Thoughts for another day

April 23, 2008

Today's verse: Ro. 16:19. I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

In this one small sentence Paul is making a profound statement of how we as Christians should be in our overall demeanor. It is profound because it holds a great deal of truth. We will see how.

Be wise unto that which is good. This means that our wisdom has to extend over the territory of goodness. That is, we must be aware of all that is good so we may do it and do it without hesitation such that it reflects our wisdom. I have seen that we know what is right and what is wrong. As an example I may quote, if a man is hungry, we know it is right to give him food. But mere knowledge isn’t sufficient in itself because it is dissociated with action. This is where wisdom comes in for wisdom associates with action whereby it positions knowledge appropriately into doing something. Wisdom demands that we give the man food to eat whereas knowledge only tells us he needs food. So Paul is urging us to be wise unto that which is good.

Paul also tells us we need to be simple when it concerns evil. Now this is the exact opposite of wisdom, saying we need to be naive concerning evil. I have sometimes seen immorality raising its head when we push questions beyond a point and evil thoughts arise when we dwell upon temptation. Even sinful pleasure is overwhelming when we harp on it and we know it is detestable to God. To explain the point, I would take the example of a child. You see, a child is so simple that it does not see any scheming or plotting the way adults do nor will a child conjure mischief or immorality. A child will not sit down and plot revenge or seek to do harm to others nor does it revel in the misery caused to the enemy for that matter, a child rarely has enemies and talks with everybody. That is really the crux of Paul’s exhortation.

Suffice it for us to know that dwelling on the good wholeheartedly and shunning the evil will pave our route to our heavenly kingdom in our Lord Jesus Christ.