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50 Days of Wisdom Day 2 - Wisdom as Collective Intelligence

Today I want to talk to you about wisdom as collective intelligence. And what we mean when we say this is the idea of artificial intelligence is that it uses computer algorithms to collect all of the data and the current assumptions that we have in the world to aggregate it so that we can have a better future as a species of human beings. Now playing off of this principle of collective intelligence lies the idea of the kind of wisdom that God wants to give us in our life. Wisdom has several assumptions that we talk about in the first chapter of Proverbs. And there's five assumptions and I want to go through them with you. God gives us wisdom for receiving instruction.

First - there are certain things that if we can learn them quicker in our life, our life will be better. So the first sort of posture for attaining wisdom in our life is the posture of receiving. We're here to receive a certain amount of wisdom.

Second - The second thing is for giving prudence. Now for those of us who have always wanted to have wisdom in our life, we wonder when should we speak? When should we listen? Well the good news is you don't have to struggle with that, that God actually wants to give us wisdom in our life. This helps us to distinguish when we're supposed to listen, when we're supposed to speak. The Bible calls this being prudent. There's a time to talk, there's a time to listen. Now the Bible also says in verse five that God gives us wisdom for learning. One of the a priorities of life is that we are here to learn. Again the assumption is that we don't know everything. Now if we think we know everything, then of course there's nothing else to learn.

Third - Humility teaches us that we have a finite number of strengths. That's why humility is really the deepest, most noble form of spirituality, especially as it relates to the teachings of Jesus Christ. When you have humility as a foundation, it accepts that God has given you certain gifts. It also accepts that you don't know everything. So it doesn't minimize your strengths and play up your weaknesses. It actually gives you a quite balanced view that we actually have both strengths and weaknesses in our life. Once you understand that, once you assume it, then you have humility. And then when you have humility, now you're ready for a life of learning. You're ready to build a wise life. So we're here to receive wisdom.

Fourth - We're here to give some wisdom to others. We're also here for a lifetime of learning. One of the most powerful things that we can do in our life is accept that we are here to learn for the duration of it. So God wants to help us with our posture for learning. It actually says here in verse 5 to let the discerning get guidance. Now you start to get guidance in your life when humility is the foundation and then life really starts to open up for you. In fact, the Bible speaks in very strong terms about this. So much so that it says in James that God actually opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. God actually opposes people that think they know everything. Let me say it a different way.

You can actually sort of speed up the destiny of your life as it correlates to the humility that you have. Now when you really understand, I don't know everything. I got a few strengths. I'm here to learn. Learning helps you learn from others. Learning helps you to appreciate others. So in this respect, the last few years in our culture, in our world, people have actually gotten stupider and actually dumber because if you haven't noticed, more people think they know, you guessed it, everything. And of course they don't. So number four is

God gives us wisdom for understanding. God wants to give us understanding. Now this word here actually means insight. So when God starts to give you wisdom, you're going to be able to think critically. And here's the clincher. You're going to have insights to life and the future that no one else has because you're going to be learning, you're going to be receiving, and then that's going to allow you to develop a different algorithm with God helping you. You'll have different insights for life and for the future. And of course God wants to give you that as an advantage so that you can be more successful.

Fifth - Okay, and then the last thing is God wants to give us wisdom for a beginning. A beginning of what? Well, the Bible actually says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So as soon as you realize that all truth is God's truth, that all truth comes from God, you're no longer threatened by anyone else's ideas, anyone else's philosophies, anyone else's perceived leverage, you then have humility, you then understand all truth is God's truth. It's found in scripture. It's also found in nature and it can also be found in listening to other people.

So this is just the tip of the iceberg of the wisdom that we're going to learn about In Proverbs. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Until next time, I hope you have a beautiful day.