GOD Morning! Wisdom

GOD morning,



“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

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. 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, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

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 reap a harvest of righteousness.” James 3



1. Teachers will be judged more strictly. Well, that’s encouraging. LOL.

2. We all stumble. So we need to stop beating ourselves up.

3. Once we get to the place where we never trip up with our words, we will be perfect. Whoa. This one is tough. I have come a long way, but I still struggle.

4. Our tongue is compared to

a. bits in horses mouths

b. rudders on huge ships

c. a spark that causes a huge fire

5. The tongue:

a. is small, but makes huge boasts

b. is a fire.

c. is a world of evil.

d. corrupts the body

e. sets the course of one’s life on fire

f. is set on fire by hell

6. All kinds of animals can be tamed. However the tongue is:

a. a restless evil (whoa)

b. full of deadly poison (wow)

7. With our tongue, we praise God and curse humans, who have been made in God’s likeness. Oops. Out of our mouths come both blessing and cursing. This should not be. Can a fig tree produce olives? Can a salt water spring produce fresh water?



Oh my. What a reminder. I used to be this person. Seriously. You may not believe me, but in my youth, I had no filter, other than I did not swear. I would go to church and raise my hands in humble worship to Jesus. But when I was not worshipping Jesus, I was spouting off about anything and everything. I was full of my own opinion. I was proud and arrogant. I was self-righteous and a hypocrite.

Thankfully, I allowed God to change me over the years.



8. Wisdom from above includes:

a. Living a good life. Making good choices. Sometimes the good choice is the boring choice. Just saying… Sometimes the good choice is really hard.

b. Doing good deeds for others, not in a prideful way, but humbly.

Did you get the part about humility coming from wisdom? So if we seek wisdom, humility will follow. Cool.

I was full of pride in my youth. I have been knocked off of my high horse multiple times by God, Himself. I have been taken down a notch or two over and over. Pride still rears its ugly head at times, but thankfully, I continue to change and grow.

9. Earthly wisdom includes:

a. bitter envy

b. selfish ambition

We shouldn’t brag about our cunning ways. At the same time, we shouldn’t deny that we have them when Scripture clearly states that we do have them.

10. This kind of wisdom is

a. earthly

b. unspiritual

c. demonic.

Wow. That’s hard preaching. Straight from God’s word.

11. Envy and selfish ambition bring

a. disorder

b. every evil practice

12. I desire the wisdom from God.

a. pure

b. peace loving

c. considerate

d. submissive

In my life, I have a few examples of submission.

1. When I arrive at the store register at the same time as someone else. I have decided that I am supposed to defer to them.

2. When another car is nearing the parking spot that I am heading toward, I have decided that I am supposed to give them the spot. Ouch! That’s hard.

3. When a car needs to get over in my lane, I am supposed to allow them to ease ahead of me. (Another hard one.)

These are every day examples of submitting one to another that I can do. I don’t always do the right thing, but this is something that God has impressed me, personally, to do.

There are many little things that we can intentionally do to show our love for God and others.

“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” Ephesians 5:21

e. full of mercy (forgive others as Christ forgives us)

f. good fruit ( (love, self-control, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, virtue, knowledge, endurance, piety, and brotherly love)

g. impartial (unbiased, unprejudiced, neutral, nondiscriminatory, objective, open-minded, equitable, evenhanded, fair, fair-minded, just)

h. sincere (not pretend sincerity, but from the heart)



We are to sow in peace and reap righteousness.



Whew! This is a lot. We cannot do this by ourselves. But we can do it through the power of God that works in us.



“Dear God, this is a long list of how evil the tongue is and earthly wisdom verses heavenly wisdom. A pretty overwhelming list for a mere human such as myself to comprehend. It’s not humanly possible to do and be all of the things that You require. But what is cool is that You don’t expect us to be kind and loving on our own. We have the Holy Spirit inside of us. We can tap into the power that You have given us in order to strive to be good people. Thanks so much for Your word, a specific guide on how to be kind in an evil world. Just be kind. This is what You expect. Be kind from the heart. You know our hearts. You know if we are sincere. You don’t beat around the bush, do You? You are very specific. You are not mysterious regarding how we are to live. We don’t have to wonder if we are pleasing You. You couldn’t be any clearer. You are beyond amazing. I love You more and more every day, Dear Jesus. AMEN.”



Blessings,





Vicki