James 3:13–The Wise Will Show Their Wisdom

James 3:13–"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom."

Wisdom never needs to show off.  Wisdom is content to be wise without having to tell everyone how wise she is.  It turns out that one of the true tests of wisdom is how meekly it reveals itself, how humbly it behaves in front of people.  In truth, the wisest people never have to tell anyone how wise they are: everyone will know.  Thus, perhaps the first step for becoming wise is to strive in humility to simply be wise and let our wisdom shine through the wise way that we would live.

This should be our prayer and our goal.

Let us pray for that!
Amen.

James 3:13–Showing Wisdom with Meekness

James 3:13–"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show you his works in the meekness of wisdom."

One of the true measurements of wisdom is, it turns out, a direct reflection of the wisdom the person may possess. That is, a wise person will exhibit their wisdom wisely.  In some ways this is an obvious consideration.  However, there is a natural tendency for the fool to expose his folly even in wisdom.  Think of how easy it is, for instance, to want to tell everyone how wise we may be when we know that we are being wise.  In that instance–which has happened more often than I'd care to admit–the true wealth of wisdom has remained just beyond our reach.  In truth, to be truly wise we must also exude that wisdom wisely and with meekness.  This is what James is saying to us and we would be wise to listen.