If anyone can tell me where this quote comes from, you’re the winner. “Seek not riches, but seek wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God will be revealed to you, and then you will be enriched.”
This is how my brain understands this. In short, if you want to become the ultimate YOU, that is, if you want to go as far as you can in this life, then seek wisdom. Wisdom has more value than wealth. Wealth is a by-product of it and, in my opinion, a great way to gain more wisdom. Money is simply used as a tool to gain more experiences…experiences of serving, giving, helping, building, growing. Life is about the experience of it. It’s not about how many things you can collect or have a bigger house than your neighbor.
What is the definition of wisdom? It is: 1 – The ability to discern or judge what is true, correct or permanent; insight, 2 – Common sense; common sense, 3 – The sum of learning through the ages; knowledge.
I wasn’t really satisfied with those definitions, so I dug a little deeper and found this one: the ability to use knowledge and experience with common sense and insight.
Wisdom is a combination of experience and knowledge used in a meaningful way. The common sense part of the definition is, in my opinion, the hardest part for many people. In my experience, there are many people who profoundly lack common sense! You know what I’m talking about, and if you don’t, maybe you’re the one missing.
So why is wisdom more valuable? To understand my point, an idiot with a lot of money is still an idiot! Idiots make a lot of mistakes and don’t learn from them. Wise people still make mistakes, but by avoiding the “common sense” mistakes mentioned above, they make fewer mistakes. This will propel them to their targets faster. Instead of making the mistakes that the rich idiot does, he makes mistakes at a much higher level, a level at which the rich idiot can never succeed.
So if wisdom is worth more in God’s eyes, how do we get wisdom? This life is about having experiences and when we have those experiences we learn. We acquire knowledge. We can also learn from the experience of other people, people who have gone before us and who already have that knowledge. Wisdom is a combination of experience and knowledge: past, present and future. We can learn and we can do. We can learn as we do and while we study, the lesson is completely different. We “do” it by stepping out of our comfort zone and experiencing something different that will inspire growth. Knowledge without experience, just as experience without knowledge will not make you wise. Someone who has a nose for books all day can tell you why you can ride a bike, but will never show you how. Knowing and doing are separate, but they are powerful when they are together.
