by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n
Scripture shows that God’s concerns are not just for what is technically good or bad, right or wrong, allowed or disallowed. We could argue over what is technically sinful or not, but that’s essentially a legalistic approach that misses the essential element of wisdom, especially in matters that are not explicitly given. Of course, we need to know what Scripture says about right and wrong, but God’s intent was not just to provide a list of do’s and don’ts. He wants us to learn how to think. He wants us to know principles by which we make wise decisions that glorify Him. It’s not just about what we can do legally but what we should do in any given situation that would glorify Him.<\/p>\n
If we push what a text technically says but don’t consider how to apply it with wisdom, we’ve lost the spirit of what God wants from us. We must discern good from evil as we mature in Christ (Hebrews 5:12-14). Something might not technically be wrong, but a lack of wisdom in application could be disastrous.<\/p>\n
Wisdom is a way of living, a learned skill in what it means to serve the Lord. We cannot reduce that to a mere list. This is one reason why reading a book like Proverbs regularly is vital. Through it, we learn discernment. “To know wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding…<\/em>” We can learn to walk in wisdom (Ephesians 5:15-17; Colossians 4:5-6; Matthew 10:16).<\/p>\n “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; and with all your acquiring, get understanding<\/em>” (Proverbs 4:7).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Doy Moyer Scripture shows that God’s concerns are not just for what is technically good or bad, right or wrong, allowed or disallowed. We could argue over what is technically sinful or not, but that’s essentially a legalistic approach that misses the essential element of wisdom, especially in matters that are not explicitly given.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1119,843,730],"class_list":["post-69397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-discernment","tag-legalism","tag-wisdom"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69330,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/learning-how-to-think\/","url_meta":{"origin":69397,"position":0},"title":"Learning How to Think","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Scripture shows that God's concerns are not just for what is technically good or bad, right or wrong, allowed or disallowed. We could argue over what is technically sinful or not, but that's essentially a legalistic approach that misses the essential element of wisdom, especially in matters\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82240,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-godly-wisdom-require\/","url_meta":{"origin":69397,"position":1},"title":"What Does Godly Wisdom Require?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Living in any given culture and time requires the wisdom and will to be what we should be for the Lord. Serving the Lord is not just about obeying a few commandments. Rather, it is a lifelong commitment to be faithful, loyal, and true to the end\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16703,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-know-if-im-doing-what-god-wants-me-to-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":69397,"position":2},"title":"How do I know if I’m doing what God wants me to do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do I know if what I am doing is what God wants me to do? I don't know if I should do what I want to do or what others want me to do. Above all, I don't know if what I am doing is right or wrong.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60334,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-wisdom-of-prudence\/","url_meta":{"origin":69397,"position":3},"title":"The Wisdom of Prudence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer \"Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling\" (Proverbs 26:27). \"The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it\" (Proverbs 27:12). \"Whoever works his land will have plenty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33712,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/knowledge-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":69397,"position":4},"title":"Knowledge (Overby)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ben Overby Sentry Magazine, March 2000 The Hebrew writer desired to feed his readers \"solid food.\" but was prevented by their inability to consume such \"food,\" (see Hebrews 5:12-6:3). An interesting question arises after reading this passage. What value is there in our pursuit of \"solid food,\" or those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62297,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/education\/","url_meta":{"origin":69397,"position":5},"title":"Education","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Psalms 78:1-8 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why go to school? What use is all those endless facts? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A question I\u2019m sure more school-aged children ask. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Does an education have value? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To answer this we must compare the alternative. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Solomon did this and concluded wisdom, which is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}