“Wisdom is proved right by her actions.” (Matthew 11:19, NIV)
It’s easy, when you’re an announcer sitting in a booth, to declare a player on the field “smart.” You can see their every move and measure the outcomes. And what is true 99.9 percent of the time is that players who pull off the shot or the play deftly look very, very smart.
What is impossible for anyone outside the player himself to know is what really was going on inside his head. And even when he pulls it off, you have to wonder if the answers you get in the post-round interview reflect the reality of the decision making or a revised version making the shot seem like it was nothing, really. Which reminds me of Phil Mickelson and that pitch shot off the rocks at Quail Hollow two Sundays ago… But maybe we should leave that one alone, for when it comes to the short game, Mickelson really does know better than the rest of us.
And now I wonder if that reminds you of anyone you know. Think of a friend or acquaintance in your life who causes you to think, Good golly, she’s got it all figured out! I only dream of being that sharp.
Brains. Savvy. Wisdom. These are labels we don’t assign too quickly. And if the teaching of Jesus is right (anyone doubt that?), we shouldn’t. Because there is a test, a proving ground, for wisdom. It is the action the thoughts produce.
If we climb the mountain and meet the guru, we may hear all kinds of weighty things. We can take a philosophy class and walk away saying, “Whoa!” That may be a whoa of true understanding or a whoa of mesmerized consternation, but either way we recognize that what this intelligent teacher is telling us lives on another level. And yet any person with what we’ve come to call common sense will tell you that when a teacher is only talking, the jury is still out. And that kind of common sense is just what Jesus was driving at.
Can our wisdom be employed? By how many? Under how many different circumstances? With what varying results? Are there severe unintended consequences? Can we reflect on this later and still know we did the right thing? These are questions that get answered only when wisdom is acted upon.
So don’t be too quick to give out smart points. And don’t be too slow to act on the wise things you hear. Both will make you a better judge of wisdom as it’s all worked out.
—
Jeff Hopper
May 18, 2018
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.