Wisdom and Success

Wisdom for PREVAILING PART I

I have served as a Pastor for many years now and I have come to know that people tend to make the same mistakes over and over again without learning from their mistakes. The saying is true “History repeats itself”. Now this can be understood if the history is a few 100 years old. But I am speaking of history from last year of even this year. Are you going to make the same mistakes from the past in your future? I have just gone through my goals list of 2015 and I realised that there are some undone items on my list. I am planning my 2016 calendar and my 200-year strategy and I do not want to have some undone items in 200 years time I want to live a successful life.

You may be saying 200 years is a bit long will you still be around then? Well the answer is yes. I am in Cape Town with my family as I write this blog and on Thursday we did the Peninsula drive and went through the Cape of Good Hope and the Cape Point and other historic sights including the famous Cecil John Rhodes memorial. He died many years ago but he is still alive in his values, beliefs and vision. The may be a lot we don’t like about him and what he stood for but a lot of what he stood for is still standing today. He became larger than life because he carried a vision that has outlived his natural life. I was playing chess with my three awesome kids an hour ago and I was coaching them on how to that chess is a game of strategy, you have to think 20 moves ahead of your enemy, you have to anticipate what they will do and have a counter move and still remain calm in all this.

Well we recently had some nation wide strikes in our Universities as students protested against the statues of John Rhodes that are erected in a number of places in South Africa the students defaced the statue at Rhodes University and did all kinds of things to it. In fact the one we saw at the memorial has no nose as that was cut of, either by hooligans or someone looking at having a keen sense of smell like Rhodes. When the noise got really loud some Rhodes scholarships were withdrawn and some people found themselves in need of new financiers. How can a man who died many years ago decide today that he does not want to pay fees for someone who urinated on his statue? Well that’s the power of vision.

I am getting carried away talking about legacy here when I am supposed to be talking about wisdom. Have a look at the Wikipedia definition of wisdom, which is similar to many other definitions.

Wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom has been regarded as one of four cardinal virtues; and as a virtue, it is a habit or disposition to perform the action with the highest degree of adequacy under any given circumstance. This implies a possession of knowledge or the seeking of knowledge to apply to the given circumstance. This involves an understanding of people, objects, events, situations, and the willingness as well as the ability to apply perception, judgment, and action in keeping with the understanding of what is the optimal course of action. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions (the "passions") so that the universal principle of reason prevails to determine one's action. In short, wisdom is a disposition to find the truth coupled with an optimum judgment as to what actions should be taken.

That is a useful definition but not complete as it leaves out the God aspect. Wisdom according to the Bible is the fear of God. If I am to walk in wisdom I must reverence God, honoring His Word having a high regard, value and opinion of what He has said to me. So I become wise instantly when I assume a position of His word and making my decisions based on His wisdom. Wisdom is not something in your head but in your heart (spirit) however the world cannot acknowledge that man is a spirit as this will bring them to acknowledge the existence of God and that will demand accountability.

Anyway wisdom is a spiritual commodity that one has access to because they are in Christ and are able to make decisions based on their fear of God and love for His word. Look at the following scriptures and meditate in them so you can prepare for your future well. When you live a wise life you will outlive your current generation and we will still be reading your books hundreds of years after you have gone to heaven.

  

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7)

My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: (Proverbs 5:1)

Wisdom will help you live a deliberate well-planned life that operates on definiteness and not ambiguity. You must be able to see danger afar of and hide yourself and not be like the fool (one void of wisdom) who just passes on without a clear definite plan and he perishes. You lost money in 2015, your lost opportunities, relationship, investments and possible successes simply because you were not wise. I wrote this article to encourage you that indeed wisdom is the principal thing, the most important thing you need so make every effort to get it as you plan for 2016 and beyond. Live a life that leaves a legacy of value to the next generation and you will live for a long time. Use December to plan and review, have a look at what worked and what didn’t and make adjustments so your future can be clearer than your past.

While we were playing chess earlier the girls got flustered because we (My son and I) took their bishop and I had to stop and say to them “to win you have to stay calm and focused, the moment you are flustered you will not think clearly” Perhaps the failures and looses of 2015 have flustered your, angered you or have lost your focus totally. I want to help you, stay calm go back to the plans that you had before. Look at those plans carefully and reflect on why you did not succeed and draw a fresh plan using wisdom and hindsight. Have some one look at your plans and walk with you on the journey to success in 2016.

In my next article I will look at the 7 pillars of wisdom in your decision making process and making sure you have a fool proof strategy for moving yourself to your desired reality. I encourage you to read my book Success Paradigms 101 which has helped thousands of people draw up “personal success strategies” you can order a copy from any of the leading on line retailers as an eBook, or hard copy. Optionally you can email me from our web site www.sp101.co.za and we will email you a free PDF version of the book. Your success is our passion. Even you can succeed.