November 26: Ecclesiastes 7 19-22

Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 7 20
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.

Devotion:
This chapter in our bibles talks about wisdom and how we see it. Much of the time we like to think we are getting wiser by learning more about the world as we go on. We like to think wisdom is all about knowing more and using that knowledge to better our lives – sadly that is just knowledge. The wisdom comes by knowing how to apply the knowledge we have gained for the betterment of us and the people around us too.

We can abuse the knowledge we have gained; this corrupts our hearts and allows us to wallow back into the worldly ways we have learned about. Don’t allow your knowledge to guide your ways because the knowledge you have gained is from the world and points back to the world. Far too often we react to situations based on our knowledge and show anger toward others when we think they should know better.

God made the world and all that is in it. He made some things crooked and some things straight. Ours is not to question why He made certain things crooked but to accept He has done so and try to use what He has allowed us to see to the betterment of mankind. When we face bad things, we need to stop and think what is around us and how we can give God glory with these things. Don’t forget that both Christians and non-Christians will go through bad things – but how we react and what we do for others will shine through.

If we can rise above the worldly reactions and ask God for help in discerning our situations, we will be taking in wisdom. We should not roll over and allow people to do absolutely anything to us; we should use God’s wisdom to show others what Jesus would do and how they should be reacting. None of us are immune from sin in our lives so we should not berate people for doing wrong unless we are willing to first show them righteousness and God’s ways.

Points to Ponder:
Do you get angry with what people say about you?

Are you listening to God to see how you should be reacting?