Like many, I first approached God’s wisdom in the Bible as good advice. The right way to do a thing so as to please God. The guide for the best chance of success at a thing, or just to have a good life.

Wisdom is ALL THAT. But is is so much more!

Even as I researched and wrote The Wisdom Series I uncovered layers of truth and beauty I never noticed before. The most outstanding thing the Bible says about wisdom?

Wisdom is not merely words in a book; Wisdom is a Person you get to know.

Paul described Jesus as the embodiment of all Wisdom, as the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:3) Jesus is Wisdom personified.

Walking the earth in a human body, His wisdom amazed folks. Some were amazingly blessed, but others — the professional religionists — were quite offended. So much so, that they crucified him. Why did it offend them so?

The wisdom God poured out through Jesus exposes, challenges, and threatens to unravel what man has built upon his own, so-called “wisdom.” In fact, God rather loudly and repeatedly describes man’s wisdom as “foolish” by comparison. God is on a mission to erode trust in your wisdom or that of the world, because it is deceptive; promising one thing, and leading you to another.

Deceptive wisdom appears to offer life, but will actually, over time, diminish your life. God hates anything that does that to you! Which is why He unashamedly begs you in His book of Proverbs to come partake of His wisdom, instead.

Later, Paul chimes in, along with James and Peter, and, of course, Jesus Himself. Together they confirm that God makes His wisdom available to all who trust in Him, by means of His Spirit. Paul describes this as God’s secret wisdom, destined to be revealed to God’s children. To you. It may seem like it is hidden from you, but it is actually hidden FOR you, like a treasure waiting to be sought.

I wrote The Wisdom Series as a collection of forty-five devotionals.

In the series I followed God’s lead from Proverbs Chapter Nine, identifying the seven pillars of Wisdom’s “house.” These are presented as seven values which the Spirit of Wisdom works to establish in the hearts of God’s redeemed children.

Why does the Spirit labor this way with you? So that the “house” of your faith life with God will stand strong through every challenge. So that the developing covenant relationship between you and God will be glorious, fruitful, and satisfying on both sides of the divine friendship offered.

Wisdom is so much more than good advice! It is:

• the values of God in action, deployed perfectly in every situation.
• a course in relationship, teaching you how to love God and man.
• a guide for pulling off parenting that instills character, not just survives the teen years.
• how to be a great employer or employee.

Wisdom is the key to your best life.

Oprah didn’t invent the concept of living your best life; God did! Except, of course, that God’s idea of living your best life is based on you becoming like Him. Wisdom’s aim is to teach you how to have a heart like His, able to make wise judgments. Equipped to discern truth and righteousness for every situation.

Jesus didn’t just say wise stuff; He modeled the seven pillars of Wisdom.

Of course, He did this to a much greater degree than most of us. He set the high bar for us, of walking not only with God but in His wise ways, displaying His wise heart. Wisdom was on full display in Jesus, most conspicuously in his teaching known as the Sermon On The Mount.

There, Jesus took the Jewish laws so familiar to his audience and elevated them to their highest purpose: love and honor. He knew the Father needed hearts prepared for His Spirit. Hearts full of worship that looked like loving God wholeheartedly.

God’s laws: the original teachers, preparing hearts for the Spirit of Wisdom.

God’s laws were originally given to teach man the concepts of love and faithfulness, as you relate to God and to your neighbor. Aimed straight at the heart of man. Yet through the ages, man schemed to find ways around the laws, going for outward appearance and a way to check the obedience box to soothe their conscience.

The main problem with that isn’t just that the easy way out dishonors God; it also robbed man of developing the kind of heart that would lead him to his highest experience of life as God designed it.

The first pillar of Wisdom’s house is called “the fear of the Lord.”

Why? Because Jesus is our firstborn, the first example of a man like us walking with the Spirit of Wisdom. Jesus came live a lifestyle of worship towards the Father, but that worship began as the fear of the Lord. According to Isaiah 11:2, by fully embracing the fear of the Lord, Jesus came to delight in it.

I write about what it looks like to delight in the fear of the Lord in the blog article titled “The Aroma Of Love.” This article evolved while I wrote the Wisdom Series, where I discovered something achingly beautiful about how Jesus really lived that. I tried to describe it, though how it happens is a mystery best discovered by setting foot on that journey yourself.

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