Biblical Wisdom

A sure sign of a maturing faith is the willingness to name and claim the spiritual giants upon whose shoulders you stand. All views of Scripture are interpretations handed down the ages and then across the table. These interpretations, while being scripture upon scripture, are always seen through the lenses of personal and cultural story.

A Biblical maverick, who claims to interpret Scripture by their own authority, is demonstrating either arrogance or ignorance. Those who follow these mavericks have tiny giants and thus can rarely see past themselves and their views. As they can’t see out of their own garden, they sit eating their own fruit and become more and more like themselves – and see the rest of humanity as the ones with the problem.

The deeper we dig in our Bible the more we unearth the foundations of knowledge set by other men. A Biblical house that stands is erected by those who chose to accept a foundation and build on it. But not all houses are homes for long. Those who choose to accept a shallow foundation will still build a house and it may be beautiful – like most buildings on sand – impressive for a time. But those who choose to build on a deeper and wider foundation of Biblical interpretation– listening to giants from across the ages recorded in various pages – will have a more robust, forgiving and embracing family of faith. Their house will stand as a home filled with loving and lovable family.

Building the Kingdom of God is about building relationships, building communities. Not being right and proving others wrong.

Just because you believe something, does not make it Bible Knowledge. That is personal (or denominational) knowledge. True Biblical knowledge changes the character and is gained by embedding the stories, prophecies and teachings of the Bible in your heart and mind well enough to have Biblical Wisdom. Biblical Wisdom is the ability to interpret life through the worldview formed by applying Biblical Knowledge to real life situations.

This is why Biblical principles (values) are much more important than Bible answers to Bible questions. (although we all love a good Bible quiz, eh?) The greatest answers in the Bible are to the questions of life. How to live. How to love. How to forgive. How to be humble. How to give generously. How to seek wisdom.