Wisdom is Impartial

We now look at the sixth trait of wisdom listed in James 3:17: impartiality. 

Wisdom is impartial. 

The New American Standard Bible translates the word as “unwavering.” 

The dictionary defines impartial as being not biased; fair and just.

It defines unwavering as “steady or resolute.”

So to be wise, one is unwaveringly fair and just. 

One does not jump to conclusions, act first and ask question later, or hit the ground running with hastily-made impressions of people and situations. 

One acts fairly to all people, in all situations, at all times. 

One is steady in dealing with those of other opinions and viewpoints, recognizing the justness of allowing them to see things differently. 

Thus, a truly wise politician will cooperate fairly and justly with all other politicians, working with them as peers and colleagues—not as enemies.

A truly wise teacher will impartially and objectively relay the material to be taught, free from being tainted by a personal agenda, political motivation or moral worldview.

A truly wise parent will treat all of their children with equal respect, love and discipline, never playing favorites. 

A truly wise friend or spouse, although experiencing a unique closeness with their friend or spouse, will nonetheless remain impartial when it comes to speaking the truth in love and putting fairness and justness above the relationship. 

“Many a man proclaims his own loyalty,

But who can find a trustworthy man?

A righteous man who walks in his integrity—

How blessed are his sons after him.” Proverbs 20:6-7

“He who pursues righteousness and loyalty

Finds life, righteousness and honor.” Proverbs 21:21

“to show partiality in judgment is not good.” Proverbs 24:23b

“Oil and perfume make the heart glad,

So a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend.” Proverbs 27:9

“Iron sharpens iron,

So one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17

To be impartial in today’s world is exceedingly rare. 

As Christians, it is God’s clear call:

“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.” James 2:1

“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.”James 2:8-9.

To be impartial does not mean we throw discernment out the window. It means we base all discernment on first being impartial. We do not let personal presuppositions fog up the window of reality.

How many of us have automatically written someone off because they wrote for a liberal newspaper? How many of us have unflinchingly despised someone based solely on the expensive car they drive, or the prestigious university they attended? How many of us have snickered at people who shop at low-budget stores and have no college degree? 

It is so acceptable nowadays to compartmentalize everything under a banner of personal self-righteousness and superiority. 

It has become downright caustic out there—people refusing to let go of their tightly wound positions, platitudes, assumptions and entitlements, which only turns them increasingly into being partial to one person: themselves.

And when we become overwhelmingly partial to our way—to ME—we make it impossible to be unwaveringly fair and just to anyone else. This is bound to result in a rather bitter, ornery existence.

For Christians to make an impact in this world, impartiality must appear—and quickly—on the scene. It must be woven into daily interactions, relied upon in order to love our neighbor, and sought after so that self promotion no longer reigns. 

It is out of the baseline of impartiality that respect, kindness and the practice of listening emerge. It is the antidote to the poison of “my rights, my political party, my being offended.” 

And it is the necessary segue to the next, and final, component of wisdom in our verse: sincerity. 

Copyright Barb Harwood

Wisdom is Mercy, Bearing Good Fruit, Part Two

The blog post preceding this one explored the difficult side of mercy. But mercy also has another side: an easy side, for lack of a better term. 

And this is the way we typically understand mercy: compassionate, kind-hearted care or concern for others. 

This can be much easier than the previous type of mercy in that, for one, it is expected and thus, taught and modeled. It is often what we think of when we talk about charity or having a “servant-heart.”

And it can be much more readily engaged in than the difficult kind of mercy because, quite frankly, it can, and often does, tap into what we are organically good at.

So, for instance, It can feel great to volunteer at a job placement center and use our God-given gift of counseling and networking to connect those looking for a job with employers looking for employees. 

It will be a joy to teach art in an assisted living center when art is what we would do in our free time anyway, and our pleasure is increased by sharing that creative time with others, encouraging them along the way. Mercy here says, “You have a God-induced passion for and will to create art. I am here to guide, encourage and celebrate this Godly disposition with you.”

We might posses a high capacity for patience, allowing us to successfully work with children, or with people who don’t move as quickly and can’t do things as readily as someone else. Our mercy for their situation builds them up within their capabilities—not feeling sorry for them but equipping them to live a full, and perhaps independent, life, where they can grow in confidence and maturity.

We may develop mercy for a specific population of people after going through a traumatic experience of our own, eager to offer them encouragement and support. 

In all ways—be it in difficulty or ease—mercy bears fruit—if we operate mercifully God’s way—not only with others, but also with ourselves and our children. 

And whether it comes in the form of "tough love" or productive compassion, we are called, as disciples of Christ, to incorporate mercy into our life that God may bear His fruit. 

Biblical mercy goes where God intends it to go for His ongoing purpose of increasing His good in the world, which is good for all of us. That is the fruit of Biblical mercy. 

"for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Philippians 2:13

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:12-16 

“For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.” Titus 3:3-8

copyright Barb Harwood

Wisdom is Mercy, Bearing Good Fruit

In this progression through James 3:17, we now come to mercy and good fruit, flowing so logically out of submission.  

Notice that mercy and good fruit are listed together, as one entity. 

That is because mercy, in its Godly form, bears good fruit! The two cannot be separated. 

And unlike human mercy, the mercy of God is never-ending; it is “new every morning” ( Lamentations 3:22-23). 

Also unlike human mercy, God’s mercy is not enabling, meddling, or controlling (Luke 5:31-32). (And so, in mercy as in all things, we are to be imitators of God--Ephesians 5:1). 

As humans, we may think we are being “merciful” when, in reality, we are only allowing dysfunction to continue, and even to progress to increasingly detrimental levels. 

Mercy is not giving people money who could earn it themselves. 

Mercy is not being used by adult children to prop them up in their laziness or their holding out for a job they are doing nothing to equip themselves for. 

Mercy is not looking the other way when we see a person we are close to cheating on their spouse, ingesting drugs, hurting others, or gossiping. 

Mercy is not agreeing with or operating as though we cannot be discerning about societal value systems that are in direct opposition to God’s value system—(a value system established and proven in the life-giving Christ). 

There is a difference between acceptance of what another person chooses for him or herself, and condoning. 

Mercy, when we are in a relationship with a person, gently talks things out, addresses concerns and offers help towards a solution. 

Mercy prioritizes our responsibilities: 

So if (taking an example from my own life), we are attempting to live in sobriety after 21 years of alcohol addiction, our priority is not to our drinking friends and families. 

Our merciful duty is not to them, but to our sobriety.

Our priority is not to surround our children with drinking loved ones all the years of their growing up. 

Our priority is to have mercy on the miracle God is working in us to empower us through His Spirit to break an addiction that has strong-armed us into slavery and misery for 21 years—to show mercy to ourselves and our children in our present attempt at sobriety, as well as being merciful to breaking the chain of addiction in our children’s future.

Mercy doesn’t give in to sin—either our sin or the sin of others. It resists sin so that mercy, true mercy, can prevail. 

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

“We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for another and for all people” (1 Thessalonians 5:14-15).

The way God set things up, there are consequences to sin in order that we do not miss out on all He has in store for us and the community of His people. 

So although He forgives repentant hearts and minds, He often follows sin up with consequences in the logic that the consequences will teach us not to sin in that way again.  

It is the refinement of God that we already acknowledge and expect in the real world, especially in the raising of children. 

We know full well that frequently the most merciful thing we can do for a loved one is to correct—to protect from harm by saying “No,” holding accountable, and taking away privileges. 

That is the side of mercy that leaves no choice but to do the difficult thing:

“My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD

Or loathe His reproof,

For whom the LORD loves He reproves,

Even as a Father corrects the son in whom He delights” (Proverbs 3:11-12).

“It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” Hebrews 12:7-11

One of the most beautiful, and, I believe, overlooked passages in Scripture is the following:

“My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).

However, the above passage is beautiful only if done along with this:

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted (Galatians 6:1).

The above two verses, combined, strike a rather rare pose of mercy—one not commonly adopted. We, and I have been guilty of this many times in the raising of my children, often excel at “restoring,” while failing miserably at “gently” and “watching ourselves.” 

So then, mercy does admonish: it is one of the most loving things anyone can do for another. Fruit that comes of correction is lasting, maturing, sanctifying. But, just as we desire gentleness from others with whom we are in conflict, they also require it from us. 

Tomorrow I will take a look at the other side of mercy, the one we typically think of when we contemplate what it means to be merciful.

Copyright Barb Harwood

Wisdom is Submissive

For the 4th post in this series on wisdom as expounded in James 3:13-17, we look at the aspect of submission. 

A person who is wise is submissive.

If we haven’t figured it out yet, we will soon comprehend, perhaps grudgingly, that wisdom engages with the whole world, as opposed to the whole world engaging with just one person—namely, ME. 

“Submissive” is probably the last word one would want to mention as a character trait to be integrated into one’s life. Some people turn away at this point, because to them the word has been mucked up by earthly connotations. 

To them, submissive negatively means:

*Door mat.

*Wimp

*Subservient to men (and quickly growing to encompass subservience to women).

*A “goody-two-shoes” who follows all the rules.

*Teacher’s pet

*Kissing up to the boss. 

*No sense of adventure and taking risks.

In fact, dictionary.com would enforce this with one of it’s definitions of the word “submit:”

“to give over or yield to the power or authority of another.”

With all due respect to the dictionary, it doesn’t always get it right, because it was written by man, not God. However, the dictionary does get submission partly right in it’s second definition:

“to subject to some kind of treatment or influence.”

So in Biblical submission, what is to be subjected?

Us.

What are we to subject ourselves to? 

Most people would say the law, the police, the professors, the parents, the husband, the doctor, etc.

But in Biblical submission we submit to God:

“Submit yourselves, then, to God” (James 4:7a).

Think about the times people cut corners and feel the rules just don’t apply to them or to their attainment of the “bottom line.” 

Think of the time we cut corners out of pride that the rules don’t apply to us:

*Reporting an accurate account of our taxes.

*How we operate when on the company’s expense account.

*How we act when nobody’s looking.

*How we treat our marital vows.

*How we handle terms of etiquette: such as RSVP’ing, showing up when we say we will, being on time, answering phone calls, talking things out when there is a disagreement….

All of the above, along with the multitude of ways we shirk and bend the rules, are not “splitting hairs” or “putting too fine a point on things,” being a “prude” or being “unrealistic.” 

And we know this because our conscience, created by God as His stamp on us, pricks us every time we tell a “little white lie” or “look the other way and hope others do too.” 

Our conscience is God’s way of calling us to Himself; to be brought under His merciful and wise ownership.

So let’s take a look at why submission to God and under God is better than submission to our self or to any worldly entity:

Here is the James verse in which we find the command to “submit yourselves, then, to God” in context:

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the Spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

‘God opposes the proud

But shows favor to the humble.’

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:1-8

We need to submit to God because we are sinners. 

And friendship with the world here is considered a detrimental thing because the world, in God’s context, is not a warm fuzzy: in fact, it is fallen (Even the hippie-era Coca Cola song recognizes this in its platitudinal desire to teach this unharmonious world “to sing, in perfect harmony.” I say, “good luck with that!”)

Think about it. If we cheat, it’s “okay”. 

But when someone else cheats, perhaps in a different way, or perhaps causing harm to me, then I’m appalled—but never at my own cheating. 

And if I do become disgusted with myself for a personal discretion, I make up some lame excuse such as “I’m only human” or, “I'll do better next time,” never taking accountability for our lapse.

God is the standard for all of our submission; that’s the incredible beauty and blessing of Biblical submission!

In His economy, when we all submit to Him, righteousness—His righteousness—reigns. 

It doesn’t mean we get our way when we Biblically submit. In fact, quite often we won’t get “our way” and that is a good thing, if it truly is Biblical submission to God—not to a pastor, a denomination or some person who sincerely believes he or she has a “word from God” but is sincerely wrong. 

That is why we are called by Scripture to “test everything” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

And we test it by Scripture and the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, wrought in us through the reading of His word and living it out, in constant prayer and silent times of hearing God. This is what makes righteous submission an enjoyable interaction and pursuit.

So then, to submit to my husband, or any man, Biblically, is not a problem. Nor is it a character flaw on my part, or a denigration of my being a woman. 

It simply means I submit to a man no differently than I would submit to a female boss, friend, sister, or mother (even including a child, who is sometimes in the right when we are in the wrong).

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21). 
(Please note that this verse is connected to the words that come before it, which I will not provide here. I encourage you to read Ephesians 5:1-21 for this particular verse's full context).

Biblically, under submission to God and His will, is how I am to be in relationship with all people.

If there is one thing I could emblazon on a billboard for all the world to see it is this:

"Biblical submission will not be understood by man until the Spirit enters in and deciphers it for man. Only then will it make sense.”

Once so enlightened, we will turn red in our embarrassment over how worked up we had let ourselves get about submission.

I invite anyone to read James 4:1-8 and find it false—that it doesn’t depict our current situation.

I invite anyone to argue that going on in this world in the way the world is going on—with less and less submission to God, and increasingly less and less submission to even basic societal rules and politeness—in favor of an expanding heart-hardened submission to “individual rights,”—is better than submission to the Lord of lords and King of kings, who came for the sick (in mind, spirit, soul and body), not for the healthy (those who think they are in no need of a Savior—Luke 5:31; Mark 2:17; Matthew 9:12). 

Jesus came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10b).

He came to rescue us from those who steal us from life and from having it to the full (John 10:10). 

Jesus wept when people refused Him in order to go it alone:

“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes’” (Luke 19:41-42).

Submission in the Spirit of Christ to God brings peace: in our selves, in our marriages, in our families, in our communities, in our cities, in our states, in our nations, and in our world. 

This--submission--is the wisdom of God, not man. 

Copyright Barb Harwood