We’ve been thinking together about how Jesus is not only wisdom personified (1Cor 1:30), but also our best reason to pursue more of what it means to live wisely in him rather than less (James 3:13-17).
While trying to flesh out the thought that James is actually telling us how to find and recognize the wisdom of Christ, I found a quote in a Bible study commentary that I think captures the idea in a brief paragraph.
Keep in mind that the question is, how does James describe the wisdom that God has given us in Christ when he writes that “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and without hypocrisy?”
As a summary answer to that question, the Believer’s Bible Commentary says, that persons who have the wisdom from above…
(Quote) …”make you think of the Lord Jesus. Their life is pure. Morally and spiritually they are clean. Then too they are peaceable. They will endure insult and false accusation but will not fight back or even seek to justify themselves. They are gentle, mild-mannered, and tenderhearted. And they are easy to reason with, willing to try to see the other person’s viewpoint. They are not vindictive but always ready to forgive those who have wronged them. Not only so but they habitually show kindness to others, especially to those who don’t deserve it. And they are the same to all; they don’t play favorites. The rich receive the same treatment as the poor; the great are not preferred above the common people. Finally, they are not hypocrites. They don’t say one thing and mean another. You will never hear them flatter. They speak the truth and never wear a mask.”
Yeh, this sounds fairly idealistic doesn’t it. Yet, a longing for that kind of “Christ-likeness” is what life in him is all about… and what, in increasing ways, our Lord wants to grow in us.
Because these results of wisdom are not natural to our own flesh they must be some of the outcomes the Apostle Paul had in mind when he said that he felt like a woman in labor as he waited for “Christ to be formed” in his readers (Gal 4:19; 5:22-23).
Makes me wonder about the extent to which these outcomes are clear in the reputation of followers of Christ in our politicized and polarized society?
Even more importantly, as I realize how lacking they are in me… what is it going to take to accelerate such growth where my own thoughts and choices can make a difference?
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