{"id":554,"date":"2015-01-30T03:34:14","date_gmt":"2015-01-30T03:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=554"},"modified":"2015-01-30T03:34:14","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T03:34:14","slug":"develop-a-hunger-and-thirst-for-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=554","title":{"rendered":"Develop a Hunger and Thirst for Wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Full<\/a>

Wisdom calls<\/p><\/div>\n

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. \u00a0B<\/span><\/span>ut let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”
\n– James 1:5-6 (ESV)<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Through my career, I’ve notice that most people want to do a good job — I presume you do, too. \u00a0Character is important, as are skills, but the key to making yours a life of consequence is obtaining and applying wisdom.<\/p>\n

Wisdom is\u00a0applied knowledge, and it is a fusion of character and competence —\u00a0not the collection of facts. \u00a0The process of becoming wise consists of recognizing and valuing wisdom, desiring wisdom, pursuing wisdom and gaining wisdom through experience.<\/p>\n

Elementary, my dear?<\/strong>
\nPerhaps you watched the game show Jeopardy when IBM’s Watson computer system competed against human competitors and won. \u00a0Watson is a formidable collector and processor of facts. \u00a0The scientists and engineers who developed Watson deserve credit for their achievements in artificial intelligence, since Watson has the ability to infer the context of a given question or problem set, and to form a response to a query that is mostly lifelike. \u00a0In addition, Watson can even learn and synthesize new hypotheses, but this is not wisdom. \u00a0If a functional definition of wisdom is knowing the right thing and doing it, there is a moral dimension to all of this that goes beyond storing, sifting, sorting and learning.<\/p>\n

Knowledge is\u00a0neutral<\/strong>
\nIf you read the Biblical account of the fall, you’ll note that it was the fruit from the tree of\u00a0the knowledge of good and evil that ensnared Adam and Eve — not the tree of wisdom. \u00a0Clearly, Adam and Eve had other knowledge, but none of that developed into wisdom, and so mankind rebelled. \u00a0I admit this is an inference, but knowledge is neither good or evil in itself; rather, it is what we do with knowledge that determines its morality.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0architect and author of wisdom<\/strong>
\nThe Bible contains at least\u00a0208\u00a0specific references to wisdom (and yes, I did count them). \u00a0Certain books of the Bible are actually grouped into a category called wisdom literature (these are Job, Ecclesiastes and Proverbs — you could look it up). \u00a0Since the Bible speaks so frequently regarding the importance of wisdom, it is helpful for us to look first to God to grant us wisdom. \u00a0We must not only ask, but we must act on the wisdom He gives us in order to acquire still more.<\/p>\n

Where on earth to seek wisdom<\/strong><\/span>
\nYour father<\/strong> — If your father is alive and in your life, check in with him on your challenges and questions. \u00a0He will be honored that you asked, and he will open the treasure house of his lessons learned — from things done right and from his own failures. \u00a0Learning from others’ mistakes is inexpensive tuition. \u00a0But note this: If your dad is an upright man, he will want to help you profit from his wisdom.<\/p>\n

Grandfathers, uncles, godfathers<\/strong> — In addition to your father (or instead of your father, if he’s not around), your elder relatives are potential storehouses of wisdom. \u00a0At family get-togethers ask these men about their triumphs and struggles around the great questions of life. \u00a0Then pay attention.<\/p>\n

Coaches, scoutmasters, bosses, pastors, priests and elders<\/strong> — In a previous post<\/a>, I mentioned that isolation is bad for you. \u00a0This is never more true than when you’re trying to acquire wisdom. \u00a0 Take a look around your community. \u00a0Which men stand out due to their life, accomplishments and conduct? \u00a0Which men would you like to emulate? \u00a0Which of these men men do you already know?<\/p>\n

Approaching them with respect and asking for their guidance can be of great benefit to them and to you. \u00a0Many \u00a0churches appear to be in the grip of a fetishization of youth, causing many worthwhile men to de-tribalize and leave the church.<\/p>\n

Your mentor<\/strong> — We’ve talked about this previously here<\/a>. \u00a0You do have a mentor, right?<\/p>\n

A little help from my friends?<\/strong> — Beware the supposed wisdom of the crowds. \u00a0Sometimes the majority is correct, other times not so much. \u00a0This is one more reason why the Bible speaks the truth where it states, “The fear (reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” \u00a0Consult your friends then\u00a0measure their words agains the standard of scripture.<\/p>\n

Great books and stories — <\/strong>Several wise men I’ve known have said that leaders are readers. \u00a0We’ve already discussed the Bible as the premier source of wisdom, but consider in addition great works of literature. \u00a0C.S. Lewis said that stories spoke straight to the heart – no doubt this is why Jesus spoke in parables.<\/p>\n

How to seek wisdom<\/strong>
\nIn addition to the methods I mentioned above, I subscribe to a method where I read a chapter a day from the Biblical book of Proverbs. \u00a0The chapter I read corresponds to the calendar date — chapter 1 on the first, chapter 2 on the second, etc.<\/p>\n

So how about you?<\/strong> Where are you seeking – and finding — wisdom? Add your comments below.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> This is the fourth\u00a0post in a series expanding on points made in a post titled \u201cYou Cannot Eat Like a Sparrow and Defecate Like an Elephant<\/a>\u201d on living a life of significance. You can read the previous posts here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. \u00a0But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” – James 1:5-6 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40,11,41,50,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consequence","category-excellence","category-legacy","category-mentor","category-wisdom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}