October 20th, 2013
James 3:13-17 — Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
There are teachers in this world who seem to have some wisdom. They seem to provide insight into trying subjects and good advice for living by. I was reminded of them this morning as I sat on our lanai for my quiet time.
It was beautiful this morning, and so peaceful. Most days of the week by 5:30 or 6:00, when I am out, the world is starting to wake. There is the sound of traffic, and building works in the distance. Dawn is breaking and the birds are starting to sing — or in the case of the ducks, to mutter and grumble!
Today was different. As it’s Sunday, the builders are not working. At 5:00, traffic was scarce, and the birds were still mostly quiet. And there was a moon — such a moon. It was full, and cast such a silver light. Everything was illuminated, and yet nothing was really clear. It was attractive, yet somehow as I looked closely I realized much was still hidden. The moon, of course, was not truly casting a light. It was reflecting … claiming, if you like, a glory that was not truly it’s own. It seems to me that the same is true of many of those claiming to provide wisdom and truth today. And it’s an old, old, story.
Sin was the god of the moon in Assyria and Babylonia. The two chief seats of Sin’s worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north so it might even be that Abram’s family were prominent in the worship of this pale imitation before Abram heard the call of the true God to get out of his country, and from his kin, and from his father’s house to the land that He would show him.
Moon worship isn’t really what ran through my mind as I looked at the pale imposter this morning, even though modern pagans do still worship the moon. No, I was thinking of those other impostors — those who would replace faith with philosophy, sociology and other “cures” to modern ills. Paul warned the Colossians about their equivalent of the modern worldly wise. “Beware”, he said, “lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
James might sometimes have seemed like a hard, austere man, but He knew the true sunlight of Godly wisdom. True wisdom that is pure, peaceful and gentle, full of good fruits. The fruits of the Holy Spirit … not a pale imitation.