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I believe most of us aim to make the best decisions possible with the information we have at that moment. Yet, I wish I knew 25 years ago, what I now know. When I look back on some of the decisions I made, especially as a pastor, I would make some wiser decisions.

So how can we gain wisdom so our decisions become wiser? Consider Proverbs 4:7 – “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.” It’s like he’s saying the wisest thing to do is get wise. But we might respond, “I don’t have time to learn wisdom right now. I am too busy at school or work to take the time to learn wisdom on top of everything else.

It’s true that it costs to gain wisdom. It costs time to discover the wisdom in God’s word. It takes effort to set up appointments with those who have wisdom so we can learn from them. It requires sacrifice to read or take a course that will help us grow in some area at work or in life. It takes humility for us to admit that we need to learn from others with more experience.

Yet, it costs more not to gain wisdom. If we don’t grow in wisdom, we will constantly make unwise choices. Those choices can cost us financially, relationally, professionally and spiritually. I can think of one collection of unwise choices I made that cost significant money to correct. Lack of wisdom costs more than the cost of gaining wisdom.

So what wisdom might you need to gain for something in your life today? What will it cost you to gain it? Then ask the Lord for His strength and guidance to get to it.

“Lord, we admit that we like to take the path of least resistance. We look for the easiest way around a mountain or obstacle. Yet glorious views and beautiful valleys await on the other side of a mountain, if we will only pay the price to climb it. Help us to have the courage to admit when we need to grow in wisdom. Then lead us to where we can find it.”