Heavenly Wisdom vs. Earthly Wisdom
Wisdom is basic and necessary to human life for it plays a big role in decision making, problem solving and sound or fair judgement. In a worldly sense when you are wise and intelligent you are considered a man of wisdom. But that is not the way God views wisdom. According to 1 Corinthians 1:27, God could choose the foolish things in the world to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong. God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours and when He does things according to His will, everything is perfect and without flaw.
In the book of James, there are two kinds of wisdom mentioned: the earthly wisdom and the heavenly wisdom. What is the difference between the two?
“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” (Jam 3:13-16)
According to these verses, the earthly kind of wisdom is involved with two things: jealousy and selfishness. For we know, this kind of wisdom comes from the world because a worldly person can indeed be wise and intelligent but he or she may be living in rivalry or in competition with someone else which is rooted in jealousy and selfish ambition. Such kind of wisdom is not from God.
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” (Jam 3:17-18 NLT)
True wisdom that comes from heaven in short is walking in humility – peace loving, gentle, willing to yield to others, full of mercy, good deeds, no favoritism and sincere. All these produces righteousness and love in the atmosphere. Therefore, the heavenly kind of wisdom, unlike the world, seeks to honor others above one’s self which is a total opposite of what the world has. Worldly wisdom comes to compete, elevate one’s self or promote one’s self while heavenly wisdom disregards all that because what matters is that people live in peace and harmony through honoring one another above his or herself.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
Give us the kind of wisdom that is pure, peace loving, gentle, and willing to yield to others, full of mercy and good deeds. Remove any favoritism and insincerity in my heart and all earthly and nonspiritual kind of wisdom in my life. I desire to receive Your wisdom that produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit alone. Forgive me if I have boasted in my own wisdom. I ask the help of the Holy Spirit to empower me and give me wisdom for I cannot do things on my own. Without You, Lord, I am nothing. This I ask in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.
