James 3:17
"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."
Wisdom is dangerous in that it can fill a person with pride.
Yet, it can also be very helpful if a person obtains their wisdom from God. Having the right type of wisdom is important to what you are trying to accomplish.
According to James 3, there is a wisdom that comes from above, and there is another wisdom that is of the world. There is no doubt that each type of wisdom gets results, but it all determines what type of results you truly want. Your desire should be to have a godly wisdom that will produce lasting results.
Wisdom that is not from above can easily be identified. Worldly wisdom is a selfish wisdom. Worldly wisdom will tell you how to get what you want. Worldly wisdom is worldly and based on feelings. God even says that worldly wisdom is "devilish." In other words, worldly wisdom is deceptive because the Devil is deceptive.
Worldly wisdom produces bitterness and strife. When you follow the world's way of doing things, you will find that bitterness and strife are caused because worldly wisdom does not care who it hurts to get what it wants. This type of wisdom may seem to give you what you want, but you won't like the results of the strife it causes in your life.
On the other hand, godly wisdom is an unselfish wisdom. Notice, it is first pure. In other words, you can identify godly wisdom because it has no ulterior motives. The only motive that godly wisdom has is that God's will is done. The purity of godly wisdom comes from the fact that others are the sole beneficiary of this wisdom.
You can also identify godly wisdom by the peace it gives. In other words, it will keep peace between people. Because godly wisdom is not selfish, nobody is ran over to get what they desire. Godly wisdom keeps people getting along because nobody has to watch their back and wonder if they are going to be stabbed in the back.
Furthermore, godly wisdom is gentle in how it handles situations. Godly wisdom is not concerned with things, rather it is concerned with keeping people from being hurt. The gentleness of godly wisdom is out to preserve others.
Finally, you will find that godly wisdom produces good fruit because it is merciful. In other words, it treats everyone the same. God says it has no hypocrisy in it. What godly wisdom does for one it does for all.
Christian, whenever receiving wisdom from someone, always use this measuring stick to determine whether it is godly or worldly. Always remember that godly wisdom will give you godly results. If you seek for wisdom in godly places, then you will find the wisdom that comes from above.