SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/17/2019
8:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “Intro
to Walking in Wisdom”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 5:15-17
Message of the verses: “15 Therefore be
careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days
are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the
Lord is.”
Let
us begin by looking at 2 Timothy 3:7 which will help us see that the ultimate
destiny of fools is that they are “always learning and never able to come to
the knowledge of the truth.” Then
Proverbs 10:21 tells us that they “die for lack of understanding,” and this is
done even while they accumulate great amounts of information, such as we saw in
our last SD. The irony is that they
become smarter and more foolish at the same time. MacArthur adds “Foolishness comes from
trusting in purely human knowledge and excluding divine knowledge. Men’s foolishness increases with their
knowledge only when their self-reliance increases. The natural, unregenerate man suffers from
his congenital and terminal foolishness because he will not submit to God. He accumulates vast knowledge apart from God,
but spiritual understanding and divine wisdom elude him. He hates the truth about sin and salvation.” If there were ever a time in our countries
history that this is true it is the time we are living in at this time in our
countries history.
Let
us look at Proverbs 1:7 to show us where wisdom begins “The fear of the LORD is
the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” This continues by acknowledging His truth and
His ways as seen in Eccles. 9:1 “For I have taken all this to my heart and
explain it that righteous
men, wise men, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Man does not know
whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.” The way of wisdom and the way of life is the
way of God. There is only one way that
can overcome a man’s foolishness and turn him to wisdom is salvation, that is
turning to God through Jesus Christ.
When we turn from foolishness to wisdom that is turning from self to
God, as seen in God’s own Word that is “able to give [us] the wisdom that leads
to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).
It
was during Paul’s life that the Greeks were into wisdom, but Paul was not
interested in their kind of wisdom, but in the wisdom that a person receives
whenever they turn to Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
John
MacArthur is speaking of this kind of wisdom from the Greeks contrasts it by
writing “In Scripture, on the other hand, wisdom is centered in conviction and
behavior, specifically in recognizing and obeying God. When a person is saved his is moved from the
realm of foolishness into the realm of wisdom.
Just as his being a Christian leads him to walk worthily (4:1), humbly
(4:2), in unity (4:3-16), separated from the world’s ways (4:17-32), in love
(5:1-7), and in light (5:8-14), it also leads him to walk in wisdom (5:15-17).
“In
the present passage, Paul mentions three things that the Lord’s wisdom teaches
His child. The wise believer knows his
life principles, his limited privileges, and his Lord’s purposes.”
Lord
willing, we will begin by looking at “The Believer’s Life Principles” from
Ephesians 5:15 in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is good to realize that when I became
a believer in Jesus Christ that I went from foolishness to becoming a wise person
and this was all because of what the Lord did for me to which I am eternally
thankful.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Humility certainly has to do with having
wisdom, something that I am working on and understanding as I continue to look
at humility in my life this year.
Today we have a short quotation from Gordon
Lindsay: “Never dig up in unbelief what
you have sown in faith.”
6/17/2019 10:08 AM
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