• A Life Of Wisdom (And It's Connection To The Great Commission)

    By: Kristen L. McNulty

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

    There are a lot of things we can value in this life; from money to entertainment to wealth to health to status to even relationships.

    But the Bible gives us some good direction on one thing that is found on this earth that we should put above almost anything else: wisdom.

    Proverbs 3:13-15 teaches us:

    "Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. For wisdom is more profitable than silver, and her wages are better than gold. Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her." Proverbs 3:13-15


    Nothing we can desire can compare with wisdom. Having wisdom and making wise choices when it comes to our lives might seem to be small in the scope of all of the other things the Bible teaches us, but I strongly believe it is something that we can’t ignore and need to be mindful of with every decision we make. Why?  Because a life that is a disaster due to foolish choices is going to distract us from our mission to spread the gospel.

    We can have the best of intentions to live out our faith and follow Jesus everyday, but if we are people who make one foolish decision after another, the consequences of our foolishness can completely distract us and derail us from living the kind of Christian life we should be. 

    Let's just think about it for a moment.

    How Our Choices Can Effect Our Kingdom Work


    If you’ve spent yourself into thousands of dollars in debt and you don’t know how you are ever going to get out of debt, your mind will be consumed by it and your giving will be restricted because of it. You might have to even spend more hours working to pay it off, hours that could have been spent serving in the church and building the kingdom of God.

    If you are dating a guy or a girl who is not a wise choice, they could be leading you away from Jesus instead of to Him and consuming way too much of your time along the way. If your dating life is restricting your ministry life and your time spent serving others, something is wrong there that needs fixing and changing long before an unwise dating relationship turns into an unwise life-long marriage.

    If you’re in the wrong job, the kind of a job that has turned you into a workaholic with no life outside of the workplace and no time at the end of the day to serve Jesus, your job is tying your hands when it comes to living out the great commission and that is not something to be accepted or ignored.

    Wisdom Removes Distractions From The Great Commission


    That said, not only does making wise choices make our lives better, but walking in wisdom ensures we don’t allow ourselves to be distracted from the Great Commission due to our own foolishness. 

    So how do we become wise people who make wise decisions? Here are three ways I've found outlined in scripture. 

    1. Go To God


    First of all, it starts with going to the person who is the source of all wisdom: God. Proverbs 2 teaches us that not only is God the source of wisdom, but He also can grant wisdom to you and I. Proverbs 2, verses six to 11 read:

    "For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe." Proverbs 2:6-11


    So if you and I want to be wise decision makers, we must both acknowledge where wisdom comes from and ask God to grant it to us. As James 1:5 teaches us:

    "If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." James 1:5


    2. Search The Scriptures


    So we seek God and we pray, but secondly, we should also search scripture if we want wisdom in living our lives and making our decisions. When we read the Bible we find that most situations we face aren't unique and there is specific instruction in the Bible that can help guide us through. 

    "The instructions of the LORD are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple." Psalm 19:7


    Remember, God will never ask us to do something that goes against His Word. So if you are in a situation where your actions are anything less than biblical, you aren't walking in wisdom, you're walking in foolishness and sin. So seek the scripture both before you act and afterwards. When the Word of God guides our decision-making and our action-taking, we are walking in wisdom instead of our own, often foolish, understanding.

    3. Ask For Advice


    Finally, we can help make sure we make wise decisions by asking others for advice. Proverbs 12:15 teaches us:

    "Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others." Proverbs 12:15


    So before you accept a job, pursue a new relationship, make a big purchase or make any life-altering decision, we should approach those around us and ask for advice. Pick one or two people in your life who you know to be wise and ask them for their input. Often others can see things in our lives that we can't because we are too close to the situation, so getting that input can be very valuable and can help us avoid making the wrong choices. But we must be willing to ask and be willing to listen to what they have to say. As Andy Stanley wrote in his book the Principle of the Path:

    "It is next to impossible to hear the voice of wisdom if we are not really listening for it to begin with. The best counsel in the world is wasted counsel if our minds are already made up."


    What a tragedy it would be to miss even one opportunity to spread the Gospel, to live out the Great Commission, because of our own foolishness. But if you and I commit to making wise decisions every day we can help prevent that from happening and make sure nothing in our lives derails us from the mission we've been given to live out as long as we have breath.

    Closing off with Proverbs 28:26:

    "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered." Proverbs 28:26


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