The Plumbline

My son, eat honey; it is good. Honey straight from the honeycomb is the sweetest. In the same way, know that wisdom is good for you. Wisdom will give you something to hope for that will not disappoint you. (Proverbs 24:13-14) We can turn to the internet for some "wisdom" - such as when we need help with learning a new language. We can turn to the books we have lining walls in our libraries - all divided by subject and author. We can even turn to each other - learning a great deal from what another may have learned over the years. In all these cases, we have amassed "knowledge", but maybe not wisdom. Wisdom isn't just "learned stuff" - it is "applied stuff" - going on to better our lives. Now, if I learned that foreign language to help another gain insight into the truth of the gospel message, the language would help me to "distribute" the wisdom I had attained by means of study of the Word of God, but it still would not be wisd...

Become wise, dear child, and make me happy; then nothing the world throws my way will upset me. (Proverbs 27:11) Scripture teaches wisdom is something we acquire over time. Most of our wisdom comes through what we refer to as the "school of hard knocks". You know exactly where you learned some of the lessons you have learned, while there are times when you really could not say it was one place or time when the learning happened - it came in the "course of time". The point is, we don't stop "becoming wise" at any one point in life. The process of acquiring wisdom is to be a continual thing. Every opportunity presented is an opportunity to incorporate some knew knowledge or application of truth. We just need to use what we "amass" and let it affect how we make decisions in the future. This seems to be the point of our struggle - in using what we already know to help us avoid mistakes. I could save millions of dollars, but if I never used ...