We must begin by fearing the Lord and trusting entirely in Him. That’s the beginning of the Christian life. Proverbs 3:5 and 6 say, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” That is the beginning of the Christian life. Trust is the essence of faith. Trust is a willingness to submit your life to God’s ways.

I once was driving around with my kids, and one of them asked me a great question. They said, “Dad, what is a mature Christian?” In that question, I felt a desire in their heart to be a mature Christian! So, I’m driving my truck and thinking, “That’s a great question.” I responded, “Well, a mature Christian is somebody who understands the gospel and where they stand in Christ. A mature Christian is someone who has read their Bible cover-to-cover. A mature Christian is a man or woman of the Book (the Bible), and they know the God of the Book.” After saying that, I kept thinking. ‘What else should I say?’ I asked myself. Then I said, “Paul addresses believers to use their spiritual gifts in the life of the church, so another mark of a mature Christian is that he or she is a churchman or a churchwoman—that they are members of a church, that they are using their spiritual gifts in the life of the church, that they love the Lord’s people.” After saying that, I kept thinking! I replied, “Even more than trusting the gospel thoroughly, even more than knowing the Bible, even more than serving in a local church, maturity involves knowing how to apply all these things in our daily lives. Jesus did not say, ‘Teach them all I have commanded you,’ but ‘Teach them to obey all that I have commanded you!’” So, I explained to my children this element of practical theology we sometimes call wisdom. Knowing how to live Coram Deo (before the Face of God) in the fear of the Lord.  “If you can put all those things together in life application, that’s wisdom, and then you will be a mature Christian,” I told them.

“But what does this wisdom look like exactly?” they asked. My kids are very persistent. “To answer that question,” I said, “we need to go to Proverbs!” Solomon gives us four qualities of wisdom that must be mastered if we are going to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel as mature Christians.

First, we must understand that we must learn wisdom.

Solomon says in Proverbs 22:17, “Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise.” Solomon is saying that wisdom is outside of us, and therefore, we must seek it out.

This was not true of Jesus Christ. Christ is the essence of wisdom, but for us, it is true. Wisdom is NOT intuitive. No one is born a wise person. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child.” Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Therefore, the first thing to understand about wisdom is that we must seek it outside of ourselves.

How often are we told to ‘Follow your heart,’ or ‘Trust your instincts,’ and ‘Just do what feels right.’? The self-help section of every local bookstore is filled with books telling fools to be more foolish by looking inside themselves for wisdom.

Moreover, those who realize they lack the necessary wisdom often search for wisdom in the wrong places. Job asks in Job 28, “Where can you find wisdom? You go and dig into the depths of the earth, you won’t find wisdom there. You go to the bottom of the sea, you won’t find wisdom there. You go and find all the greatest treasures in the world, you won’t find wisdom there.” He says in Job 28:21, “It [wisdom] is hidden from the eyes of all living And concealed from the birds of the earth.” But then he says, “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.”

Wisdom is only to be found in God. Hollywood does not have it. Washington D. C. does not have it. The Ivy League Colleges do not have it. Social media experts don’t have it. Only God possesses wisdom! As a result, if you want wisdom, you must go to God.

The apostle James said this: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). The first step to wisdom is realizing that outside of God’s gift of wisdom, we are all fools. We must find wisdom through God’s divine revelation!

Second, we must understand that wisdom is the applied knowledge of God.

Solomon also says in Proverbs 22:17, “Apply your heart to my knowledge.” Solomon means that wisdom is the applied knowledge of God. You can have knowledge without wisdom. There are a lot of foolish geniuses in the world.

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