4 Abundant life ~ Good Old Fashioned Wisdom
4 Abundant life Blog #8
Good Old Fashioned Wisdom
Wisdom is defined as a combination of knowledge + love. There are a lot of folks with knowledge, but lack the love component when making decisions or giving advice. There are also a lot of folks with love, but lack the knowledge component when making decisions or giving advice. In either case, we are missing out on abundant living when we make decisions or give advice without both knowledge and love!
Case in point. We often hear a lot of individuals and couples in counseling who have a lot of challenges and “un-abundance”. When we probe into each issue (i.e., the most common marital issues revolve around communication, sex, money, and family), we often find one of the components of wisdom missing (knowledge or love). Hence, there is the opportunity to educate and increase knowledge and/or love.
The wisest person in the Bible was King Solomon (King David’s son). When Solomon became King, he prayed and asked God for wisdom (not riches, power, influence, charisma, etc.). He knew the value of wisdom applied to living the abundant life and God granted him the request (1 Kings 4-5). Story after story, King Solomon demonstrated wisdom (combination of knowledge + love), but perhaps none more widely known than the story of two women claiming one living son (1 Kings 3: 16-28). Both women claimed the living son, but only one was the real mother. King Solomon said, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other” (v. 25). But the real mother quickly said to King Solomon, “Please give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”. King Solomon knew instantly who the real mother was and ruled to give the living baby to her. Knowledge – King Solomon knew maternal instincts would protect the real living son. Love – King Solomon applied love (a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection arising from kinship, or a sense of underlying oneness) because he put himself in the women’s situations first before he ruled.
“A wise person thinks before they speak”. Solomon’s Wisdom
If you want to experience and live abundantly, the book of Proverbs is a great place to settle in for a while. All of the 21st century gurus of leadership, inspiration, and motivation (e.g., Dale Carnegie, Jack Canfield, Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Zig Ziglar, and many others) based their books of advice and practical application on the tenets written by King Solomon and originally published in Proverbs!
It is vitally important for all of us to know the power of the spoken word. Our advice, words of comfort, words of instruction, all have power that influence our decisions, actions, and outcomes: outcomes that are abundant (if knowledge + love are applied) vs. un-abundant (if knowledge OR love are applied).
Application:
If you want to maximize abundance in your life, think about how you advise yourself and others around you to change behaviors and make better decisions. It all starts with thinking before speaking:
Examples of advice without wisdom (knowledge OR love):
It could be worse. (Yes, but it could be better…a lot better.)
Hang in there. (Or what?)
Good luck. (I am not even Irish.)
You must be getting punished for past sins. (I feel worse now.)
Don’t get your hopes up, you will just be disappointed. (Ouch!)
It is a long road to recover. (Thanks for the depression.)
Bad things happen to good people. (Life is not fair, I already know that.)
Expect the worst, hope for the best. (What am I hoping for again?)
Examples of advice with wisdom (knowledge + love):
I pray for you ever day.
I know God has good plans for you.
I know God loves you.
I hope you give faith a fighting chance.
You have a great heart.
I am glad I got to visit you.
I am thinking of you.
I hope to see you soon.
I am proud of you.
I am thankful for you.
I see a peace inside of you.
I believe in you.
I am not giving up on hope.
I admire your courage and faith.
We talk more about wisdom applications in Chapter 4 and throughout our book 4 Abundant Life. Once again, we look forward to hearing about your experiences of applying wisdom in your decisions and advice giving! Drs. Eric and Joanna Oestmann
