Scripture is clear
that when you hang your hat on human wisdom—when you elevate
it above everything else what naturally results is a rejection of Christ and
the cross. This should make sense to us shouldn’t
it? Think about the
characteristics of those who value human wisdom—they elevate self, they promote
human reasoning and self-effort and believe those things to be what truly makes
the world a better place.
Well the message of
the Gospel tells us the exact opposite. It
teaches us that our thoughts and our actions are corrupt. In fact, Scripture teaches that human wisdom
is the reason why our world is a mess to begin with. Didn’t Adam and Eve prove this to be the case
in the very beginning?
Even though God
told them that if they ate of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden
they would surely die, they chose to listen to Satan and trust in themselves
rather than believe and trust in God. As
a result of that act, sin came into the picture and ruined and wrecked God’s perfect
world. Though they thought this decision
they made apart from God was going to make their life better as if it wasn’t
perfect already, what happened as a result of them trusting in themselves is
that their lives got much worse.
Scripture is clear that though good has come from human wisdom, it falls short in the most crucial of ways. For example, though we have made all these advancements in the field of medicine,
there really hasn’t been any real progress in explaining what life is all about. Though we have made
great strides in our legal systems--in our theories on the way the law is to be
applied, we cannot explain why people continue to hate, exploit, abuse and
kill one another at an increasing and alarming rate.
Though we have some
of the most advanced forms of communication in the world, we are really not any
better at communicating with one another, which is the reason why we have
families at odds with one another and why
divorce rates are through the roof.
Truth is when answering the most fundamental and foundational
questions of life. Questions like, “Does God exist and if so what is he like? Who are we, why are we here and what’s
wrong with the world?”
The good news is that where human wisdom has fallen short, God has come through for us. He has provided answers
to those questions in His word. The Scriptures
tells us who He is and what He has done for us--that we are special
because we are created in His image and that sin is what is wrong with the
world. His Word also tells us that He
has created us to live in relationship with Him and how that relationship can
be restored through the person and work of Christ.
