Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person Colossians 4:5-6

Recurrent Thought

Wisdom is best applied in a specific and particularly suited setting (context) of time.

Life is better lived through principles other than emotions. Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundation for laws and systems of mindsets, actions, or behavior.  Over centuries, humanity has discovered a lot of principles that govern the realm of Justice, Morality, and Practical Living. Principles are essential for they undergird and direct our actions in life. Principles creating and regulate systems in our life

In today’s message, we encounter a double-barreled principle of when to apply wisdom and how it impacts our speech. The principle we study is about the timeliness of the application of Wisdom and the Quality of our speech that dispenses it.

Wisdom is the capacity or ability to apply the right knowledge to situations of Judgment, correction, choices, decisions, discretion, etc. The effectiveness of wisdom happens when it is applied at the right time.  Wisdom is always useful and most powerful when applied timely. This is a powerful universal principle of Wisdom. Timing Your Wisdom is developing masterly in acting wisely in a timely manner to bring about the necessary change and influence in the place of our responsibility.

By the Spirit of the Lord, Paul applies this macro principle to a micro situation of ministering to nonbelievers, whom he calls outsiders. He declares that it is important to walk (act) wisely in relation to non-believers always being mindful of the timing. Furthermore, he states that our speech to them should be gracious and seasoned with salt. Every Christ-devoted follower has the responsibility to minister to people without faith in Christ. Our actions and speeches must be a demonstration of the wisdom to the them. How we act, and speak should be in relation of understanding the time. 

Let me give two more examples. First, in 1 Samuel 13:1-15 we are given a picture when the armies of Israel waged a war against the philistines. The prophet Samuel told Saul and his troops to wait seven days for him to come. However, Saul grew fearful and impatient during the waiting. Fear can cause you to act irrationally. Imagine, Saul, proceeded to assume the role of a priest and made sacrifices as a process of hearing from the Lord.  Irrational actions, those that don’t follow any Principle, tend to create chaos.  Imagine, as soon as Saul finished making sacrifices, Samuel arrived and rebuked Saul for what he had done. Through Samuel, the Lord told Saul that his dynasty would not last long.

Second, Jesus demonstrated in an extraordinary way the acumen of timing your actions in a right way.  In the narratives of John chapter seven, the brothers of Jesus' indicated to him that he would be more popular if he attended and performed miracles during the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus rejected their persuasion and indicated that timing was key. He told them that "My time is not yet here; for you any time will do" (John 7:6). However, Jesus arrived at the festival later that week in His timing, and the result had an eternal impact.

When you do not time your application of wisdom right, even your best action does not bear good results. Timing is critically important. Ordinarily, people know the significance of the actions needed in particular situations of life. But the tricky part is understanding the significance of timing. When do I act? When do I respond? I know what to say, but when do I say it?  When the timing is right, even a small action produces a powerful impact. But when the timing is wrong, your best effort produces little results. How do we know the timing? How do we arrive at the right time? Every wise action must be planted within the acceptable time frame otherwise it bears no less fruit or no fruit at all. |Here are three Keys for Timing Your Wisdom

1. Develop the Issachar Mindset (1 Chron. 12:32)
   This time King Saul has died and his son, Ish-bosheth is ruling. However, Judah decides to enthrone David in Hebron as their king. There is civil war, strife, and rebellion in the land (2 Sam. 3:1) As David rose to power, the Children of Issachar understood the times what action must be taken.
   • To have the Issachar Mindset is to have the capacity of knowing what to do at specific times and seasons 
   • To have the Issachar anointing is to have the ability to discern what God is doing in that season. Jesus said he only did what he saw the Father doing John 5:19.
   • To have this ability gives you inside knowledge and understanding of God’s activities.
   • To understand our times is to understand our culture and its pressures on our ability to act wisely.
   • The Wisdom of Yesterday, is always Perfect. While that of tomorrow is hopeful and exciting but not yet practical. To act in the challenges of today is Timing Your Wisdom, acting in your present moment. Wisdom is only useful when it is acted on in the present realities.
   • Every wise action that is late is never used but merely mocked; that which comes before its time confuses people. Wisdom acted for the present moment is the type human beings use, at the moment of application.
   • Abilities are a combination of God’s endowment and Human development. There is a level of developing mastery in acting wisely that is needed.
   • It is your responsibility to develop and master the Issachar capacity.
2. Seize the Opportunities for Your Wise Actions (Wisdom)
   • Notice that Wisdom is demanded in the daily activities of our lives. Our life is called a walk, which implies motion progression, a continual approximation to the destination
   • Your environment (essentially God) will avail opportunities in which you can apply your wisdom.
   • Your responsibility is to see these opportunities and recognizes they are always time-bound. Your responsibility to be the best, and ready at all times.
   • Opportunity is the flower of time, which blooms but for a moment and is gone forever.
   • Know that Ill-timed and inconsiderate zeal will do more harm than good. Similarly, delayed wisdom does not bear the fruits envisaged.
   • Timing Your wisdom (Actions) is one of the most important activities of Your life, but the reality is that you are never a full master of time. But you can seize the opportunities it presents to you.
   • Remember Time and the energy you have in your life are limited resources. These are not endless resources. You must act wisely to push forward the influence and the agenda you stand for.
   • Speech is one major way to produce wise actions. Speech must be gracious and regulated as it were by salt.
   • One major way we act towards non-believers is through our gracious speech.
   • Every Christ-devoted follower must cultivate the wisdom which governs their tongue (1 Peter 3:15).
   • Sometimes Wisdom is actioned by Silence. Some opportunities don’t need words, and therefore, silence may be the most conclusive solution. It is the triumph of wisdom to know when to speak and when to hold your peace.
3. Regularly Rely on the Presence of the Holy Spirit (John 7: 37-39)
   • The reality is that no human being understands everything within their space of influence.
   • There are times when your humanly developed capacity fails to capture the opportunities and timing.
   • The truth is that there are spiritual forces beyond human capacities that influence human existence.
   • These spiritual entities that impact the natural plane can only be engaged through spiritual means.
   • The precious Holy Spirit, when you allow Him to operate with and through you, gives you some level of capacity to operate on the spiritual planes.
   • We court the presence of the Spirit through Prayer and conscious obedience to His truth.
   • Through our interaction with the Holy Spirit, we impact others through the Rivers of Living Waters that flow through us (John 7:37-39)

Conclusion

Wisdom is an application of knowledge in situations demanding choices, decisions, and judgments, discretion is always time-bound. Understand Your time and act accordingly.

Altar of Prayer

1. Pray that God allows you to grow your capacity of discernment; Capacity to understand times and seasons
2. Welcome the Holy Spirit in Your life, to open you to different life and spiritual dimensions you are never aware of.

Discussions

1. List some reasons why Christ-devoted followers fail to Time their Wisdom
2. Give an example of when you or someone you know applied wisdom too late
3. Suggest a few ways to overcome the inertia of Timing one’s Wise action
4. Take time to Pray of the infilling of the Spirit of Wisdom