Divine Sense for Christian Living Is about James 3:13-18 it's about COMMUNICATING WISELY TO OTHERS. You will remember that James, following Jesus, stressed that the tongue was simply a reflection of what is in our heart. And we said that that could not be changed by our own effort, but it has to be changed, the heart has to be changed by God. You have to have God's grace in order to have a changed heart. Well, having moved us from the symptom of the problem to the source of the problem, in the heart, James now asks the question about how one knows whether one has true wisdom in one's heart. So, how do you know if you're wise? How does a person know that she or he is wise? How do you know if there is wisdom, real wisdom, true wisdom stored up in your heart? James says in verses 13 and 14 together that true wisdom and false wisdom are shown by our behavior. Notice his words, "Who among you is wise and understanding?" Here's the answer, "Let him show by his good behavior, his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom." And here in verses 15 and 16, he says that false wisdom, though hard to pin down sometimes, shows itself in its product. You can always see false wisdom in what it produces. You see false wisdom in its results. In verses 17 and 18 James gives us the character and result of the wisdom which is from above. And he tells us that true wisdom is known by eight characteristics and one result. So once again James is insisting that true religion, true faith, true Christianity shows itself in our lives. That our lives, our choices, our priorities, our behavior, is the best index of whether we are wise or not. |
