Ecclesiastes 4:13 English Standard Version (ESV) Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.

There are two kinds of advice, good and bad. We probably have experience with both. Even those who love us are capable of giving bad advice. How can we know for sure if advice is good or bad?

Begin with praying for Godly wisdom. James tells us God gives freely of His wisdom for all who ask. That is risk free advice. The best advice is free and without an element of danger.

Pay someone for advice and be warned that their primary interest is to get paid and make a living. Wisdom will allow you to judge the value in paid advice. It is wise to get an inspector to examine a property for both value and legal adherence before buying property. Wisdom hires the inspector rather than allowing someone else to pay for it because then they work for someone else.

Much of the advice we take in this world comes with risk. Wisdom mitigates risk down to a reasonable amount that we can live with.

When it comes to Kingdom living, fellowship of the saints, discipleship, doctrine and theology the only advocate we need is Jesus Christ. Godly wisdom in the elders is required to administrate any church. Godly wisdom is required to pastor a flock, teach Sunday school or lead a study group. The only way to recognize Godly wisdom is in having close personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Godly wisdom shows up in demonstration of faith. What we do by way of our faith walk is seen by all.

The only risk in that is being seen to be human. We cannot escape that. Exposing ourselves to our own weaknesses is a good thing. The result is correction and realignment to God’s instructions for this abundant life. We do not want to end up being an old foolish king that ignores sound advice.