Tuesday, February 22, 2011

A Step Further

“Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day.”

You’ve probably heard this a million times.  Do you remember the rest of this famous saying?


“Teach him how to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.”

Well, I’ve been thinking about adding another line that goes even further.

“Teach him how to produce bait, create lures, and make fishing poles and he can feed his family and start a business to help feed other families, too.”

Monday, February 14, 2011

What is the Difference Between Knowledge and Wisdom?

Sometimes people will ask if there really is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.  Which is better, to be smart or to be wise?  Does the Bible give a clear indication of how to define wisdom?

While studying the parable of the Ten Virgins I realized that there is a clear distinction between knowledge and wisdom.  (See Matthew 25:1-13)

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise.”  (Matthew 25:1-2, NIV)

In telling the parable Jesus clearly identified five virgins as foolish and five virgins as wise.  But, as we look carefully, we also see a division between having knowledge about something, and being wise regarding that situation.

All ten virgins had knowledge.  All ten knew that the bridegroom was returning.  If they did not have knowledge of his return, then they would not have even gone to meet the bridegroom.  Make sense?

“The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.”  (Matthew 25:3-4, NIV)

All ten virgins had knowledge of the bridegroom’s return.  However, only the five wise virgins took extra oil.  When the bridegroom’s arrival was later than they expected, the lamps of the five foolish virgins began to go out.

Based on this parable I see four possible situations:
No Knowledge and No Wisdom:  Certainly this is the worst possibility.  Someone in this situation doesn’t know what is going on, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be prepared.

No Knowledge and Wisdom:  This too, is a bad situation.  What good does it do to have wisdom and not know what is happening?

Knowledge and No Wisdom:  This is the case of the five foolish virgins.  They were better off than those who did not know, but in the end, the result was the same.  They were not let into the wedding feast.

Knowledge and Wisdom:  These five virgins, the ones with both knowledge and wisdom, were the only ones allowed into the wedding feast.

It seems to me that knowledge is having the correct information.  Wisdom is acting on that information, responding appropriately, accurately applying what you know to achieve the best outcome.

Widsom Cries Out Publications now has a blog!!

As many of you know, we have recently published two Bible Study Guides:  “Ready to Receive, Ready to Share” and “Strength to Lead, Courage to Follow.”

What you may not know is that we are looking forward to releasing our third Study Guide, “A Passion for Partnering with God,” later this month.  This new study guide is much different from our first two publications.  We wrote this guide based on “Mover of Men and Mountains,” the autobiography of R.G. LeTourneau.

Also in the works is a fourth study guide which will focus on the parables of Jesus.  This guide is being developed with a friend from church, Eric Martin.  As we go through the process of developing these studies I will be blogging some of the truths, challenges, and questions we find in the parables.

We are looking forward to sharing this learning process with our friends and famly.