Are you looking for wisdom? Do you long to gain understanding? Have you been searching for answers to important questions? Is there a desire within you to discover meaning in your life? Do you know where to find the knowledge you are looking for?
We all have questions. Whether we realize it or not, we want to know what our purpose is. We long to discover what we are meant to do, where we belong, and who we are to be with. Our search carries us to many people, places, and situations.
There is an old country song by Johnny Lee titled Looking For Love. The lyric in the chorus says, “looking for love in all the wrong places.” We can apply the meaning of this lyric to our search for wisdom. We look for knowledge and wisdom in the wrong places. We look to this world to fill us with understanding. Don’t misunderstand, going to school, being educated, is good. Yet, the discernment and understanding we need to gain wisdom does not come from the world but from God.
As we are told in today’s passage, wisdom is provided through the church. It is not that any one individual within the church can provide all the wisdom we desire. It is the collective wisdom of the members of the church that fulfills our desire. We gain insights from one person that we can’t gather from another.
In order to gain the wisdom we seek, we must be willing to talk with the various members, even those we may not particularly care for. We must participate in Bible classes. We must be attentive when the pastor preaches. We must pray to God for discernment. And we must spend time reading and studying on our own.
Wisdom doesn’t come quick nor easily. However, it won’t be acquired at all, if we are not active in the church, the place and group of people where God sheds His wisdom and provides understanding not found in the world—an understanding, not of how things work, but of the meaning of life.
I pray we all choose to be active in our churches. I pray we turn to God’s people for insights. I pray each one of us seeks the wisdom that only God can provide. Seek true wisdom. Be active in a church. Participate in Bible classes. Listen attentively. Pray for discernment.
Ephesians 3:10-11 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Marty Pressey 