Where Does Wisdom Come From?

James 3:13-17
13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.

God wants us to live differently than society does.
Society says...
-number one is the best.
-put yourself first before others.
-selfish ambition, that is striving to get ahead ourselves, is key and leaving
others behind.

Society tries to motivate using fame and envy. The all out popular bunch. We can all be jealous because we want the nicest clothes and the most fun. Motivation is carried out through jealousy. Lying is permitted.

God says...
-stop worrying about yourself.
-be kind and hospitable to one another.
-it's okay to be ambitious, but not so much so that it knocks people over in a
sense as if they're nothing.

God's wisdom tells us to be motivated by consideration. Be loyal, pure, and peaceful in everything.

I guess you could look at a doctor and someone who is uneducated when comparing the two different types of wisdom. A doctor is like a God of health (even though there are to be no other Gods but the true Lord) in the sense it knows much more about the body than a friend who says "You might have this." That can get you worried and stressed out sometimes making it all worse. Much as you would want to get the doctor's orders rather than an inexperienced individual outside of the practice, seek God for wisdom. Now that's just what the doctor ordered!

"It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things." ~Henry David Thoreau

I saw this random quote and I was amazed.
You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit -- the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us -- the child who's hungry, the steelworker who's been laid-off, the family who lost the entire life they built together when the storm came to town. When you think like this -- when you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize with the plight of others, whether they are close friends or distant strangers -- it becomes harder not to act; harder not to help. ~Barack Obama