WISDOM FROM ABOVE

Healthy, Wealthy And Wise "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise" is a famous proverb popularized by Benjamin Franklin "Wisdom from above" is a God-given understanding that God gives to those who ask.(James 1:5,) says,"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." When a person lives and interacts with others in a God honouring way it can be wisdom from above. (James 3:17) Treating someone in a God honouring way can be characterized as bing pure, peaceable, gentle, merciful, impartial, and sincere. Read (James 3:13-18) Here you will find two typs of wisdom. First "Earthly Wisdom", This is wisdom that comes from the flesh, where the long term goal is making sure me, myself and Iis being taken care of. It is a very "unspiritual" type of wisdom. it is motivated by selfish ambition, that cause many problems because of pride, pride lead to disorder and conflict. Then there is "Wisdom from Above" Which is heavenly, it comes directly from God and focuses on these good and wholsome characteristices. Like, humility, good character, and a life of peace and love, "AGAPE LOVE" Wisdom from above is first 1. Pure: this pure means being morally pure before God, with no corruptive motives that will harm anyone. 2. Peace-loving: with wisdom from above you will live at peace with everyone as far as it depends on you. You will tra=y and keep unity rather than stir the pot 3.Gentle: the idea of peace, makes one gentle,someone pretty easy to get along with. Rather than being brittle and harsh and demanding. You are a lot softer as you are willing to yield your will to the ideas of others. 4. Compliant: You want to learn from others, you cooperate and show and give respect to others as you attempt to help them earn that respect. 5 It makes you full of mercy: one feels empathy, forgiving comes easier, you have the gift of helps. 6. You produce good fruit: (Matthew 7:15-20, Luke 6:43-45). Good actions are produced, you are kind and your righteousness is evident, as God works in and through you. 7 Impartialality: Shines out from you as you seek to treat others equaily, trying not to show favoritism and you function in such away you do not favour one person over the next. 8.Sincere:" Last but not least, you are sincere from the get go. You are yourself, genuine and authentic, others can see quickly you are someone they can trust. They see no pretense, no hidden agendas. To put all of these into a nut shell, wisdom from above is demonstrating the character of God through your conduct and a gentle lifestyle, that benifits everyone who crosses your path. People who have asked for the wisdom from above will prove their faith by how they act and treat others. So rather that having a goal to be Healthy, Wealth and Wise, switch them around, purse wisdom, and the healthy and wealthy fall then into the hands of God. They are the gifts that come from having wisdom from above. This wisdom is a highly encouraged, it should be the goal for all Christians. On the other hand it is not wrong to set Godly goals to manage your health and wealth in a godly maner. We need to understand, God loves us and His desire is for our good. At the same time God warns against making money and material possions and our own physical comfort our "god". When we approach the subject of wosdom from a godly perspective, it requires you to evaluate your goals through Gods eyes. You see, wisdom is not just worldly intellect as many think of it in that way. But rather it is a God given skill of living righteously, knowing what it is that God wants you to do. Believe me when I tell you, this is not an easy task, we cannot do it with out God's wisdom, because our physical humanity gets in the way all the time. If we will take the time to study "The book of Proverbs" we will clearly see that it praises wisdom even more valuable than silver or gold. When we seek wisdom we honor God by making good and moral decissions that honour God. Let me talk about wealth for a moment - The Bible does not condemn wealth, there were many wise and faithful people in the bible who were prosperous for example (Abraham). But take into consideration, the bible puts prosperity forward as a huge responsibility that must be controled by God, not seeing it as a guaranteed reward for believing in a God that owns the cattle on a thousand hills. So often we loose the perspective, that generosity is the primary purpose of earning wealth. We are to be a blessing to others and to advance God's kingdom, with the blessing God bestows upon us. So, the pursuit of riches is heavily warned against because it can easily lead to greed and a departure from the faith. Which in our modern age, of the prosperity gospel, preaches and teaches that if you follow God, you will be rich and famous, God rewards you in this way. Where this concept is not biblical at all. God will bless those who are obedient and follow Him, but no where does it say, that those blessings will alwayss be money and material gain. Thus the warnings to not make money your idol. Your health, is a duty God requires, because our bodies are the temple of God. Good stewardship of our bodies is a priviledge on a right. So then, taking care of our body as God’s temple—is good. However, the idea that because we are believers and serve God, and our faith in Him s\as the great physician does not guarantees physical healing and or material wealth, these things are widely considered unbiblical The Bible recognizes that we live in a fallen world, and even the most faithful believers can face illness that God chooses not to heal, and financial hardship, God chooses not to fix. Friends our Christian life is about placing our life into the hands of Christ first.. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all of these things will be added unto you. Not guarinteed, to be health and walth, but all of your needs will be met, that is a guaranty. We need to see all of our resources and our trials as an opportunity to serve and glorify Him. Tjhats it, "TO GOD BE THE GLORY" Father God, Help me to seek you, and to glorify you in all that I do.. AMEN