and holiness in everything that we do. Only in living such a life is heavenly wisdom viewable in what we do.

We need to stop coming up with excuses because we know what we need to do. We need to give up our lives completely and become servants of Jesus. We need to see everything we do as being a service to Jesus, doing it well in word and deed, and be willing to be on public display.We should be willing to live by the Divine wisdom and demonstrate it in the good that we do. Its easy to do when we are willing to die to our self. It's the dying part we find so hard.