Do you want to live a good life? Do you enjoy doing good works? Are you a person who enjoys accomplishing tasks? Do you think through the tasks before you tackle them? Do you have a plan? How do you approach them? Do you approach them with gentleness and wisdom?
All of us want a good life, but our definition of a good life may differ. Some of us like to complete tasks and enjoy a feeling of accomplishment. Some of us prefer to live a life of ease and luxury. Some of us have struggled most of our life and are not sure what a good life is.
James tells us to show our good life includes our works. Those works are to be done with gentleness that comes from wisdom. How do we become wise? First, knowledge and wisdom come through experience. As we experience different situations, we experience successes and failures. If we learn from those experiences, we become wiser.
Second, we study and research to gain the knowledge we need for the work we will do. Along with our study, we must spend time thinking, pondering, or meditating on what we learn. Without taking time to put the various pieces of data we have learned into comprehensive information; our knowledge is nothing more than data points.
Third, we should pray. True wisdom comes from God. As we ask him to reveal the meaning and usefulness of what we learn, he reveals to us the wisdom we need to use the information appropriately. It is through God’s wisdom that we can accomplish the works he has set aside for us to do with the gentleness of Jesus and show our good life to others.
I pray we all seek live a good life. I pray we gain the knowledge we need to accomplish the works God has set aside for us. I pray each one of us spend time in prayer, asking God to reveal his wisdom to us. Live a good life. Show your good life through works. Ask for God’s wisdom. Accomplish your works with gentleness.
James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
Marty Pressey 