Hitting the Mark
A Desire for Personal Holiness – Part 3

Scripture Reading: Acts 3:1-6

Key Verse: Acts 6:3

And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.

Today’s scripture reading is about the church getting organized. Some of the widows were not being served well, so the Apostles decided they needed help in this ministry. The decision was made to form a committee that would care for these widows. The apostles also determined that the men that would serve needed to be men who were known for being filled with God’s Spirit and wisdom. In verse five, we see that Stephen was listed among the seven that were chosen.

In God’s economy, wisdom cannot be separated from living a holy life and serving effectively in God’s Kingdom. A desire to be holy, means there must be a desire to have God’s wisdom. Our world has always had too many distractions and grey areas of morality to think we could be wise enough to make good decisions. We need the wisdom of God in order to live a life worthy of our calling. The good news is, God understands this fact and offers His wisdom to all who seek it.

God’s wisdom is not the same as the wisdom of the world. God wants us to be wise in this world but not wise in worldly ways. The world sees wisdom as a tool to achieve fame or fortune. The world can achieve a lot of both fame and fortune and be terribly foolish in the things of God. Jesus asked, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet lose your soul?” (Mark 8:36).

We must be careful to not confuse the wisdom of this world with God’s wisdom when asking God to grant us wisdom. James wrote: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17). (Continued)

Father, grant me your wisdom! In Jesus’ Name, amen.