Day 45, Year 1 Jesus Kept Increasing in Wisdom

“And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (Luke 2:52 NASB)

Yesterday, we explored how one of John’s missions was to guide “the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.” In my understanding, “the just” refers to Jesus Christ. However, despite being the most righteous person, Jesus still had a period where His wisdom needed to grow. Today’s verse describes His learning and growing in wisdom during His adolescence and even young adulthood. This suggests that our wisdom could be accumulated too. Adolescence is often the best time to learn wisdom, as it is a period where youngsters can easily digest and absorb various kinds of wisdom. Nevertheless, this does not imply that older adults or the elderly cannot learn wisdom, but it might take more time and commitment for them to acquire wisdom. After all, even if Jesus needed time to increase in wisdom, who among believers in this world does not need to learn wisdom?

From today’s verse, we can see that when Jesus kept increasing in wisdom, He also grew in favor with both God and men. Indeed, the effect of wisdom benefits not only ourselves but increases our favor with God. His grace and empowerment often accompany His favor. Hence, readers could observe that the wisdom Jesus gained first drew Him closer to the Father and made Him gain more wisdom beloved by Him. Subsequently, as Jesus began His public ministry, He shared the wisdom and insights He had gained. This demonstrates a significant difference between His acquisition and sharing of wisdom and worldly wisdom because His wisdom guides believers in returning to the Father.

Furthermore, the wisdom Jesus grew earned Him the love of the people around Him. Note that Jesus grew up in a God-fearing family, and those around Him likely feared God as well. Thus, the people around Him grew to love Him more and more. In our context, however, if you pursue godly wisdom, you might not in the same way experience being loved by the people around you. Unbelievers around you might question, challenge, or even point out that you are out of touch with society, unable to keep up with various trends, or even condemn you for being a maverick. Sometimes, you might feel lonely because of this. Anyway, consider this: Are you determined to follow Jesus, and continue to learn more wisdom so as to live a blessed life?

Reflection questions:

1) Do you want to follow Jesus and let your wisdom grow continually? If so, what practical steps are you going to take?

2) Are you afraid of feeling lonely in pursuing godly wisdom? How would you cling to the Lord to tackle the loneliness you feel if any?