One of the things I love to do is collecting home-spun wisdom–good, old-fashioned common sense that helps me navigate life and stay out of trouble. Here are some of my favorites:
- “If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.” A creative reminder that spending more than you make can lead to financial pain.
- “I’m too poor to buy cheap.” When I asked the older man who said this to explain, he said, “When it comes to making a major purchase, if you choose to settle for a cheaper model or brand, at sometime in the future it’s probably going to break prematurely, and then you’ll have to buy the more expensive one after all. I’m too poor to buy both the cheap one and then the more expensive one.”
- “I don’t like to make a major decision while I’m doubled parked.” While attending a planning meeting early in my ministry, there were some pressing issues that led some to feel a major decision needed to be made right then. One of the committee members made the statement above. After the meeting I asked him to explain. He said, “Do you know how it feels to go to a business that only has parallel parking in front of it, and you’re in a hurry and no parking spaces are available, so you park in the street beside a parked car, run inside, all the while looking back at your car over and over fearful that you’ll get a ticket? I don’t like that kind of rushed feeling when making a major decision.”
- “Don’t put the keys to your happiness in another person’s pocket.” This wisdom is so easy to ignore. As examples, we can ignore it by banking our happiness on whether we receive a much-desired word of approval or praise. Or we can ignore it by letting a word of criticism or someone’s unreal expectations of us get under our skin.
As you look down the corridor of time that has been designated as 2025, if you expect to live the next 365 days successfully, you will need wisdom. Whether young or old, rich or poor, CEO or custodian, male or female, married or single, you will need wisdom. You will need it to navigate relationships, and to handle life circumstances – especially trials and tribulations. You will need it to help make major and minor decisions, to know how best to handle success and setback, and especially how to deal with an unknown future as it becomes known one day at a time. Wisdom will also be helpful when you experience what a friend of mine once called a “vu-de-ja” moment – when you feel like you are having an experience you have never had before and are not sure what to do.
Why is wisdom so vital to successful living? First, because of what it is and what it can accomplish in a person’s life. Wisdom is the ability a person possesses to take experiences, knowledge and information, turn them into understanding, insight, and judgment, and then apply that understanding, insight, and judgment to various life circumstances so that the best possible results can occur.
Second, wisdom is essential because of where true wisdom originates. It originates in the eternal heart and mind of God, rooted in His character and nature. Therefore, it’s rooted in holiness and love, grace and mercy, justice and discipline. It’s rooted in true truth that is grounded in reality – the way life really is, not the way we perceive it to be or want it to be. As both Creator and Sustainer of life and living, His wisdom is filled with an error-proof understanding of life. Therefore, when we apply God’s wisdom to life situations, we bring to bear God’s discernment on our decision making and behavior. We also bring to bear HIs nature and character, along with His truth and understanding of how life works best for those seeking to experience success as He defines it.
Understand this truth. Not all wisdom is equal, not all wisdom is wise. If all there is to life is a rat race requiring survival of the fittest, then any street smarts will do. But if life is eternal and filled with meaning and purpose, then wisdom rooted in eternity is needed if true success is to be. God’s wisdom is readily available and understandable. It can be learned. The Bible says in Proverbs 9:10 (ESV), “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Acquisition of wisdom starts there.
This time next year as you look back on your 2025, much of what you observe will have been colored greatly by whose wisdom you have used to navigate your life – God’s or the world’s. Here at the beginning of 2025, let’s heed the call to wise living found in Proverbs 2:1-8 ESV.
1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,8 guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.”
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