Proverbs 8:4-5
"To you, O men, I [wisdom] call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding."
Wisdom's call goes out to all the world. She does not hide herself in obscure corners that no one would ever think to look in. Just the opposite is true: she calls out to all of mankind. The problem is that so many don't know how to recognize her, or they simply refuse to listen to her because they don't want to hear what she has to say. Because of our sinful nature, often, we don't want to hear what wisdom has to say. We would rather continue on in our sinful foolishness. We just don't want to put in the kind of effort required to gain wisdom. We would gladly take it if it were easier. Why can't God just give us wisdom when we ask for it? Why does He always give us the lesson instead?
What we are talking about here is really the education process. In some regards and in certain ways we are all simple and foolish. We are not omniscient so we will always be battling this condition in some way, to a certain degree. I will lay out a very simple (maybe oversimplified) process that anyone can start implementing in their life to begin the process of growing in wisdom.
Study
When I say study, I am really talking about the process: read-listen-associate. This is what all education really boils down to. You must develop the habit of reading! If you will not read you will not grow in wisdom. It's that simple.
When it comes to reading, the place that you must start is with God's Word. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding. To Him belongs eternal praise. (Psalm 111:10)
The only place to learn about the Lord is in His Word, the Bible. Don't be intimidated by the Bible. You don't have to read it all in one sitting. You just have to start, and then keep at it every day. Start slow, 15-30 minutes 3-5 times per week is all that it takes to create the habit.
The only place to learn about the Lord is in His Word, the Bible. Don't be intimidated by the Bible. You don't have to read it all in one sitting. You just have to start, and then keep at it every day. Start slow, 15-30 minutes 3-5 times per week is all that it takes to create the habit.
The other great thing about the Bible is that you can download a Bible app for free and have access to any translation of the Bible that you want. On top of that, you will also have access to the audio Bible so you can listen to someone else reading it to you. I am constantly picking up different things when I listen to the Bible that I miss when I read it.
Once you create the habits of read-listen-associate around God's Word then you can branch off into other subjects: history, leadership, classic literature, business, entrepreneurship, etc. This is how you fall in love with learning. This is how you begin the process of growing in wisdom. A simple way to do this is to plug into the Leadership Challenge Group. Click on it in the menu bar to see what it's all about.
Act
Action! Wisdom isn't really wisdom until you are applying what you are learning. I have heard wisdom defined as: applying the right principle, at the right time, in the right way. Wisdom definitely has an action piece to it. Wisdom in not just sitting around all day thinking deeply on a subject. Taking time to think is important, but at some point all of that thinking and learning has to lead to action. Action is where you find out how well you have learned the lessons from your studies.
The point of studying is to help you develop better plans for your life. Your level of wisdom is revealed by how well you implement those plans and the final outcome of your efforts. There is one more step: how well do you make the necessary adjustments that need to be made? All of our efforts really boil down to the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) process. Wisdom is really how effectively we run this rotation in every area of our life.
There is one caveat here. Getting really good at anything is meaningless if it is not all for the glory of God. If it is only for your own benefit and glory you may experience success in the worldly sense, but you will have totally failed. A life lived only for self is rewarded with eternal damnation in hell. This is why I had you start your studies with God's Word. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom"; without Jesus Christ you don't have wisdom. You don't have anything. You are still the fool, dead in your sins.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:23-24)
Mentor
Mentoring is the final piece to the puzzle. You have done the heavy lifting of learning and studying. You have done the hard work of putting your new found knowledge into practice, running the cycle of PDCA. So here we will focus on the "check" and "adjust" pieces.
The point of mentoring is to get the perspective and thinking of someone who has more results in life than you do. A good mentor can help you check the results of your work, and then guide you in what adjustments need to be made so that you can achieve better results next time.
The biggest challenge of this piece is finding someone who is qualified and willing to mentor you. You want to make sure that this person has real results in his area of expertise, don't get fooled by image and reputation. Take your time here. Don't rush into this. It's way too important. Find someone that you respect. Work to develop a friendship with him, and work to earn his time and effort. The best way to earn time with a truly qualified mentor is to work hard enough to get his attention, then be his hungriest student. Take advantage of every opportunity to get time around him, and ask lots of questions. You need to make most of your statements end with a question mark!
Ask your mentor to guide your self-study program. Meet with him frequently to check your thinking. You will need to be totally transparent with your mentor if you want him to be able to help you. You have to trust him. Finding a mentor is the most crucial piece to your life-long growth. You need his perspective and wisdom.
The greatest educational model is the mentor-apprentice approach. This is the model that Jesus used. This is the model that the apostles used, most notably St. Paul. This is the most effective way to identify and train potential leaders. Scripture lays out this model quite clearly. I wonder why the modern church has decided to abandon it. Maybe that's one reason why churches of every denomination are struggling right now just to survive. The "smarter than Jesus" approach to education and church building is predictably failing. Maybe it's time to abandon the worldly conveyor-belt approach that the church has adopted and go back to the model spelled out for us in Scripture. Is it possible that the Holy Spirit is still powerful enough to use uncredentialed fishermen to build Christ's Church?
The answer to that question is what scares the credentialed elite of today's church more than anything.
God bless
Jason Fredrick
The point of mentoring is to get the perspective and thinking of someone who has more results in life than you do. A good mentor can help you check the results of your work, and then guide you in what adjustments need to be made so that you can achieve better results next time.
The biggest challenge of this piece is finding someone who is qualified and willing to mentor you. You want to make sure that this person has real results in his area of expertise, don't get fooled by image and reputation. Take your time here. Don't rush into this. It's way too important. Find someone that you respect. Work to develop a friendship with him, and work to earn his time and effort. The best way to earn time with a truly qualified mentor is to work hard enough to get his attention, then be his hungriest student. Take advantage of every opportunity to get time around him, and ask lots of questions. You need to make most of your statements end with a question mark!
Ask your mentor to guide your self-study program. Meet with him frequently to check your thinking. You will need to be totally transparent with your mentor if you want him to be able to help you. You have to trust him. Finding a mentor is the most crucial piece to your life-long growth. You need his perspective and wisdom.
The greatest educational model is the mentor-apprentice approach. This is the model that Jesus used. This is the model that the apostles used, most notably St. Paul. This is the most effective way to identify and train potential leaders. Scripture lays out this model quite clearly. I wonder why the modern church has decided to abandon it. Maybe that's one reason why churches of every denomination are struggling right now just to survive. The "smarter than Jesus" approach to education and church building is predictably failing. Maybe it's time to abandon the worldly conveyor-belt approach that the church has adopted and go back to the model spelled out for us in Scripture. Is it possible that the Holy Spirit is still powerful enough to use uncredentialed fishermen to build Christ's Church?
The answer to that question is what scares the credentialed elite of today's church more than anything.
God bless
Jason Fredrick
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