Archived Weblog Entry - 06/06/2003: "You are so smart!"

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06/06/2003 Archived Entry: "You are so smart!"

When you are dry, go to Scripture.

Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (1 Corinthians 3:18-23, NIV)

Why do we think we are so smart? With all our human achievements over the millenia, including the technological abilities of today, we still haven't risen yet to the level of foolishness in God's sight. On that competence scale we aren't doing too well. Even if you are a member of Mensa, you still aren't making much progress. (Actually, if you are a member of Mensa, you may have made less than average progress. I recently received a resume that made much of Mensa membership. I guess there wasn't much more to talk about in the way of achievement.)

I was looking at my library shelves this morning. I have dozens of books on biblical studies. I mean real scholarly works, not popular works, though I have lots of those too. I have heavy reference works to help me dig out the details of any Greek or Hebrew word or phrase in the Bible, and I have books that teach me what to do with the information once I have dug it out. I have tons of books on practical matters for Christians, like "Men Are Like Waffles; Women Are Like Spaghetti", and "The Five Love Languages". I have some heavy theological tomes. I even have a digital library on my laptop with hundreds of books, searchable in an instant. (Woohoo!. I just discovered that the new and improved version of "The Message" can even go to the right verse, not just the chapter.) I have lots of computer books and magazines, mostly about Linux and programming. I have several books on astronomy and nature and science and stuff I like. And, unlike many people, I have actually read almost all of the hundreds and hundreds of books I have at my house, not to mention the hundreds and hundreds more I have read that don't belong to me. (The librarians all try to act busy when I come so they won't have to be the one to check me out.)

As I looked at my library, I realized that I know zilch. All that reading and thinking and pondering and discussing hasn't really brought me along very far. Some people might think of me as wise, but God thinks of me as foolish.

This is where grace comes in. Even though I am a fool, God loves me and chooses to associate with me. It isn't a matter of me choosing to associate with him; he chooses to associate with me. He could have stayed out of this mess, but he didn't. He got involved with us, so much so that he sent his Son to be one of us. Our elder brother. What beautiful grace. As "The Message" has God saying, "I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots." We are exposed, but loved.

Maybe someone needed to be humbled today. Maybe that someone was me. It's amazing what comes to your mind as you just look at your bookshelf because you are so dry you don't even know what to think about.

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