MARIA CURREY|CONTRIBUTOR

Understanding wisdom is a lifelong journey, a walk that requires well placed steps and a steady gaze on Jesus as the perfect guide.  Sometimes a verse captivates our minds and gives greater purpose to our steps in pivotal ways. James 3:17 is such a verse for me. Born out of a challenging time, one fraught with self-doubt and dire challenges, these words captured my mind nearly twenty-six years ago, “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.”

The place was Washington DC where our family was young, busy, growing, and moving frequently.  My ambitions to love, serve, and lead for our Lord were strong, bold, and highly motivated—until large walls of challenge slammed into my heart. I remember praying, crying, and wondering how I would navigate one particular situation. Then James 3:17 came into view. Having read it many times before, it was as if I was encountering it for the first time.  Each word sounded with significance echoing in the chambers of my soul.

Wisdom is First Pure

The word that captured my mind initially was first.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; a semicolon followed to hold that word pure in a preeminent place and position. I walked with the verse for month upon month, literally walking the words into my memory, asking God to give me this wisdom—to be first of all pure.

What does it mean to be pure?  The word is hagnos, and it means clean, innocent, modest, perfect, and chaste. To be pure is to be sacred and blameless, clean from defilement and uncontaminated.  I think of clear, clean water that is pure and refreshing.  Extra virgin olive oil is the first press of oil; it is the best, richest, and finest and is pure of chemicals. Purity means to be undefiled and free of contaminants. My God was calling me to be undefiled by grumbling, complaints, and disagreements.

In my desperate need for wisdom, I began to explore the root of God’s wisdom.

Proverbs 9:10 tells us clearly that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. To fear God is to revere and hold Him in highest honor, to be awestruck by His greatness and glory.  To know God is to understand Him, even in the small and imperfect inklings we are given to comprehend.

I found that Proverbs 3:18 calls wisdom a tree of life to those who embrace her.  My hunger for this tree grew and rooted more deeply.

I found that in the walk of wisdom to which we are called in Christ, I needed to be first of all pure!

Wisdom is Peace-Loving

There is a beautiful orderliness, a straight path.  Without the first paver of purity, our steps could easily be misaligned and misplaced.  We must know the peace of God that passes understanding.  That begins in our prayer life. For me, the significance of that crisis point in following Christ centered in hard relationships and fell into God’s grace through prayer. Philippians 4:6-7, combined with James 3:13, 17-18 took on new and fuller meaning.

To not be anxious but to present my requests to God with thanksgiving, then His peace that passed all understanding guarded my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  So, this pairing of purity with peace became a throwing up of my hands to God in prayer.

God’s wisdom is first of all pure; then peace-loving.  To be peaceable is to promote calm, to be undisturbed by strife, turmoil, or disagreement.  It doesn’t mean being free from those things; a peace-loving heart offers God’s responses to the hardness of life.

So, it is within these first two attributes of God’s wisdom that I invite you to join the journey.  Embrace the tree of life that is God’s wisdom.

Editor’s Note: Understanding Wisdom is a Bible study by Maria Currey just released through PCA CDM, in time for Fall studies, offering you the opportunity to study God’s wisdom from Old Testament truths through to James 3:13, 17-18, “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 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 raise a harvest of righteousness” (NIV). With seeds of wisdom found in James 3:13 and 17, this inductive study walks across the breadth of Scripture to plant, water, grow, and harvest the fruit of God’s wisdom in the believer’s life.  By tapping into the endless root system of Word-ly wisdom, you will learn to weed out worldly wisdom and hold fast to the tree of life where you may dwell under its protective, eternal spiritual shade.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash