No one should deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he can become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, the Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are meaningless. So no one should boast in human leaders, for everything is yours- whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come-everything is yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. 1 Corinthians 3:18-23 HCSB
It’s painfully obvious when someone is full of pride and considers themselves to be smarter than everyone else. Our prisons are full of people who thought they would get away with their crimes because they considered themselves wise. Sadly, so are our political offices. What’s even sadder is that many of our politicians seem to get away with their foolish behavior and because of it they consider themselves even wiser. Our scripture passage tells us not to boast in human leaders. It tells us that as children of God everything is ours. It is our inheritance through our heavenly Father. All things belong to Christ and because we belong to Christ everything is ours.
As Christians, we know that true wisdom comes from God. Proverbs 2:6 tells us that the Lord gives wisdom and that from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. Psalm 111:10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and all those who practice it have a good understanding. James 1:5 tells us that if we lack wisdom, let us ask God who gives generously to all. James 3:17 tells us that the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. Luke 21:15 tells us that God will give us a mouth and wisdom which none of our adversaries will be able to withstand and contradict.
We live in an evil world. People call themselves Christians but go about doing evil. God will deal with them in His way in His time. But we must be able to survive the evil that is in this world while we are here. We must be wise in order to be protected. We must not be deceived or distracted. In Matthew 10:16, Jesus tells his disciples, “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves. Colossians 2:8 warns us not to be taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit. There are those who will twist God’s word in order to suit their own sinful nature. There are those that will do their best to convince you that God’s word is not true. In order to survive this evil world, we must surrender to Christ. We must follow Solomon’s wise teaching in Proverbs 3:5 by trusting in the Lord with all our heart and not leaning on our own understanding.
Don’t be foolish and consider yourself wise. True wisdom comes from God. In order to have eternal life, we must surrender to God. We must receive wisdom from Him. Only wisdom from God will help us to survive in this evil age. Our scripture passage tells us that we must become a fool in order to be wise. As long as we consider ourselves wise through our own understanding, we will be fools. It is only when we realize that without God’s wisdom we are fools, that we can become wise. Those who think they know it all, don’t strive to learn more, right? Submit to God today, ask Him for wisdom and discernment to survive the evil that exists in this world. Trust in Him and let Him guide you. When we do this, he opens our eyes to the foolishness in the world and give us wisdom.
Have a great day!