In Christ, You Are Wise (Though You Still Make Mistakes)

Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God.1 Corinthians 1:30The fourth dimension of your new identity in Christ is perhaps the most important of all: if you are in Christ, you are wise (though you will still make mistakes). Christ is our wisdom.Here is a simple definition of wisdom: the ability to put things together.In the Old Testament, we read about a man called Bezalel, who made the furniture for the tabernacle. The word used to describe his skill is sometimes translated wisdom (Ex. 31:3-5). It takes great skill to put a piece of furniture together. It takes even greater skill to put a successful life together.Think about police detectives. The first thing they do is to gather evidence. They get fingerprints. They take photographs. They take statements. They build a base of knowledge. There are various pieces that just don’t fit together until the light goes on in the mind of the detective. Through wisdom, the pieces are brought together to solve the case.Wisdom is always based on knowledge. You can’t form the conclusion without the evidence. You can’t have wisdom without knowledge.But knowledge does not always lead to wisdom. Sometimes we have the dots, but we aren’t able to join them to see the full picture. We have information but we do not have understanding. We have knowledge but we do not have wisdom—the ability to put it together.Can you think of examples from your own life where gathering knowledge led to understanding?Can you think of examples where it did not?