James 3:13-18
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Wisdom Influences Deeds
Wisdom Influences Deeds
Have you ever done something nice for someone? We all want to do good things for other people wether for our friends, our family, even people we don’t know. Whether you call it random acts of kindness, paying it forward, or good deeds, they are very powerful. That is why almost every religion and culture values and rewards the performance of good deeds. There are many benefits to doing good deeds. Some of these benefits may be very obvious to you, while you may not have considered some of the others.
Sometimes what is obvious to others is when somebody does stupid things. Often is obvious to those other then the individual who is doing stupid things. Here is an example of a stupid thing done by an individual. An Arizona man says he finally learned his lesson about messing around with snakes after getting bitten for the second time in his life. Victor Pratt, 48, was holding a birthday party for his child at home in Ariz. He picked up a rattlesnake and began playing with it. "When the kids saw it, I grabbed it," Pratt says. "I showed them how to catch it and I was playing with it like little kids do." After posing for several photos, Pratt lost his grip on the snake's head and the reptile bit him on the neck and face. The snakebite veteran had the presence of mind to ask friends to rush him to the hospital. He said, “We need to go now,” He knew what was going to happen. He was intubated and sedated for five days. He knew that he only had 30 minutes to get to the hospital for treatment.1. Obviously Victor did not demonstrate wisdom when he picked up the rattlesnake.
An Arizona man says he finally learned his lesson about messing around with snakes after getting bitten for the second time in his life. Victor Pratt, 48, was holding a birthday party for his child at home in Ariz. He picked up a rattlesnake and began playing with it. "When the kids saw it, I grabbed it," Pratt says. "I showed them how to catch it and I was playing with it like little kids do." After posing for several photos, Pratt lost his grip on the snake's head and the reptile bit him on the neck and face. The snakebite veteran had the presence of mind to ask friends to rush him to the hospital. "I said, 'We need to go now,' because I knew what was going to happen," said Pratt. He was intubated and sedated for five days. He knew that he only had 30 minutes to get to the hospital for treatment.1.
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Our challenge is to not simply claim to have Godly wisdom but to show it by our actions. We do this in much the same way as God challenges those who claim to possess saving faith to show that it’s genuine by their actions as well. Applying God’s Wisdom by definition is, “Acting in sound judgment in light of all the facts and of correct values based on God’s word.”2.As humans, we sometimes act unwisely simply because we do not have all the facts. This was not the case with Victor. He knew that playing with a rattlesnake, he could get bit, and he did it anyway.
1.Man learns the hard way. http://www.newser.com/story/248832/worlds-worst-party-trick-guy-playing-with-rattlesnake.html (accessed March 20, 2018)
2. Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), page, 301.