Grow Together
Col 3:16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
It would be a wrong conclusion to say that all we need in order to get wisdom is a solitary life of serious prayer. Just us and God and prayer. Wisdom in the New Testament does not ordinarily come like that.
Wisdom is marked by meekness, and freedom from selfish ambition, and freedom from bitter jealousy, and freedom from boasting. In other words, wisdom rises in relationships of meekness and humility and love and servanthood rather than jealousy and selfishness. Wisdom is not a solitary attainment. It is a community or a corporate or a relational attainment. Loners are not wise. Wisdom is given and found and forged in the fires of committed relationships.
James 3:13 If you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don't cover up the truth with boasting and lying... For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. But the wisdom from above is....peace loving, gentle at all times... full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds.
What is the relational culture where wisdom flourishes? A culture of peace. A culture of thankfulness. A culture rich with the Gospel. A culture of teaching and admonishing, speaking the word of Christ into each other's lives. A happy culture, one that sings from the heart. A culture pervasively conscious of Jesus. Where Jesus pervades our talk and our deeds, his wisdom will rise.
Ask yourself, am I nurturing relationships in my life? Am I actively encouraging and supporting other Christians in their faith? Am I living an example of an honorable life? Am I regularly doing good deeds? As a Christian you are both a teacher and a disciple.
Col 3:15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
