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Wisdom of Solomon 8:17-20

When I considered these things within myself
And thought about them in my heart,
That in kinship with wisdom there is immortality,
And in friendship with her there is good pleasure,
And in the labors of her hands there is unfailing wealth,
And in the shared training of her company there is discernment,
And in the fellowship of her words there is good repute—
Thus I searched about that I might take her for myself.
As a child I was good by nature and received a good soul;
And much more, since I was good,
I entered an undefiled body.

Encouraging Words

The writer of these verses makes it very clear that if we enter into kinship or relationship with Wisdom (Jesus), then we will enter into immortality. In our friendship with Jesus we will find good pleasure and unfailing wealth, not the kind of pleasure and wealth that the world produces, but the kind that the kingdom of heaven produces. As we seek Him and submit to His training then we will find the discern­ment that is His and that He is willing to share with us. We will be surrounded by good repute because it will be coming from Him. Glory be to God!

Acts 3:19

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Personal Challenge

Wait a minute! No one ever said anything about repenting of my ways and converting to a new way of living to have my sins forgiven and to become a Christian! Have you ever encountered this kind of a response from someone who has professed the prayer of salvation and then gone on living their lives as if nothing has changed? If our lives are not being transformed by the saving grace of God, if our desires and actions are not becoming more focused on being like Christ and loving our neighbor, then we cannot claim to be a follower of Christ. Repenting of our old ways, our individual ways, and converting to God’s ways is work, a work that we will be struggling at until the day we die and join our Lord in eternity. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Wisdom of Solomon 8:7

If anyone loves righteousness,
The products of righteousness are the virtues.
For wisdom teaches self-control, discernment, righteousness and courage,
Concerning which things there is nothing more valuable in the life of man.

Personal Challenge

Once again, the Wisdom teachings of the scriptures contradict the rational teachings of our modern age. If we want the virtues of God to be prevalent in our lives we must love righteousness. The world teaches us that we must love ourselves and pursue what we believe is best for us. The world also teaches us that we have individual rights and with those rights, we can not only pick and choose which virtues we want but we can define what makes up these virtues. This is not what the scriptures teach us. We cannot have it both ways. Lord, have mercy? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Acts 3:16

And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Personal Challenge

The plea that is so often made, by both professing Christians and non-Christians, is “What must I do to receive Your presence in my life, God?” Peter makes it clear here is Acts that there is nothing that we must, or even can, do to receive God’s presence and resulting miracles in our lives. All that we can do is believe that Jesus is who He says He is, the living son of God and put our faith in Him. And to top that off, He will give us the faith that we need to believe in Him if we will just submit to Him as our Lord and Savior. Lord, have mercy! Land, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Wisdom of Solomon 8:5-6

Now if riches are a possession to be desired in life,
What is richer than wisdom, who works all things?
And if discernment shows itself in action,
Who more than wisdom is its craftsman?

Personal Challenge

What are some of the things that we hold most valuable in our lives? Is it our wealth? Is it the things that our wealth can buy us, such as homes, vehicles, jewelry, or whatever can be added to the list of stuff that we fill our lives with. Is it the prestige that is aggressively pursued? We have a tendency to fill our lives with, and our time pursing, the things that we deem most valuable. Here in the Wisdom of Solomon, we are reminded that the single most valuable thing to desire in our life is Wisdom, or in other words, Jesus Christ, There is nothing in the entire universe that is more valuable than Him. He is who we should be desiring. He is who we should proclaim as our greatest and richest possession. And from pursuing Him, we see the fruit of discernment because He is the craftsman of discernment. Jesus is in all and is all, so we need to treat Him that way. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner and forgave me for putting so many other worthless things above you.

Acts 2:38

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Encouraging Words

After Jesus ascended into heaven, the apostles gathered together and debated on what to do next. Soon after, the Holy Spirit descended upon these first followers of Christ in the event that we now celebrate as the Pentecost. The anointing of the Holy Spirit became the launching point of the Church and has continued ever since. In this passage we see Peter responding to the crowd in Jerusalem, the very same crowd that had crucified Jesus, who was so moved by Peter’s discourse that they wanted to know what to do to be saved. Peter had become an avid and articulate champion for Christ because He had been anointed by the Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit that anoints us today when we give our lives to Christ by repenting of our sins, being baptized into Him and anointed with the Holy oil. This is the same Holy Spirit that can lead us to do what Peter and the rest of the apostles did in our lives. Glory be to God!

Wisdom of Solomon 7:22-23

So in herself, wisdom is a spirit that is rational,
Holy, only-begotten, manifold, subtle, easily moved, clear,
Undefiled, manifest, invulnerable, loving what is good, keen,
Unhindered, beneficent, man-loving, steadfast, unfailing,
Free from worry, all-powerful, all-surveying,
And penetrating all spirits that are rational, pure, and most subtle.

Encouraging Words

As we continue to see these passages talk about the characteristics of Wisdom and apply these characteristics to Jesus, we get a glimpse into who God is. The beauty of all of this is that through the process of theosis or growing in the likeness of God, we too can begin to have these characteristics become manifest in our own lives. The key to this transformation is to constantly be putting our fleshly selves to death. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Acts 1:9-11

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Personal Challenge

Being a Christian does not give us the right to live a sedentary spiritual life. Our Lord expects us to be actively pursuing Him by living as He would live. We must be actively loving our neighbor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and taking care of the widow, the orphan, and the poor, in order to grow in the image of Christ. Our journey to theosis is more like a cross-country hike than a train ride. The angels reminded Jesus’ apostles that it was time to stop looking for Jesus and time to go and build His Church. Glory be to God!