My fruit is better than refined gold, my harvest better than choice silver. Proverbs 8:19, TLV
Ever Flip a Table or Two? What kind of “harvest” does our wisdom produce? Up until recently, I thought all wisdom belonged to GOD — you know, the Creator of the Universe? It turns out there are counterfeits to His wisdom. And they can look, on the surface, a lot like true wisdom. Especially when Scripture is used.
How does one distinguish between the authentic and the artificial? By its “fruit” — what wisdom harvests.
So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. Matthew 7:20, TLV
I love what Yeshua’s half-brother Jacob (James) has to say about true wisdom:
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, not hypocritical. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in shalom [peace] by those who make shalom.” Jacob (James) 3:17-18, TLV
Table-Flipping?
A few years ago, going against the very wisdom I’ve written about, I responded to someone’s post on social media, about the riots and destruction after folks inciting fear about injustice. The person posted a graphic of Jesus flipping tables in the outer-courts of the Temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 21:12-13). The graphic was meant to justify the rights of angry people to destroy property in the name of justice— because Jesus did it, after all.
My response was “Jesus didn’t steal any of the doves or money.” Pretty lame, right? And embarrassing. People’s comebacks were rude, as you can imagine. Had I prayed before typing that first key, I wouldn’t have typed the first key.
Still, it is a valid question. What about Yeshua flipping tables? And making a whip and beating people? Our meek and mild Jesus?
Was He setting an example for us? Behavior for us to emulate? In my opinion, no.
Let’s Remember
We sometimes forget, Yeshua was wholly man, but He was also wholly GOD. Last time I checked, we’re not. There are certain advantages to being the Son of GOD. Number one, He had a direct link to His Father and would never do anything without His Abba’s approval.
Number two, there are certain rights that only GOD has — three big ones are judgment, condemnation, and revenge. (John 3:18-21, Romans 12:19) We have no entitlement to these rights — because we can’t handle them.
Everything that Yeshua instructed us to live and do was about peace, compassion, turning the other cheek, forgiveness (Matthew 5).
Injustices? We are to protect the weak and stand up for them (Proverbs 21:15) and help them seek justice, but we are not to take revenge. Revenge belongs to the Creator of the Universe (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:10) who sees the beginning and the end and inside everyone’s hearts.
No matter what injustice, if we sow with violence, anger, and revenge, it will not reap a harvest of peace, love, or justice. Defending one who is weak and being preyed upon is not about violence and revenge.
There are spiritual forces behind any unrest and violence (Ephesians 6:12). These forces have blinded some souls with a counterfeit wisdom that will only reap a harvest of sorrow and pain. They may believe they have the right to take revenge, but their actions will dirty their souls with sin.
We can learn from the unrest around us. In the midst are we still at peace? Are we still pursuing purity, gentleness, a teachable heart, mercy, grace, truth, and honor? Then our harvest will be the delicious fruit of GOD’s wisdom. Fruit we can share with a hungry world.
May our harvest be plentiful and good, my friends.
