Tag Archives: Folly

Two kinds of wisdom

In Albury-Wodonga, the weekly free newspapers used to include a column of reflections. They were written by local  ministers, or similar (authors included a local Baha’i leader, as well as someone from the local humanist society branch). I don’t know why they stopped. Equally, I don’t know if they achieved anything!

Cleaning up my computer, I found a few of mine. In the interests of recycling, I will re-release them on this blog.

Wisdom can sometimes be the most foolish thing.

I saw this recently with an expert quoted in The Post. A private eye gave ‘five golden rules for cheaters to protect themselves’ from being caught. Each rule was logical, sensible, achievable. And each rule was a great way to destroy trust and relationship. Would you like to find your husband or wife memorising these rules? This is wisdom that strangles life: foolish wisdom.

The Bible book of James speaks clearly about two types of wisdom. The first is like the private eye’s five rules. The second is wisdom from God. ‘The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.’

Let’s take the first point, purity. This does not mean perfection – who could ever reach that standard? It means that if you cheat on your spouse or cheat on God you will first say sorry. The wise thing is always to ask forgiveness, forgiveness from people and from God. This wisdom will move to restore relationship, not fracture relationships any further. This is wisdom that gives life.

You know your own relationships: with God, family, friends, workmates, neighbours. With all these people, how wise are you today?
December 2003