“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” The Alchemist)
The book of Proverbs is all about what wisdom is and is not. It invites the reader into discerning the importance of wisdom for everyday life. While connected to this week's earlier word "know", wisdom offers more than just knowledge. It is about taking what we know and using critical thinking to put it into practice.
Wisdom, often personified as female, is also seen as the ways in which the Spirit of God moves in our midst. It was Wisdom that created the heavens and the earth (Prov. 3:19-20) and the Spirit of Wisdom who rests upon us as our baptism (Isaiah 11:2). It was the Wisdom of God who sent the prophets and apostles (Luke 11:49). Wisdom resides within Christ (Colossians 2:2-3).
The Spirit of God gives us the gift of wisdom to live our lives of faith. It guides us beyond our knowledge to see the ways in which we are called to share the love and grace of Christ.
In James 3:13-18: Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for[f] those who make peace."
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