To Encourage You

James 3:17 “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”

When someone approaches you with a concern or complaint, especially if that concern or complaint is about you or something you have said or done, what’s your reaction?  Are you defensive? Do you immediately start to speak?  If this doesn’t describe you, you may be a rare individual, because defending oneself just seems to be so natural. And that’s the problem with it. It’s natural. The way the Bible describes it is “from below.” 

In the verse above James talks about another way, i.e., a wisdom that is “from above.”   It’s a wisdom that doesn’t begin and end with man. Rather, it’s a gift that must come from God, for the wisdom that is “from above” is not natural; it’s supernatural.  The specific aspect of this wisdom that gets at the questions posed above is “open to reason.” I really like the way the King James Version translates this word: “easily entreated.” The definition of “entreat” is “to plead with, especially in order to persuade: ask urgently.”  If someone comes to us with an issue that they think needs to be resolved, and we have some power to do something about it, we are being “entreated” about that matter.  To be easily entreated, then, is to be a good listener, to be willing to consider the other person’s point of view, even if that point of view is diametrically opposed to our own.  It’s the opposite of a viewpoint of “it’s my way or the highway.” 

You see, the natural way is an attitude that puts oneself first. It’s self-centered, and as such, it is void of love.  But to be easily entreated is the opposite.  It’s closely related to all the other words James uses to talk about the wisdom that is “from above,” namely, a wisdom that is “pure, then peaceable, gentle . . . full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” To think and act in these ways is to be wise.  The absence of these qualities is a sign of foolishness. It’s all just something I was thinking about today, and something I need to think about often.  More than that, it’s among the things I should be praying about, for the truth is, God wants to see these qualities in us more than we do, but so often, we receive not because we ask not (James 4:2).

May God help us to be asking for the right things.