If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5
On January 1st, the Associated Press carried an article about a man in Mesa, Arizona, who took one of his pet buffaloes for a ride.
No, he didn’t put the great beast in a horse trailer and drive him around the neighborhood. The man put a saddle on his bison and tried to ride him. Now the article didn’t say if the man did this sort of thing regularly. That’s why I don’t know if this was the first time or the hundredth time the man went riding.
I do know this time the man was bucked off and trampled. The unnamed fellow was taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries. Since he has probably been released by the time you read this, I can be forgiven if I ask, “What was he thinking doing something so silly, so dangerous?”
His actions are almost as bad as those Pam and I observed when we were living in western South Dakota near Custer State Park. There we watched in astonishment as a man tried to put his little daughter on a wild buffalo so he might take a vacation picture. We, along with a lot of others, called out and dissuaded him from his foolish action.
Right about now, I imagine, you, like me, are thinking, “I’m glad I’d never do anything as stupid as that.”
I know I won’t. Not because I’m so smart. I probably won’t try to ride a buffalo because I don’t own a buffalo. But if I did, who knows?
In truth, each of us do some very strange things, stupid things, sinful things -things, which can get us into temporal and eternal trouble.
This is why we need a Savior. Jesus is the only One of the human race who has done the right thing, the smart thing all of the time. In perfect love He came and lived a perfect life. This He did, so that we, who were being trampled by our own transgressions, might be rescued and saved.
Now, as forgiven children, we ought to be able to see life a little more clearly. We ought to put away the foolish pursuits of the world and live our lives with the wisdom God wishes to give.
And if we don’t have such wisdom right now we ought to listen to James. In the first chapter of his book he wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, Who gives generously to all. . . .”
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive the sinful things I do -my stupidity for wanting my way and not Your way. Grant me wisdom, so that in all I do, I may be able to live with Your will being done in my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
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