Wisdom is a gift. It is given to us freely by God. We do not need to earn it.
Eric Johnston on Wisdom
Who is Eric Johnston?
Eric M. Johnston is a husband of father of seven in Newark, New Jersey. He teaches theology to undergraduate theologians at Seton Hall University and writes reflections at professorjohnston.com. He is a student of Thomas Aquinas’s theology of grace and use of Scripture.
In this episode, I talk to Eric Johnston about growing in widsom. He talks about:
-What are sanctifying and charismatic gifts?
-What is the gift of wisdom?
-How is it different from knowledge and discernment?
-How do we develop this gift?
-What actions can we take to grow in wisdom?
How to grow in wisdom?
Ask God
I wrote to a number of people to talk about wisdom for this month’s episode and because it’s such a difficult topic, couldn’t find anyone. I sent a quick email to Eric and he replied. He was on a holiday in Rhode Island and said, he’ll take a quick break from the beach and we can record. I’m so grateful to Eric because all his knowledge of theology did help me understand wisdom.
One of the things that struck me is when he says You can’t earn a gift. They’re gifts because thy’re given freely to us. Often, when I’ve made a mistake, as we often do, making the wrong choices, the wrong words, so on, I often say Lord, if only you’d made me wise. Not knowing that God has given us His Holy Spirit to rely on.
Contemplation and Wisdom
I loved this advice from Eric about how we can grow in wisdom by contemplating on God. And what is contemplation? The many ways of looking at God and this is something that struck a chord so deep, that I’ve added Contemplation to our episode list.
He also says that you need to grow all the gifts of the spirit for any one to develop. And that sin slowly chips away at our spirit. This is one of the key things Eric stresses about that sin has consequences and they’re not from a punishing God, but rather a natural consequence of our actions.
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