Wisdom versus knowledge

Wisdom is not "versus" knowledge, of course, but I did discover that Bible knowledge is not necessarily the same as wisdom. I suppose that should not come as a surprise, since wisdom is skill in living, and knowledge (at least narrowly defined) is just the accumulation of facts or doctrines. Here are my anecdotal evidences for the distinction:

Item one: There was a Christian neighbor who dropped in on my mother quite often. Because I know my mother well, I knew that this was not in the best interest of the longevity of the relationship. I wrote him what I thought was a careful letter and included the following verse from Proverbs:

"Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you" (25:17).

That was not wisdom. My relationship with the neighbor never fully recovered.

Item two: A woman I know was a single parent with several children. Well-meaning people in the church for years would drop off bags of their kids' hand-me-down clothes and toys and other miscellaneous articles at her door.

That was not wisdom. No one seemed to notice that the woman was paralyzed by the inundation of clothing, and that she was not, by temperament, able to organize the offerings. It did more harm than good.

Item three: Recently a child of mine expressed that this was a happy time in his life, and he ticked off the reasons. I was concerned because he is not walking in the truth, and I started to write a letter quoting Isaiah 17:10-11:

"For you have forgotten the God of your salvation. . . . Therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger, though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away. . . ."

(You would think I would be cured of writing letters by now.)

That was not wisdom. Fortunately, before I got a chance to throw the envelope in the mailbox, I mentioned it to a wise friend, and he gently dissuaded me. You don't want him to think you can't ever be happy for him, do you? Maybe rather than writing him a letter, you can look for a chance to talk to him in person, he said. Sometimes the indirect approach works better: You can share some of your own experiences in life, and since he is not stupid, he will make the connection to his own life.

I have not regretted that I didn't send the letter.

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