Malcolm Potts November 15th 2015 ~ Wisdom

In Paul's big prayer in Philippians 1:9-11 he prays that their love might overflow with knowledge and full insight.  Other translations say knowledge and judgment, or discernment.You can know stuff but being really disciplined with what God would have us do with it is another thing all together.Knowledge isn't enough.  It needs to be applied with full insight, great judgment and meticulous discernment for it to build and bring the purposes of God.Read below Michael Leunig's reflection:You're either a person who needs stimulation or you're a person who creates, and we tend to praise stimulation . . . The other side of the coin is creation, where out of your stillness and your reflection and even out of your boredom you start to make something. You start to engage with life not by reacting to stimulus but by creating according to inner impulses.I think we live in a time of exhaustion. I remember a slower time in Australia, much slower and much quieter, much less frantic. It's terrific the perspective that age gives you . . . You can't love things at speed. Speed kills love. The caring attachment to your world, if you just keep moving on all the time you can't linger, you can't take in and know things at speed, not really. You have this false knowledge, this fast whizz bang knowledge, and it's an illusion. It's a cleverness and it's not wisdom. Wisdom is a slow thing, it's a deeper thing, and I think we live in a world very suspicious of that notion. It's a restraining force on our madness.People want the quick thing. Wisdom is not quick, cleverness is quick, and I'm a bit wary of the word clever. There's this cult of cleverness and it's often about getting some advantage over someone else. But wisdom is not like that. Wisdom has a sense of ethical, moral care and it's eternal.So that's a big rant, isn't it?Thanks Mike!  It is a big rant but it's a good one.  Wisdom never grows old, never ceases to be relevant, is never over-abundant.  But wisdom doesn't just say ‘I know best’, ‘Do it my way’, ‘Get with my programme’.  Wisdom opens the eyes of our hearts to discern what is best, so that in the day of Christ - when we see him face to face - we will discover that our will and work has been aligned with him, not been just another good idea that has worn a lot of people out.Knowledge with full insight . . . Being one with God before we do for God . . . There is a programme worth getting with.Blessings as you reflect.Malcolm