Kingdom Principle:  Wisdom wastes no time with a fool and does not entertain evil.

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 Psalm 111 Ephesians 5:15-20 John 6:51-58

What do you find is a way in which you commonly end up wasting your time?   Many of us are drawn to identify the “forces” that work against our time and plans– this is an unhealthy default mode rooted in the self-justifying experience of blame. Yet, blaming itself is a waste of time. When we focus our attention on what we can do, and how we will do it, we are taking responsibility for our time. We have all been given the same amount of time, how and where we spend it, is an act of wisdom. In this post we will focus on time as it is experienced in relationships. The most common ways to waste time in relationships is: Nit Picking, Saying “I told you so”, Claiming moral superiority (“I would have never done that”, and complaining – these are all counterproductive. (This short list was compiled by M. Goldsmith in “Triggers” pg.156). The reality is that Wisdom overcomes each of these short coming of destructive communication. It is unfortunate that so many people lack the wisdom to ask for wisdom. Let’s change that right now. The passage this week demonstrates the power of asking for wisdom. If you don’t have wisdom, then you can simply ask for it. (James 1:5) If you have trouble believing that it is that easy, your faith is more child-ish than child-like, and wisdom is what you need to ask for most. Solomon was a “child” (19 or 20) when he became king and he asked for wisdom. Wisdom is a gift from God, and we must seek it. It begins with the Fear of the Lord, and ends with understanding of all things. (Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10; Deuteronomy 4:6; Job 28:28; Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Wisdom leads you to seek the Kingdom of God as outlined in Matthew 6:33 – seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all things will be added unto you…. Therefore, why would one seek anything else, when by seeking the Kingdom all else is added? Do you long for God’s will to be done in your life? Seek the Kingdom and His Righteousness. If you are not sure how to do that – (read this blog) but simply Ask God for wisdom. As you do you will be filled with discernment and understand about the world around you and the love of God that will lead you to celebrating freedom, or leave you crushed under the current reality and fear of change.

There is so much more I wish to say here, but to keep it short – I am going to draw from two books: “Necessary Endings by “Dr. Henry Cloud and “Bold Love” by Dan B. Allender. Both of these books are amazing reads for the spiritual insight leading to healthy relationships and the role of wisdom being applied.  Overall there are three types of people in the world.

• The Wise,
• The Fool,
• The Evil.

A very quick and simple summary of these types of people:

• The wise have an open ear and open heart to learn God’s will. (It keeps them seeking)
• The fool have closed ears to God’s voice and open mouth to share their own.
• The evil are fools, who have a closed heart to God and haughty eyes looking for opportunities to thwart God’s will.

Most of us assume that we are not fools, yet our actions reveal something much different. Read a summary of this kind of thinking from the wisdom proverbs of Solomon. The fool can identify themselves as both sinners or saints, but the wise are able reject and resist the lies of the enemy an thus identify as saints. The goal of this blog is for us to be wise saints confronting the chaos of this world. Wisdom helps us to navigate and direct our time which we invest in the lives of those around us. True wisdom is bold love directing us to make necessary endings where the soil is not fertile for the Kingdom of God. Here are three acts of wisdom which you can draw from when you are in an environment where you are being drawn to waste your time or fall into folly.

1. Ask for Help.
2. Apologize.
3. Choose Optimism.

Each of these demonstrate a posture of wisdom in that you are open to what God is going to do in the renewal of the relationship. You are choosing a path of humility, while as the same time rejecting the default mode of blaming and victimization. If these three are not natural to you (yet) let it be an initial indicator of your level of wisdom.

The result of having wisdom is seen throughout the Book of James and the lectionary will lead us there in just a few weeks. Wisdom is a movement of the spirit within you. The Ephesians passage makes this clear– be filled with the Spirit for you are to move as wise not as unwise. The John passage draws us to the source of wisdom – JESUS, but may walk away from Jesus using the foolish statements given above –

• Nit Picking – Jesus is confusing…
• Saying “I told you so” – Jesus demands too much…
• Claiming moral superiority – Jesus is soft on sin and sinners…
• Complaining – Jesus doesn’t work for me, or why do bad things happen, or I don’t like the church…

Your time is valuable. You are valuable. Let today be the day you seek wisdom with a renewed expectancy that God will fill you up and help you to overcome foolish and evil pitfalls.