A MESSAGE FROM DR. MARK D. FUTATO
DIG DEEPER
Be in Community:
(Read about Dr. Futato from Reformed Theological Seminary at rts.edu/seminary/faculty/bio.aspx?id=327.)
Want to spark conversation in your group this week? Use the week’s daily devotional content!
Wisdom From Above
Find the entire week’s devotionals online at
James 1:5; 3:13-18 (NIV) If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. … Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 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. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
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Devotional:
It is probably difficult for anyone to admit he or she lacks wisdom. In fact, if we do, do we really ever realize it? Do we ever know what we don’t know? According to James, when we lack wisdom, our actions give us away. We lack the traits that most wise people exhibit. If you read between the lines of James’ words, the behavior that reveals a lack of wisdom is pride. Perhaps nothing is more ignorant than thinking too highly of oneself. What are your usual sources of wisdom? Where do you turn when you need more understanding than your life experience has given you? Henry David Thoreau is quoted as saying that it is not what we look at that matters, but what we see. Perhaps it is both. When we know the source of true wisdom, and we see with the eyes of our hearts, which have been opened by Jesus, then we can find true understanding. Who are the people in your life whom you consider wise? What is it about them that gives you this impression? How are their lives different as a result of their insight? How does your life reflect your source of wisdom? What situations in your life could be changed by calling on Christ’s wisdom today?
PRAYER Eternal God, Shepherd of Your people, we feel the fleeting passage of life, and we know how fragile is our existence on this tiny planet amid the spinning galaxies. We confess with the prophet: “All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall. . . .” Yet we also confess: “The word of our God stands forever.” “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” We look to You as frightened children look to their mother, for You alone can comfort us. Have mercy on us, O God. See our tears and hear our cries and lead us all, as pilgrims, through this valley of death’s shadow into the light of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen. —based on Psalm 90:12 (NIV); Isaiah 40:6-8
Worship focus
Worship Christ today as the Author of wisdom. His Word trains us in judgment, and His Spirit leads us in understanding. He does not keep His treasures of knowledge and insight to Himself, but gives freely to those who ask.
PRAYER. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! … For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. —Romans 11:33, 36 (NRSV)
Let Us Know! “ If we could analyze the influences that build up a godly character to maturity, we might well find that the agencies which we call natural vastly outweighed those that we call supernatural. The book of Proverbs reassures us that this, if it is true, is no reflection on the efficiency of God’s grace; for the hard facts of life, which knock some of the nonsense out of us, are God’s facts and his appointed school of character; they are not alternatives to his grace, but means of it; for everything is of grace, from the power to know to the power to obey. ‘The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both’” (Proverbs 20:12). — Derek Kidner, Proverbs
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