The Wise, the Unwise, and the Otherwise (Part One)
If God promised to give you anything you asked for…what would you choose? Chuck Swindoll explains why we ought to desire wisdom above anything else.
If God promised to give you anything you asked for…what would you choose? Chuck Swindoll explains why we ought to desire wisdom above anything else.
It is virtually impossible to separate truth from the one who teaches it to us. That's why James begins the third chapter with a warning—don't swell the ranks of teachers!
James encouraged us to prevent verbal fires from burning the forest around us. And yet, he gave no checklist, no tear-out sheet, and no three-step solution. Thankfully, the Bible isn’t silent about what we should and should not say.
James deals directly with a common problem among Christians—“playing God.” Having just exposed our tendency to be self-assertive and quarrelsome, he goes a step further and shows a couple of the more familiar ways we assert an arrogant spirit.
Pastor Chuck Swindoll reminds us to live out the truth: "I am not in charge." God alone is "in charge" of us, others, our plans for the future, and our circumstances.
Now that we’ve considered the action we must take, let’s turn to Galatians 6:1 for a close look at the proper attitude we need. To qualify for helping restore others to the truth, we must first be filled with the Spirit and not controlled by the flesh.
Well, just for some tongue-in-cheek fun, I’d like to take the opposite tack. I’m going to tell you how to waste your time. That’s right, if you follow this advice, you will make absolutely no progress this year. Guaranteed!
As much as I love to have the future figured out and my five-year plans mapped out, in truth, we are all going through life blindfolded. We don’t know what’s around the corner. We have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow.
Let’s take a wide view of our lives as we seek to clarify our thinking from the Bible about where we have been, where we are, and where we are going.
Picture someone who walks in integrity, loves God, and treats others with kindness and grace and mercy…and then, suddenly, loses everything. How could this happen? And could it happen to you? Who knows? The experience may be just around the corner.