Inside Out Living

This past Sunday I preached on James 3:13-18 about the wisdom that comes down from above.

NIV James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

In the message I put an emphasis on how we are to give evidence of our wisdom through the deeds that are done in humility. Now in talking about humility I put an emphasis on how we do not promote ourselves and the acts of service that we do. The reason for this emphasis is that the "selfish ambition" James speaks of in verse 14 refers to some who promotes themselves like a politician with an agenda.

So the question was asked by someone after church, a good question no less, that how can we give evidence of our wisdom if we are not to promote what we are doing. To him these two thoughts seemed to conflict, and in a way he was right.

So then how do we 'show' our heavenly wisdom by deeds done in humility without being guilty of promoting ourselves and trying to gain recognition. I think the answer lies in how it is found out what you are doing.

The point that James is making is that if you truly are wise and understanding then there should be some evidence in your life of deeds done in humility. And we know that humility comes from wisdom. He isn't telling us to promote or proclaim the good deeds that we have done, but rather if you are doing what you should be doing then more than likely someone will stand up and take notice.

Yes some deeds we do will not be recognized, which is more than ok because our Father who sees what we do in secret will reward us accordingly. However, more often than not someone will notice your acts of service and will see the humility present within your attitude and that will reflect the godly wisdom that you are indeed exercising.

So then it is possible to give evidence of wisdom through deeds done in humility without shamelessly calling attention to our service.