When you think of a wise person, perhaps an ancient philosopher like Plato comes to mind. Maybe you think of a global figure like Mahatma Gandhi who was an activist for world peace. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, I recall hearing about some of the brilliant scientists of the day, like Stephen Hawking. Hawking was easily recognized as his ALS condition confined him to a wheelchair and he spoke through a speech synthesizer. Hawking was a professor at the University of Cambridge, specializing in mathematics, physics, and cosmology. Guys like Hawking, Plato, and Gandhi have all passed away, and the world is left to debate as to how wise these individuals really were. How is wisdom best defined or measured? Do all great thinkers and educators display genuine wisdom?
There’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is the acquiring of facts and information. The more you learn the more knowledgeable you are. Some can acquire and retain knowledge faster and in greater quantity than the rest of us. For example, Ainan Cawley was a child prodigy from Singapore. Cawley began reading and writing at the age of 2, and by the age of 7 he passed college level chemistry exams. By the age of 9, he not only memorized the value of pi to 521 decimal places, he also gave academic lectures in the field of chemistry. This kid was a genius! Wisdom though, is not a measure of intelligence. Wisdom can be defined as the appropriate application of knowledge. In short, wisdom is knowing how to use knowledge effectively. A wise person will correctly discern what the information is saying, and accurately apply that knowledge in the right situation. Some very intelligent people lack wisdom, while some very wise people have limited knowledge.
When I was in seminary I remember writing a short story meant to demonstrate how wisdom can be easily embraced, or easily dismissed. Here’s the story. A tiny village had endured a terrible famine, and food was scarce. The people were on the brink of starving when one day, Jesus showed up. Jesus invited everyone in the town to line up for free food. One by one, Jesus miraculously gave each person a day’s portion of bread to sustain them. Each day, for several weeks, Jesus did this; showing up, and supernaturally providing the bread to all who would come to Him. Steven Hawking lived in the town, and he too had received his daily bread from Jesus. One particular day, Hawking proclaimed, “As long as we have this bread, we have hope.” In line behind Mr. Hawking was a six-year old girl. She received her daily bread from Jesus, and proclaimed, “As long as we have Jesus, we have hope.” End of story.
How could Hawking and the six-year-old girl have the same encounters with Jesus, but arrive at two different conclusions as to where their hope should be placed? This story describes a sad reality for some. In real life, Stephen Hawking was reported to have an I.Q. of 160 (an average I.Q. is 100), which would put him in a category of intelligence that only .003% of the world share. But despite all of Hawking’s acquired knowledge, he was not able to conclude that God was real. In his book titled, The Grand Design, Hawking concludes, “Spontaneous creation (a.k.a. Big Bang/Evolution) is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God.” In an interview with Time magazine, Hawking stated, “God is the name people give to the reason we are here. But I think that reason is the laws of physics rather than someone with whom one can have a personal relationship.” In an interview with the Guardian, on the subject of life after death, Hawking concluded, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”
The reality that God exists is able to be discerned by even a young child. This is because the evidence is made clear to all mankind. In Romans chapter one, God assures us that He has sufficiently revealed Himself to all people at all times. God has done this in part through creation. This means, that as one engages the world, one can come to know that an intelligent, knowable, eternal Creator is responsible for all that exists. There are those, however, that despite acquiring a very high degree of knowledge, still refuse to let that knowledge point them to their Creator, Jesus Christ. When a person refuses to let the evidence direct their thinking, then there is a serious lack of wisdom being displayed. This type of thinking is usually rooted in pride, or immorality. Romans chapter one also describes the hearts of the wicked, that even though they know God, they put aside the truth in order to pursue their own selfish pleasures. To know and to not apply, is what foolishness is. It’s a lack of wisdom.
Francis Crick, like Stephen Hawking, is another great example of a person of high intelligence that refused to let the evidence direct his thinking. In 1953, Crick had co-discovered D.N.A., described as the building blocks of life, and continued to prove to the world that he was a brilliant scientist. After recording his findings about D.N.A., Crick writes, “There is extreme difficulty in explaining how life could have evolved in the time it had here on earth. An honest man armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle.” So, did this conclusion lead Crick to acknowledge that God created the universe? No. In 1972, Crick theorized that the universe was created by aliens. This begs the question of why Crick felt the need to invoke an imaginary race of aliens, without any evidence to support it? This answer is simple. If Crick were to admit that God created the universe then by default it would mean that he was accountable to God.
Psalm 19:7, “The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” What does “making wise the simple” mean? By “the simple” is meant those who are open-minded, who keep understanding simplistic, who don’t cloud and complicate the obvious. They are willing to let the evidence speak for itself. The simple are those who are sensible to their true spiritual condition. To these, the Lord is pleased to reveal the simplicity of the gospel. The simple are made wise because they accept their need for understanding, and seeing their sinfulness, they submit to God’s Word. The opposite would be those who are scholarly and proud, wise in their own eyes, who tend to cloud the truth. These proud types, by trusting in their alleged superior minds, continue onward in their denial of the obvious. The wise of this world are shown to be fools by neglecting their true spiritual condition and denying the Word of God. At some point they reach the point of the absurd, like Francis Crick, who evokes aliens to account for his own existence.
How can one become wise? In 2 Timothy 3:15, Paul writes Timothy and reminds him of what he’s heard, learned, and understood from his youth, “From childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Trusting the Scriptures and applying it to your life is what makes you wise. In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman, using words like “her” and “she” when describing wisdom. Proverbs 3:13-18, “How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast.” Basically, the Bible says that if you apply God’s Word to your life, i.e. living with wisdom, your life will improve. To know and to not apply, is what foolishness is; a lack of wisdom.
The Bible has various degrees of “depth”, and to whatever degree you’re willing to dig, your knowledge and wisdom can grow exponentially. Some knowledge is on the surface and can be understood by a casual reading of the Bible. These are truths like the gospel, that even a child can understand. A child can accept that he’s a sinner and can entrust himself to Jesus for the forgiveness of his sin. Likewise, commands such as honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself, are simply truths that can make a child wise when he applies them to daily living. Other truths are deeper, and require more than a casual reading to grasp. Deeper truths require studying the Bible. Just like a person who digs for precious gems and gold, the further you dig, the greater your reward.
Practical Steps to Obtain Wisdom
This all starts by coming to Jesus, and entrusting yourself to Him, not only for the forgiveness of your sins, but to let Him govern your life. In Jesus are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Colossians 2:3. King Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, but he only spoke wisdom. Jesus on the other hand, is wisdom. The essence of Jesus is complete wisdom and knowledge. Entrusting oneself to Jesus is the starting point of the wise, Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Ezra was a prophet of God in the Old Testament. Ezra knew the Lord and let the Lord govern his life. He modeled a wise lifestyle, and he taught others how to become men and women of wisdom. The verse, Ezra 7:10, will serve as our guide on how to become a person of wisdom and how to pass knowledge on to others so they can learn how to become wise. Ezra 7:10 says, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” Let’s break this verse down into four steps.
Step one, your “want to” has to change. Do you want to grow in knowledge and wisdom? How much do you want your life to improve? The first thing you’ll need to do is crave wisdom and desire knowledge. These things have to be so valuable to you that you’re willing to seek them out as though digging for precious jewels. Proverbs 4:8: “Prize her, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.” The language here says, “prize” wisdom and “embrace” wisdom. Ezra 7:10 starts by saying, “For Ezra had set his heart.” Ezra’s “want to” was such that he desired to be a dynamic man of God, who was qualified to lead others to becoming dynamic followers of God. Hence, he set his heart to becoming that man. Is your heart set on being a champion for Jesus?
Step two, after you desire wisdom, you must go to its source. A person who wants to be wise will diligently apply himself to the study the Word of God. Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD.” Ezra created his own uninterrupted time in the Word. This is what you must do as well if you want to grow. You can’t casually read “a chapter a day” and expect to become a champion for Jesus. You must study. Study requires reading and rereading, cross-referencing (which is going to other parts of the Bible that relate to the passage at hand), and meditating on the Word (which is wrestling with it; mentally chewing on what it means). How are you doing in creating uninterrupted time in the Word? You will likely have to get up early each day to accomplish this.
Step three, once you understand what God’s Word is saying, you must apply it to your life; practice it. Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it.” Practicing and training yourself to obey God’s Word is what makes a person mature and wise. Hebrew 5:14 says, “But solid food (deeper truths of God) is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” We see that one is mature “because of practice.” Wisdom comes from practicing, applying, training yourself to obey the Word of God. You might be able to tell someone a dozen truths from the Bible, but are you practicing them in your daily life?
Step four, once a person is a well-practiced person of wisdom, he’s qualified to teach others how to be wise. Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” You’ll notice the order of the steps in Ezra’s journey to becoming a sage man of wisdom. Ezra set his heart (1), he studied the Word (2), he practiced what he studied (3), and he taught others God’s truth (4). You can’t put these steps in a different order! You can’t teach what you don’t know. You can’t practice what you haven’t learned. And you can’t teach what you aren’t practicing yourself, unless you want to be a hypocrite. The kind of people we should all look up to for godly wisdom, are going to be those that follow this formula.
Becoming a Sage
A “sage” is a person who is recognized for their experience and wisdom. If you’re young, you can display great wisdom. If you’re older, you can couple wisdom with life experiences. A sage isn’t necessarily marked by a specific age, but a sage might be a person over fifty, or over sixty, that others go to for counsel. If you’re fortunate enough to reach fifty-plus in life, why not be a sage? It’s a choice. You can be old and unwise, or you can be old and a sage. What do you want to make of your life? I hope you desire to be the type of person that younger generations will come to for help and guidance. What legacy do you want to create? I know for myself, when I pass on, I want people to say of me, “He influenced me to know and trust Jesus.”
Are you working toward being a sage? Too often we set a low bar for ourselves, believing that God calls others to be significant and influential, and not ourselves. Ask that God would fill your heart with a desire to become something much greater than you believe you can be. Pray with the goal of being a sage in mind, then pursue that goal with the steps we’ve seen in the Ezra 7:10. Do others ask you to invest in them, to pour into their lives? A sage isn’t in a position of supremacy, but rather in a position of humility, because it’s God’s wisdom they’re imparting.
Scriptures that Speak about Wisdom
Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 2:6, “For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
Proverbs 3:7, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.”
Proverbs 10:23, “Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool, and so is wisdom to a man of understanding.”
Proverbs 11:2, “When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.”
Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.”
Proverbs 16:16, “How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.”
Proverbs 17:27-28, “He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.”
Proverbs 19:20, “Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days.”
Luke 21:15, “For I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”
Ephesians 5:15-17, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
James 1:5, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
James 3:17, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”