Wisdom In All Things

Journaling to Capture Wisdom In All Things

I mean for us to “noodle” in the best possible way. While enjoying the practical benefits of journaling, we gain all the more by recording this intentional quest for wisdom. To the point John Piper makes about “living for the glory of Christ”, this is a quest worthy of capturing and remembering.

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How Easily Are You Deceived?

We’re getting it from the inside, from the outside, and when we trace it back to its source, it leads us directly to Satan, The Father of Lies.

Satan is a pro at reflecting the light, deep deception, and manipulation. We need to pay particular attention to this because of the severity of the consequences. Satan’s single aim is to utterly destroy you by any means he is allowed. This makes guarding our hearts, minds, and souls of paramount importance.

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The 10 Commandments: How Are Lives Are To Be Distinct

Just as the 10 Commandments prescribe for us what we are to avoid, did you know they also point to a “positive side”?  They provide for us a framework for living out the character of God, and how are lives are to be distinct.

In front of the commandment is that positive application that we can recite in our quiet times, if not at the start of each day.

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Rest, Not Relief, in God

Finding rest in God can be somewhat deceptive because it can too easily be confused with relief. Relief is beneficial, but it is not rest. The rest that Jesus provides isn’t physical, emotional, or mental relief–but is restorative and rejuvenating and frees us from soul-weariness. He addresses the problem, not the symptoms.

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Taking the Fatigue Out of Decision Making

We’ve talked in the past about having a good decision analysis and developing a heuristic to better ensure we make the right decisions. But how can we expect to keep making the right decision when there are so many to make? 

Fortunately, we have what is revealed through Scripture to reign in our random and conflicting thoughts and feelings. But our reception of, and response to, God’s leading is going to require a quieted mind and heart.

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Learning Mission from Missionaries

Living life on mission, does not mean we need to be a missionary. However, we can easily see how our lives might look strikingly similar.

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Being Choosey About our Choice of Words

"The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish, and wicked practice, of profane cursing and swearing is growing into fashion; he hopes the officers will, by example, as well as influence, endeavor to check it, and that both they, and the men will reflect, that we can have little hopes of the blessing of Heaven on our Arms..." - George Washington in a memo to his army

Profanity demonstrates a lack of character and a propensity for the foolish. Both are not only unbecoming behavior for a member of an army that was under the command of General Washington, but risked deferring the blessing of God.

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Developing, or Regaining, the Trait of Trust

God cannot lie (Titus 2:1), and we are called to reflect that by being “truth-tellers worthy of trust.” From his book The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life, Pastor Colin Smith goes on to reveal that this means we are to “deal in truth rather than lies, in precision rather than distortion, and in honesty rather than deception.”

Trust truly defines our relationships, and we earn trust by demonstrating that we are trustworthy. 

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The Fear of Missing Out On Things We Shouldn’t Fear Missing Out On

Here, I think, is where the pandemic provided a benefit. We were forced to give our full attention to what was most important. There was nothing to fear missing out on. The world had all but stopped.

The pandemic provided some relief from FOMO, if not an opportunity to self-correct, and allowed us to, as they say, not let a ‘perfectly good crisis go to waste’.

But in order to do that, we needed to have given our full attention to those things that are worth finishing.

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Prioritizing Value When Investing

Usually, it is the inverse of J. R. R. Tolkien’s aphorism from The Fellowship of the Ring that we hear: ‘all that glitters isn’t gold’. However, his quote more aptly points us to what we should keep in mind when investing: "all that is gold does not glitter".

We shouldn’t be fooled by what something costs. We can pay far too much for far too little–career, property, what makes us happy. Yet, there may also be opportunities where we will give everything we have to something whose value is incalculable–children, spouse, God’s kingdom.

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