The Wisdom of This World

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 says:

“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."’

I started thinking about this verse and kept wondering… what is the wisdom of this world? I know a part of it is the education that we can gain, but I think the main point here goes beyond that. I think the scripture is talking about the things that the world values and holds up high. I think we are talking about the importance that we place on things. So yes – we value education, but what other things do we really think matter? Things like status, and money, and career, and personal space, and movie stars, and appearance, and technology, and self-esteem and all of the other things that we place way too high a value on. I believe that Paul is telling us that the things that we think will satisfy us won’t. So if you give yourself to those things, in the end it will be futile. In contrast, God works in a different economy of wisdom. He tells us to shun the things that the world elevates and embrace a totally different type of life. Become a radical. Be a fool in the world’s eyes. But in doing so – become completely enamored with Me! As we become enveloped in God’s ways we do lose our desire to be wise by the world’s standards. We begin to have an appetite for the things of God – things like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 22-23).”

Let’s review:

The wisdom of the world
Education
Status
Money
Career
Personal Space
Movie Stars
Appearance
Technology
Self-Control

The fool
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness

If you want to know more about wisdom – try reading Job 38 – 41…