January has 31 days. The Book of Proverbs has 31 chapters. Coincidence? I think not. (Well, since January was invented 1,000 years after the Proverbs was published, maybe it is.)
My longstanding tradition, as well as suggestion for others, consists of reading a chapter a day during January and reflecting on them to start the year off on the front foot.
The general letter of James, the brother of Jesus and early church leader, is written in the Wisdom tradition. It is pithy, short, advice as relevant today as 2,000 years ago.
Further, Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus is that of a Wisdom teacher.
This year’s focus for Wisdom January will include reading and reflecting upon James and the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7.
I may not be writing every day from them, but I promise to study them faithfully—again.
You could do worse than to devote about 10 minutes every morning or evening to these guides to Life with God.
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Archive for the ‘Wisdom’ Category
Wisdom January
December 31, 2025Jesus Was There…Is Here
December 26, 2025We have had the Feast Day (I hope your “feast” was bountiful, almost healthful, and pleasant) celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Almost nothing is recorded about Jesus from about two years old or fewer when the Magi visited until his ministry. That leaves much to the imagination. The most imaginative book I’ve read speculating on those years is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Jesus’ Best Pal by Christopher Moore. If you are shocked by imaginative literature, don’t read it. But I found it both hilarious and poignant.
Back to reality. Jesus began a ministry. His first word was an invitation, which I take to mean us as well as the original disciples—Follow Me.
What did it mean to follow—for them and for us and for those we also invite?
Jesus answered that with his only command, “Love God with all your heart, mind, spirit, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Some people stop at the “love God” part. They ignore the rest.
Don’t be “some people.”
If you wonder about the love your neighbor part—James gives some pithy examples. Also read the letter to the Romans—chapters 12-15. These answer the question, “What’s next?”
What sort of person do wish to be in 2026? You could do worse than emulate those instructions.
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Sometimes It All Becomes Clear
December 16, 2025Yesterday I was thinking about the “songs” of Mary and Zechariah and how they didn’t realize the full implications of what the birth of Jesus really meant.
Not their fault. They went along with what they had been taught. No problem with that.
We have a few stories later in the Gospels that told of Mary’s struggle to figure out what Jesus was doing.
I thought about this figuring out thing last week as my wife and I were working a jigsaw puzzle.
I group pieces by color and begin assembling. Focusing on one piece at a time, soon I had a chunk of picture completed.
I stood up and stepped back. Suddenly the picture of the old pickup truck startled me. I could defocus and see the big picture.
Sometimes when we study, we focus on a word or phrase at a time.
Meaning only comes when we mentally step back. Maybe going outside for a walk. Maybe closing our eyes briefly and then brewing a cup of tea. Or maybe waking up during the night after a dream.
Suddenly, the big picture comes into focus. We look beyond the little snippets of scripture we recite and see what Jesus really meant.
Those are good moments worth celebrating.
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When a Small Group Seeks Power
November 20, 2025Often throughout human history a small group (usually men) gather and think that they are somehow endowed with the wisdom to tell everyone else how to live.
Jesus opposed the Jewish religious establishment of his time.
Plato wrote an essay called The Republic wherein he argues that government should be run by a small group of philosophers—because philosophers of his time pursued the “truth” and were therefore wise. Unfortunately, not all people who think they know the truth are also wise.
Throughout a large chunk of the history of Europe, the small group was composed by clerics.
Sometimes it is a group of the very wealthy.
Jesus looked at everyone who through some situation became wealthy or politically powerful or held religious power and asked a simple question—what is the status of your heart?
I have others to expand on that. Where is your focus? Do you have the humility to lead well? Can you handle your wealth for the benefit of the community?
Do not listen to mere words. Evaluate their actions. Seek the status of their heart.
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Don’t Play The Fool
November 7, 2025You probably are about my age if you remember when Ricky Nelson sang, “Poor little fool, oh yeah, I was a fool, uh huh.”
Success (and happiness) in life does not require being a genius. It begins with not being a fool.
We can turn to one of my favorite documents in the Hebrew scriptures—we call it the Book of Proverbs. The writers describe the difference between the wise person and the foolish person.
Let’s consider a sample of descriptions of a fool.
- A fool repeats folly. “ (Proverbs 26:11)
- A fool lacks common sense. (Proverbs 10:21)
- A fool avoids the wise. (Proverbs 15:12)
- A fool pursues elusive dreams. (Proverbs 17:24)
- A fool is proud and arrogant. (Proverbs 21:24)
- A fool despises wisdom. (Proverbs 23:9)
- A fool starts fights. (Proverbs 18:6)
- A fool is easily upset. (Proverbs 12:16)
- A fool believes everything he reads. (Proverbs 14:15)
- A fool loves to talk, but hates to listen. (Proverbs 18:2)
- A fool is fiercely independent. (Proverbs 28:26)
- A fool makes light of sin. (Proverbs 10:23)
- A fool hates their mama. (Proverbs 15:20)
I’m guessing that you, like me, find yourself at least partially described at sometime in life by one or more of these descriptions. Shall we take a lesson from these? We exercise our self-awareness. When we see ourselves exhibiting one of these characteristics, we breathe deeply and divert ourselves into a more wise path.
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To Be Free
November 4, 2025The Stoics were an intriguing group. They were primarily Roman or Greek, so the concept of the “One God” was completely foreign to them. But they were part of a Wisdom tradition that stretches back about as far as we can trace human civilization.
Ryan Holiday has created a career writing about the Stoics. He wrote in a recent newsletter, “At the time, in Rome, many people believed that only freedmen could be educated. In fact, Epictetus said, it was the opposite: only the educated were free. Wisdom is freedom. Someone who doesn’t know what’s what is a slave to impulses, ignorance, and illusions…even if they possess incredible worldly power and wealth.”
I began researching freedom or liberty while in graduate school. Never really published anything. Follow are some thoughts spurred by the Epictetus quote.
Wisdom tradition runs deeply in the New Testament—most explicitly in the Letter from James. Gospel writer Matthew presents Jesus as a Wisdom teacher (plus).
Researching what Jesus said about to be free, it turns out that Jesus would have not argued with Epictetus—but he took the thoughts to a deeper level.
Consider a few thoughts from my research:
Freedom from sin: One of Jesus’s most direct statements about freedom is in John 8:31-36, where he says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” When people objected that they were already free as descendants of Abraham, Jesus clarified: “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Here, Jesus presents freedom as liberation from the bondage of sin through knowing the truth and following him.
Consider what habits, foods, prolonged thoughts, relationships you (we) have that separate us from God.
Freedom from religious burdens: Jesus criticized the religious leaders of his time for placing heavy burdens on people. In Matthew 11:28-30, he offered an alternative: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
How many requirements does your church or do your church leaders pile on you? Is service compulsory or performed for the joy of helping others?
Freedom through service: Jesus also taught a paradoxical form of freedom—that true freedom comes through serving others and God rather than serving oneself. He said in Matthew 20:26-28 that whoever wants to be great must become a servant.
Consider my last question. Are you serving because of the Holy Spirit residing within—even when you don’t always feel like it?
Spiritual liberation: In Luke 4:18-19, quoting Isaiah, Jesus described his mission as bringing “freedom for the prisoners” and proclaiming “the year of the Lord’s favor”—language associated with the Year of Jubilee when debts were forgiven and captives freed.
How are we serving the oppressed?
For Jesus, freedom wasn’t primarily political or external, but spiritual and internal—freedom from sin, guilt, fear, and spiritual bondage to live in relationship with God.
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Engaging Doubt
October 22, 2025Sometimes circumstances drive us into wondering what it’s all about. God seems somewhere between distant and uncaring. We say we follow Jesus, but his words don’t reach into us like they once did.
Our soul is enveloped in a cloud of doubt.
I think this is the moment Jesus waits for. I think he appreciated the honesty of the man who shouted, “I believe, help me in my unbelief.” Jesus realizes that in doubt, we are now open to discussion. This is exactly the time to meet with him. Our minds are no longer filled with untruth and lies and cultural manipulations. It’s almost like beginner’s mind.
Now, in our doubt, Jesus words can begin to slice through the fog like the beam of a lighthouse along the ocean’s shore. Sometimes barely noticeable; sometimes penetrating.
This is when we are open to new ideas. New beginnings. If only in our doubt, we can still see.
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One Bite at a Time
October 2, 2025Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: One bite at a time.
We can look at our to do list or agenda or stuff piling up on our calendar. We feel overwhelmed. What to do?
Take the next action. Do the one thing that moves the project forward. Make the one phone call. Research the trip. Confirm the next appointment.
Buddhism teaches something beyond the usual self-help guru.
Take the next right action. Move this discussion to a moral plane. Do the right thing, not the expedient thing.
Laws and Hearts
September 29, 2025I’ve read the New Testament—the story of Jesus and the beginnings of his movement. Many times.
One of the many lessons I learned from Jesus’ story was the futility of changing people’s hearts through laws.
Think through the stories of his interactions with religious people of his day. He would poke at the religiosity of their following their myriad of laws, yet the hollowness of their lives. Think of the cup brilliantly clean on the outside yet dirty inside.
The Civil Rights Movement of the early 60s formed my social and political thinking. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech about judging people by the strength of their character and not the color of their skin struck a harmonic chord with my early lessons about Jesus. It’s what’s inside that counts most—for me as well as you.
The Movement led to many necessary changed laws in the US.
Observing today’s social environment, the changed laws led to very few changed hearts.
The other day I observed that if all the spiritual study in the world doesn’t change the way you live, then that time was wasted.
What does it take to change a person’s heart?
Change Your Behavior
September 25, 2025You can study scripture as diligently as possible, but if it doesn’t change your behavior, then you have wasted your time.
Gary Mintchell
Faith Venture 