You can debate the politics of it til the cows come home. We can and will disagree on much of it. But, I think that we can all agree that the world is a mess.
Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, Immigration, Crime, Riots, Corrupt leaders, and the Debt.
I could go on as I am sure you could.
And yet, in the face of all of this evil, God makes a promise. In the end, he will make it all right. Jesus will return, clean house, and collect those who love him. He will take his people to a “spacious place”…….forever.
Jesus will come.
As a matter of fact, that is arguably the most powerful prayer of petition in the Bible.
Come……Lord Jesus.
And yet, we don’t seem to use it very much. When was the last time you prayed:
Come……Lord Jesus.
I’m not talking about: Come Lord Jesus…….fix my car.
I’m talking about: Come Lord Jesus……….end this mess of a world and bring on paradise.
When you get right down to it……that is a pretty terrifying prayer. If you don’t believe me…..re-read Revelation.
What it comes down to is this:
The world is broken……but it is our broken. We are used to it. We think we understand it. The talking heads tell us that they know how to fix it. We tell ourselves that we have it under control…….or that we will soon elect a government that will fix it all. Never mind that over 200 years of history tells us that it gets worse after each election cycle.
The fix is not my political party……or yours. The fix is Jesus. And he will fix it……all of it. That is a promise, not from me, not from your favorite politician……….but from God himself.
So…….why don’t we pray:
Come Lord Jesus.
It is because we are afraid. And our fear is a direct measure of our lack of faith.
So……my challenge this week is to add this prayer to your daily devotional.
Come Lord Jesus.
If you have trouble with this prayer, then explore your faith……or lack of faith……in God’s greatest promise. Because fixing this problem in your faith will change your life.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
The topic this week is difficult. It is intended for Christians……..people who have accepted Jesus as their saviour. I want to begin with a disclaimer. It is not my intention to damn Christians who don’t practice their faith the same way I do. This post is not about issues of style.
We moved to a new town. We tried out several churches. We settled in on one that we liked. We tried out several different services based mainly on the type of worship music that they played: rock, acoustic, traditional organ, etc. If you had asked us what we were doing…….we would have said we were “church shopping”.
Years later, our long time pastor retired. We hired a new young pastor. And a lot of people left. They went “shopping” and found a pastor that suited them better.
Church shopping is common. It is a normal part of the landscape. But, there is a danger. Every church is different. Every pastor is different. In our case, we were concentrating on issues of style. And that is fine. But, there are issues of substance. It is possible for a church to choose policies and beliefs that are different enough that they are a problem. I recently spoke with a leader of a church. If you asked her, she would describe herself as a Christian. The name of her church included the word Christian. She is a good person. She does a great deal of community service and she guides her church to do so as well; but, she said, “I have a problem with Jesus”.
And that gets to the heart of this week’s post.
I am concerned about an idea that pervades Christianity…….an attitude that, I fear, is growing. It is the idea that we get to go shopping. We get to try on the different “flavors” of Christianity until we find one that suits us…….until we find a church that agrees with us.
At the extreme…….we find a church that tells us that what we believe……is right. We find a church that tells us that God…….agrees with us.
And this really doesn’t sound too bad until you give it a good hard look.
Imagine your first day in paradise. You walk into a room. You have a legal pad and a pen so that you can take notes. God walks in. He sits down across the table from you. And the questions begin. What about abortion, divorce, tithing, etc. In essence, the meeting is a job interview. The purpose of the meeting is to determine if the guy across the table has the same values. I suspect that something along those lines is what we all expect.
But, here’s the thing.
Who is asking the questions?
Who is the one trying to decide if the guy on the other side of the table……is “suitable”?
Is God searching you…..to see if you are a good hire?
Or
Are you grilling God to see if his positions align with yours?
In essence, the question is this:
“Who is in charge here?”
It sounds ridiculous. But, isn’t that what a lot of us are doing when we go “church shopping”?
If you shop around until you find a church that agrees with your positions in every particular…….if you shop around until you find a church that doesn’t convict you of any failure……if you shop around until you find a church that tells you you are right……then you will learn nothing. You will not grow. Because, you will have become the guy in charge. You will have become the guy who plans on interviewing God to see if his positions agree with yours. You will have become the guy trying to decide if God is a suitable hire.
Good Luck.
“I don’t know if there is a God, but if there is, he’s got a lot of explaining to do.
Robert Dinero describing his plan for conducting his upcoming “job interview”.
We get up every day. We have a list of jobs to get done. We work our way through the list and then we go to bed.
If you consider it, every item on today’s “to-do” list is done to create a benefit. Even the ugliest thing we have ever done was done to achieve some benefit for someone. And that is the object of the exercise today. I want to explore whom we are trying to benefit.
When I was in basic training, I knew with crystal clarity whom I served…….but how about you…….today?
In a word……just exactly whom are you and I working for?
No matter how high you are on the social or business ladder, you are working for the benefit of someone. Even the president, like him or hate him, is working for the benefit of someone else. When push comes to shove……we all serve.
We are all servants……….but to whom?
My spouse My family My boss Me My political party My appetites My anger
Take 3 seconds and answer the question:
Whom do you serve?
Because…..if you don’t know in 3 seconds…..if you have to think about it, you are adrift. If you don’t know immediately whom you are serving, is it any wonder that you sometimes do things that, in retrospect, make no sense?
I am a Christian. When I get confused…….and that is every day…….I go to the Bible. The Bible is extremely clear on this subject.
I am to serve God, my creator.
But, specifically how?
Here too, the Bible is extremely specific.
Love God…….love everybody else.
Intellectually, at least, that is my answer.
So, I start my day.
I walk outside, I say, “Good morning Lord”. I pray, meditate, read the Bible. I ask God if he has anything specific that he wants from me……today. So far so good. I do some chores. Then I get in my truck to run some errands. And the wheels start to come off. Does the way I drive serve God? Does my interaction with the clerk at the DMV serve God? Does my interaction with the waitress at Twin Peaks serve God…….and what am I even doing there in the first place?
You get the point. It doesn’t take very long for me to find myself serving someone or something else from my list of God substitutes. It’s a rare day that I don’t make it to the bottom of my list at least once. It’s a rare day that I don’t spend a little time serving my anger. And when I serve my anger…….aren’t I really serving the author of my anger…….Satan?
I need to spend more time recognizing that I am a servant…….and that I serve God.
This is a truth that is easy to lose sight of.
But it is the truth.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Paul, Collosians 3:23-24, ESV
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Every morning this week, as I sit on my patio watching the day begin, a coyote has run across my backyard. I think he lives just west of my yard. He is coming from the yard just east of my yard. He takes a short cut across my back yard to get back to his home. The family that lives on the east raises chickens. I suspect that the coyote has been looking for an easy breakfast. He may already have found it. The coyote is not malevolent. He is just being a coyote……doing coyote stuff…… eating chickens. He weighs the risks and rewards, considers his past successes in crossing my yard and justifies the trip. But, his plans for today run contrary to my plans and my neighbor’s plans.
So…..I am setting up an ambush. I will wait with a shotgun and put an end to this predator. I will pick a spot that offers me a nice, clean, safe, shot, load the shotgun with buckshot, and kill the coyote. Please understand, the coyote has done me no harm, though he may, some day. His only offense is that his plan for today just doesn’t fit into my plan for my yard and my neighborhood.
Here’s how it will work. I have chosen a 10 yard by 10 yard patch of lawn. There is a nice place nearby for me to hide. There is a clean 20 yard shot with a good backstop. The patch of lawn is right on his path from the chicken coop on the east to his den, somewhere on the west. If he steps into that patch, he will die and it will not be pretty. The way that this is set up, the coyote’s only hope for survival is to not set foot in that small patch of my yard.
You’ve probably sensed a metaphor here. But, in this metaphor, I am not the hunter. I am the coyote. I am not malevolent, I am just doing human stuff. And just like everybody else, not all of the stuff that I do is OK. I stand at the edge of a place that I know in my heart is a not a good place. But, there is something in there that I really want. I consider the reward, weigh the risks, and come up with a justification. On a good day, I can come up with several justifications. And sometimes…….I go for it.
Examples:
Using the copier at work for personal copies.
Parking in the handicapped spot…….just for a few minutes.
Carrying stuff in the bed of my pickup…..uncovered. Because sometimes it blows away.
Speeding……5-10 mph over the limit.
The problem is this: There is an intelligent, malevolent being who is working out his plan. He knows me. He knows my vulnerabilities. He is setting up his ambush. It is carefully designed, customized for me, and highly effective. If I set foot in his “kill zone,” he is confident that there is no escape for me. Furthermore, it is not just one ambush. He sets up dozens of them every day.
This is my daily encounter……..with Satan. I wander into his trap and he wins a small battle. The ambush may not end up for me as badly as it might for the coyote. But, it will put a little more distance between me and the righteousness of God. The trouble is that the small battles add up. If I am not careful, I can get comfortable wandering around in the bad places. If I am not careful, I can dumb down my morality. If I am not careful, I can find myself separated from God.
Back to the metaphor. I know that you are wondering. How did my coyote ambush work out this morning?
Well, the coyote didn’t show up. He made a smart choice. He made it home to his family. Good for him.
But………. I’ll be back, maybe not tomorrow……..maybe next week……maybe somewhere else in my yard. You can count on it. I am nothing……if not persistent.
Satan is like that.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
I don’t know about women’s public restrooms. But, there is a curious phenomenon in the men’s room. I occasionally see a small pocket size, comic book by the sink. It was left there by someone before me. It was left there for me…….or someone like me…….by a stranger who wants to help me. In ten pages, it tells a story from the Bible. The purpose of this “tract” is to draw me closer to my creator……..or even better……..to introduce him to me for the first time. I typically glance at it and leave it there. The guy who put it there was trying to share something of great value…….and I just dismiss it and go on about my day. This actually happens many times, in many different ways every day. A Christian puts a message of faith, love, and hope in my path…..possibly a message like this blog……..and I blow right past it.
Why?
I am already a “sold out believer”. The tract tells me nothing new.
I am in a hurry and hanging out in a public toilet is not my thing.
It might be soiled.
I believe that the guy who left it is naive, though good intentioned. He is probably not too bright…….not as sophisticated as me. What could a guy who litters public toilets teach me about God?
Even if God is real……this is not where he would reach out to me.
It’s just another bit of superstitious dribble. Only a fool would buy it.
All of these things are untrue……some more than others.
It’s not the tract that concerns me today. It is my reaction to the tract. It is my reaction to the streetcorner preacher…..to the Jehovas witness who knocks on my door on Sunday morning…….to the two young Mormon men riding bikes down the road……to the billboard that says “where will you spend eternity?”…….to the parent trying to get the school board to allow prayer in her kid’s school.
Occasionally, I am annoyed. Often, I silently critique their message or their delivery. Or, perhaps, I say to myself, “I could do better than that.” I clearly recall walking past a streetcorner preacher who was shouting death and damnation to passers by and saying to myself, “you can’t annoy people into salvation.” And that may be true.
But, here’s the thing. All of the people that I have mentioned are evangelists. They are all giving up their time to depopulate hell. Some are more skilled than others. Some of them may be so unskilled that their work is counterproductive. But, if you look at their heart, they are trying to give us all something of great value. They are trying to share with all of us what is arguably the most valuable idea that has ever entered the human conscious.
Jesus saves.
I was once in the army. I get a discount at many businesses. The clerk often says, “thanks for your service”. That statement is a small thing, probably “pro forma”. But, it feels good to hear it. Maybe that is the correct response to the tract in the toilet.
Thanks for your service.
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.”
This is a follow up to a recent post on peace. The prior post dealt with the beauty, value, and desirability of peace. So far so good. But, how do you achieve peace? Do you find it? Do you ask for it? Is it a gift? Do you create it?
The answer is yes.
First, let me deal with what doesn’t work. This is a list of things that people do to get ahead, to find satisfaction, to find happiness:
Make a lot of money. Attain power…….social, commercial, or political. Become popular, an influencer. Earn the admiration of their peers.
These things in themselves are not bad. The trouble is that in pursuing them you accumulate problems that you must sort out constantly in order to stay on top It is not hard to find a celebrity who has achieved some or all of these things and yet is miserable. They often publish books whining to the rest of us about how hard their life is.
It turns out that peace is both easier and harder to attain than these paths that don’t work.
Peace is completely independent of money, power, influence, and prestige. Even more, peace is completely independent of your circumstances. Those are not the places to look for peace.
Peace is a characteristic of the spiritual realm……not the physical realm. To seek peace among the trappings of the physical world is a quest that is doomed to fail. The list of people who have figured this out as they are dieing…..or worse, who never figure it out, is long and storied.
In order to achieve peace……..find peace….receive peace……create peace…….you must get your spiritual house in order.
The first thing that you must do is to resign your position as CEO of the universe. You are not in charge. You are not big enough, powerful enough, smart enough, or capable enough. Neither am I, for what it’s worth. In a word, you and I lack the authority to reign. There are a lot of problems with Islam; but, they got one thing right. The very word Islam translates into “submission”. This is the starting point. This is, without a doubt, the hardest part of the process.
After you cede control of the universe in general…….and control of your life in particular………you need to find out who is actually in charge. There are a lot of candidates. Every few years we hear of a cult led by a guy who has claimed this authority…….they typically end badly. I am a Christian. I believe that the Bible has the answer to this question……and many more. You may reject the Bible…..but, if you do, I have one question, “Have you actually read it?” Because, If you haven’t, you are like my granddaughter. I asked her if she liked to eat charred octopus. She said, “Ewwe no! That’s gross!” She still hasn’t tried it. That leaves more octopus for me. The Bible is a very complicated book. This should not be surprising…..it’s a complicated world. The old testament has a lot of history…….and a lot of rules. But, it has one central theme: The old testament teaches us that God, the Trinity, is in absolute charge. The new testament tells us what he expects us to do. We often don’t agree with God. We sometimes don’t like what he expects of us. My only answer is that God is in charge not me. Deal with it.
Having identified the guy in charge and submitted to his authority, we simply follow his instructions. Sounds tough. Here is the “Cliff Notes” version:
Love God…..love everybody else.
There it is:
Give up control. Recognize God’s absolute authority. Obey him…….that is……love him and everybody else.
Do these things and you will achieve, find, and receive peace. Even better, your peace will spread to the people around you. You will create peace.
It turns out that it’s simpler than you thought. But, it’s still not easy. You will fail…..every day……same as me. But, the process will lead you to peace.
the saints are just the sinners Who fall down and get up
I am retired. The heart of retirement is time. In a way, my time is limited. After all, I’m 71 years old. But, in another way, I have a lot of time. For 40 years, between school and my job, I worked. I was fortunate in that my job gave me more time off than most. As a wild guess, I had about 6 hours a day, 100,000 hours total, of what I would call free time while I was working. If I am retired for 25 years, I will have about 10 hours a day, 100,000 hours total, of free time. These numbers are a bit surprising, even to me. My free time comes in larger chunks these days. It seems as though I have more free time now than ever before. So…..what do I do with all of this free time? When I look at how I spend my days, I find that the two biggest ways that I spend my time are hobbies and sitting in a chair on my back patio enjoying the view. I am blessed in that the view from my patio is really nice. It is a view of nature. There are trees, wildlife, a valley, and hills or even mountains. There are very few people. There are no problems. There is no anger, crime, or meanness. There is no talking head on the TV trying to get me worked up over his political problem du jour.
In a word, my patio time can be summed up in one word……peace.
I spend my time as though it were a limited resource, because it is. I spend my time on the things that I value the most. And from my chair on the patio, I have concluded that one of the things that I value the most in the closing years of my life……..is peace. People around me find it frustrating that I don’t worry a lot about problems…..the federal debt, immigration policy, wars, crabgrass. But, I just don’t. Perhaps I am ignoring all of these important problems. Could be. But, the truth is that I am pursuing something immeasurably more important, more valuable than crabgrass. I am looking for peace.
I have a good friend who is a Bhuddist. He spends a lot of his free time seeking nirvana. I haven’t studied Bhuddism a lot, but it seems that nirvana and peace are very closely related. We are so different in many ways. And yet, we both are pursuing what is essentially the same thing.
I can only conclude that peace is a need, a goal, a destination that is deeply embedded in the human heart…….Christian or Bhuddist. I am convinced that most of the problems in our culture….in our world……come down to our pursuit of things other than peace.
If you are not at peace……..you cannot be happy………regardless of your situation.
If you can find peace……grow peace…….you will be happy…….regardless of your situation.
I am a Christian. I follow God and God’s wish for me is peace. The path that I try to follow in my quest for peace is codified in the Bible……especially in the teachings of Jesus. It is said that the two signs of the presence of God are joy and peace.
So…….what does Jesus say about peace?
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But, take heart, I have overcome the world.”
Jesus, John 16:33, ESV
“Peace I leave you: my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Jesus, John 14:27, ESV
And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness, and trust forever.
Isaiah, 32:17, ESV
If possible, so far as it depends on you, Live peaceably with all.
Paul, Romans, 12:18, ESV
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
When we are facing an extremely important decision, we have a phrase to describe it:
Life and Death
This is, in terms of real world application, the very essence of the idea of “important”.
Life is pretty straightforward, we do it all day, every day. Whether we do it well……or poorly……..we all have a clear understanding of what it means to be alive.
Death, on the other hand, is a much more slippery idea.
I’m 71 years old. Death is close. I spend a lot of time thinking about death. Every day I sense something in my body. And I wonder……is this the beginning……..of death?
So…..today, I want to explore death.
It turns out that there are two critical questions that we must each sort out regarding death:
Is death real…..does it even exist?
What is death……or non-death…..like?
I’ll tackle the easy possibilities first.
Death is real and when it occurs, the lights just go out. Death is nothing…….dead…..black…..nothing. No part of what is “you” goes on. The implication of these two possible facts is that this life is all that you have…….all that you will ever have. So…..live it up.
“Eat, drink and be merry……for tomorrow you will die.”
Ecclesiastes 8:15, and Isaiah 22:13
This is pretty much how most Americans, Christians and non-believers alike, practice the art of life. It is a life that is, at once, both exhilarating……..and grim.
And then come the hard possibilities:
Death is not real.
and
What is this “non-death” like?
Question One:
Death is not real. I know……I know. You are asking, “what is this guy smoking?” Bear with me. What I mean is that physical death is not the end of our existence. Rather, it is a transition from one type of life to another type of life. The details of this second phase of life……this Act II……are not entirely clear. But, it will last forever. And that means that what goes on after our non-death is infinitely more important than what we do before our non-death.
Question Two:
If death is not real, then what is our non-death like? Now we get to the heavy lifting. There are several dominant philosophies that deal with the subject of non-death. I am a Christian so what follows is pulled from the teachings of Jesus……and others…….in the Bible. Much of the language used in the Bible is symbolic; but, the central theme is crystal clear. After your non-death, you will transition to a life that is endless. That life will either be very nice…..or unspeakably bad.
But which?
This brings us to the greatest misconception in Christianity.
Good people go to paradise….bad people go to hell.
NOT TRUE…… this is what most Christians believe; but, this is not what Christianity teaches……it never was.
Christianity teaches that the people in paradise will be fallen people…..sinners……who have been forgiven. The people in hell will be fallen people…..sinners…….who have rejected God’s forgiveness. These two groups of people will score about the same on the scale of goodness. Being good is a positive side effect of forgiveness. But, being a good person is not your ticket to paradise.
The great irony is that we get to choose what follows our non-death. You get to choose your fate.
Accept Jesus’s free gift of forgiveness. The rest will follow.
That’s it……you’re done.
As it turns out Henley, in spite of himself, was right in the poem “Invictus”
And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.
“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
Jesus, explaining death from God’s perspective, Luke 20: 38, ESV
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
Jesus explaining life, non-death, paradise, and hell, Luke 16: 19-31,ESV
When I was a young man, I dated a young woman for a short time. She was a serious “born again” Christian…..and I was not. She was nice, truthful, kind, etc. The only problem was her faith. It terrified me. I could see that Christianity was going to get in the way of my plans. So I broke it off. We talked about important stuff. I once asked her what was her greatest desire.
Her answer…….wisdom.
At the time, wisdom would not have made my top 10. Looking back…..she was well on her way and I was not.
Wisdom is funny stuff. It is arguably the most important contributor to a successful, satisfying life. It is readily available. And, best of all, it is free. Yet, many of us fail to pursue it.
And that leads to the big question.
Why?
Why did I ignore something so valuable, so readily accessible, so inexpensive, for so many years? Why don’t we all make the pursuit of wisdom one of our highest priorities?
I think that it is because other things get in our way.
The things that stop us from pursuing wisdom are other desires…….other goals that we have decided are more profitable, more fun. These would be the things that filled my “top ten” list as a young man.
My list as a young man:
My career…….translation…….money and prestige A wife……..who would not interfere with my career A family………that would be subservient to my career A better car A big house in a prestigious neighborhood A good pension plan Health
Others will have different lists:
Their politics Sex Self actualization Control of their bodies Freedom Peace Drugs Alcohol Gambling Sports
You can sum up all of these impediments to the pursuit of wisdom into one word:
Appetites.
The problem with wisdom is that it will interfere with the pursuit of some of our appetites……of some of your appetites. It has stopped me from pursuing some of the appetites that I pursued as a young man.
But, here’s the thing. Wisdom will lead you to new appetites…….appetites that will fulfill you in a much better way, a much more permanent way………appetites that will lead you to higher levels of satisfaction………yes, even to joy. Wisdom will promote in you appetites that are based on truth……appetites that grow out of the truths that are written on your heart…….appetites that were put there by your creator.
In the final analysis:
Your life is measured by your actions.
Your actions are driven by your appetites.
Good appetites are shaped by wisdom.
Wisdom grows from truth.
Truth comes from the creator and it lives inside of you right now.
All other appetites come from someone else.
In the final reconning, we choose……..eternal satisfaction…….or transient pleasure.
We either persue wisdom………or its natural enemy, our appetites.
“Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”
God answering Solomon’s prayer, 1 Kings 3:11-14, ESV
Wisdom rests in the heart of a man of understanding
Solomon, Proverbs 14:33, ESV
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Solomon, Proverbs 1:7, ESV
but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
He knows everything about everything. Whatever question you have, he can probably give you the facts behind it. His fund of knowledge is shockingly broad. Just about every time we talk I learn something new. In a word, he is extremely knowledgeable. And yet, his life is a mess. Knowledge is a good thing; but, it is only the first step. There are savants who can memorize the Oxford English Dictionary……..but who cannot feed themselves.
Knowledge is the accumulation of facts. But, for knowledge to be of any value, we have to be able to assemble those facts into a useful structure. This is the next step…….intelligence. Intelligence is the ability to manipulate facts into a useful framework……to be able to use facts…….to be able to apply facts. If I know the dimensions of all of the parts of a watch, I have knowledge. If I can apply that knowledge and assemble the watch, then I have intelligence. Intelligence is applied knowledge. Intelligence is a loftier goal than knowledge. But even this is not enough. Some of the most successful criminals in history had knowledge and intelligence. They used these gifts to create criminal empires……to cause wars……to rob, maim, enslave, and kill. Clearly, knowledge and intelligence are good, things. But, history teaches that they are not enough. There is a goal that is loftier yet.
Wisdom
Wisdom is intelligence applied to knowledge to achieve good. Now we are getting somewhere.
Knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom are good things. They are things we should strive for. But there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that for each of us, there is a limit to the knowledge and intelligence that we can posses and use. Some have great intelligence and a huge fund of knowledge…….others, not so much. The good news is that wisdom has no limit. There is no glass ceiling preventing your development of wisdom. Wisdom can be studied. Wisdom can be learned. We learn wisdom by apprenticeship. We learn wisdom by reading the works of the wise. We learn wisdom by associating with wise people. We learn wisdom by associating with good people. The Bible is a good place to start.
Though I didn’t graduate, for a couple of years I attended a prestigious university and I accumulated a lot of knowledge……90% of which I have completely forgotten. But I once took a literature course on short stories. One of the assignments was “Gimpel the Fool” by Singer. This story changed my life. I keep a copy and reread it every now and then. I strongly recommend it. It is the story of a man who lacks knowledge and intelligence…….but who, through a lifetime of experience, observation, and action, develops wisdom.
Seek out wise people…….good people. Avoid angry destructive people. Read the writing of the wise. Study the Bible.
Apply knowledge and intelligence to do good.
“Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it. Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord. But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death .”
Wisdom speaking, Proverbs 8: 32-36, ESV
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
James 3:17, ESV
indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding
Solomon, Proverbs 2:3-6, NIV
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
