Wisdom, Wise Or Otherwise

Now, he says with all your getting, get understanding too, get knowledge too, but above all, get wisdom. It is so important. Wisdom is the most important thing that a leader can have, that a teacher can have.

Now, notice in these scriptures that I have given you, that the Bible links wisdom and knowledge together. Go back to James, the third chapter, and we’ll see it also there in James the third chapter. Notice what James says: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?” (James 3:13). Wisdom and knowledge are always linked together, but get this, and understand it, wisdom always comes first, and knowledge without wisdom is a dangerous thing. You see, if a man has knowledge without wisdom, he may be proud that he knows so much. Wisdom is humble that it knows so little. And, knowledge always fails if it is not linked to wisdom. You see, wisdom gives you the ability to apply the knowledge that you have.

Einstein had knowledge. But, it grieves me to say that I do not believe that Einstein had wisdom. You say, “How do you know what Einstein had?” Because Einstein never confessed Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, and Jesus is the heartbeat of wisdom. Einstein confessed, before he died in 1955, that there were so many things in his mind that he could not unlock, so many things that he didn’t understand. And, Einstein said, and I quote, “I feel like a man who is chained. If I could only be freed from the shackles of my intellectual smallness, then I could understand the universe in which I live.” 1 He’d never understand this universe until he knows the Lord, ’til he knows the Lord Jesus Christ.

I don’t care if you’re an Einstein. I don’t care if you’re an intellectual genius. I want to tell you the Bible says, “God hath hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and hath revealed them unto babes” (Matthew 11:25). Talking about this world’s wisdom, talking about the people, the intellectual people of this world. God reveals the simple things, the wonderful things, to those who know Him, and to those who love Him. And, the Bible describes that so carefully and poignantly in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 18 through 25, but I’ll not read those verses now, just jot them down in the margin and read them when you get home.

Now, God links wisdom and knowledge, but he always puts wisdom first and knowledge follows hard on the heals of wisdom. Because, you see, a wise man will get knowledge. A wise man will study. I’m not trying to tell you that if you have wisdom, that you don’t need to study, that you don’t need to learn. The Bible says the contrary, that we’re to: “Study to show ourselves approved unto God…workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). And, a lump in your throat is no excuse for a vacuum in your head.

A little boy in school one time was asked what a vacuum was. He said, “Let me think.” He said, “Well,” he said, “I can’t exactly say, but I’ve got it up here.” Now, there are a lot of people, I think, who are very similar to that little boy. They are saved but they don’t have understanding, they don’t have knowledge. They may have a modicum of wisdom, but if they were truly wise, they would do what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13: “gird up the loins of your mind…” (1 Peter 1:13). Now, back when Peter wrote this men wore long flowing tunics. And, if a man wanted to run, he had to reach down and take this tunic—this long, flowing skirt—and just kind of pull it up, and tuck it under his belt so he could run. Now, what Peter is saying is, “Gird up the loins of your mind.” Take those long, flowing robes of indiscipline, and laziness, and carelessness and run for all your worth, and apply your mind, and love God with all of your mind.