Read: James 3:13-18
Today’s passage is about God’s wisdom leading to harmony in personal relationships (v. 13, 17). He contrasts this with worldly wisdom that leads to conflict. It’s easy to claim to have wisdom, but James says, “Show me your wisdom by your life” (v. 13). True wisdom is the ability to live in a manner pleasing to God, in constant submission to His Spirit, applying His truth to all areas of life. The source of this wisdom comes from God and is “pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere” (v. 17). Let’s look a little closer at each of these traits of godly wisdom.
- Pure – usually this implies moral living but in this context it speaks more of motives and being free from jealousy and selfish ambition. Our lives are to glorify God and not self! When we have disputes are we inclined to want to be right, even if it means hurting the person we are arguing with? Motives must be pure or we’re not acting with godly wisdom.
- Peace-loving – seeking peace in relationships is a common theme in scripture. We are not to stir up controversy over petty issues. We should never compromise doctrinal purity but neither should we fight over minor matters.
- Considerate/Gentle - this means that we forgive when we could condemn and that we make allowances for people’s mistakes.
- Submissive/Open to Reason – being willing to defer to others as long as core doctrine or moral principles are not at stake. Wisdom will yield on minor matters, will listen to other’s views and change if proved wrong.
- Full of Mercy and Good Fruits – it is easy to show compassion for someone who is suffering unjustly but it can be much harder to show compassion for someone who is suffering because of their own sin and rebellion. Godly wisdom does both!
- Impartial – not taking sides based on what someone can do for you. Wisdom holds firmly to the truth in love with no regard to personal benefit.
- Sincere – wisdom does not mask or cover up, it does not pretend but rather is stable, trustworthy and transparent.
If believers would seek to live by these seven qualities, personal conflicts would be greatly minimized and relationships would grow! Yet many of us don’t use godly wisdom, substituting instead worldly wisdom. As a result we have conflict in our relationships. James lists five things about worldly wisdom (v. 14-16):
- It is rooted in bitter jealousy/envy and selfish ambition – the key here is to look at the motives of the heart. How do you handle when someone challenges your ideas or ways of doing things? Can you be happy when good things happen to other people? Do you regularly make decisions based on what’s best for others or just do what’s best for yourself?
- It is arrogant/boastful - we must be aware of how easily pride creeps into our lives. Pride is a hard sin to expose because we often can’t see our own pride. We need Jesus to show us areas of pride and confess them, breaking generational strongholds.
- It is false to the truth/denies the truth – this has to do with practicing what you preach. You can know everything that a Christian should do but if you aren’t actually working hard to put it into practice then you are living a lie and denying Christ with your actions.
- It is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic – the source of worldly wisdom can be linked to Satan.
- It results in disorder and every evil thing – the word disorder can be translated confusion, which means instability.
James sums everything up in verse 18, “peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.” Peace must be cultivated deliberately and intentionally, it rarely happens accidentally. . Many people want good fruit in their lives but they forget that a good harvest is not accidental. If you see a person or a home or a church or a business where there is unity, peace, love, respect, kindness, etc. then you can bet that it is because the people there have been working hard at applying godly principles (whether they realize it or not).
Prayer and Journaling
1. Is there peace in your home? Are you at peace in your relationships? Ask Jesus to speak to you about how you can apply godly wisdom to a specific circumstance in your life using the seven aspects of godly wisdom listed in verse 17.
2. Which of the five traits of worldly wisdom are you prone to? Ask the Lord to speak to you about how you can exchange this worldly wisdom for His godly wisdom in your relationships.
3. Thank God for providing us with practical tools that we can use in growing harmonious relationships!
