Who is a wise man (person) anyway?
Wisdom has always been highly prised. We even find a lot of talk about wisdom and being wise in the bible. Then in the stories just after Jesus is born we read about some Wise men who came to see Jesus. We don’t know how long the gap was between his birth and them turning up but we are encouraged to think about at this time of year (also known as Epiphany in the church calender).
Who do you think would be considered a wise person in todays world?
I think we tend to think of wise people as those people who know lots of stuff. We might consider University Professors or Scientists for instance to be the wise ones. Or then again we might think that wise people are those who gain the most in a material way – business leaders, entrepreneurs, etc. Or what about those who can make a clever argument – philosophers or politicians, etc.
However, if you consider the wise to be those we take advice about life from then we might have to consider people like popular singers and film stars as being the wise in our world today (gulp). Or what about journalists – they are forever telling us what’s what?
I find that the list of people we tend to consider wise a bit disturbing and doesn’t fit with the bible’s idea of what a wise person is.
So what are the features of a wise person?
Here are some of the things that the book of proverbs tells us about wise people:
- they help others with good advice
- they cautious and like to think things through from all angles
- they seek knowledge and more wisdom
- value wisdom above money
- respond positively to correction
- control their anger
- keep peace
- avoid doing bad things
- welcome good advice
You see it’s not so much what they know but the way they apply it.
Elsewhere in the bible we are also told that the first step in being wise is to seek a good relationship with God.
So if you are looking for a wise person to help you with your life then I suggest you look elsewhere than the celebrity lists (not that it’s impossible for a celebrity to be wise).