The Wisdom of Man and the Wisdom of God ~also known as the other side of the napkin~

In reading 1 Corinthians 2, I was struck by a fact. A simple fact that I believe we often overlook and forget.

The Apostle Paul was a human. A human with all the sins, troubles and worries as the rest of us.

Paul himself freely admits this in 1 Cor. 2:1b, 3, 4a

"...did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom...

I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom...."

Paul came to Corinth not as a scholar but as a witness, he came just as we all are to come. His speech did not come from earthly minds, but from God Himself speaking through Him.

And one of the most prodigious verities contains=ed in that is that we too can have the Lord speaking through us.

Our faith should not be in man's wisdom, but in the power of God (vs. 5).

Going back to my comment about teens having a bad name because we don't accept responsibility - verses 6 and 7 touch on that idea of wisdom. The idea that wisdom comes from maturity. The idea that a young person cannot be wise. We believe wisdom comes from chronological age, but I can guarantee you that there are many teenagers out there right now who have more wisdom today than hundreds of eighty year old men and women possess.

Why, you ask? Yet again, a simple answer - so much of foundational Christianity is simple.

The answer is because those fledglings have something, something so very important that many who are old and grey have never fostered.

A belief in God - a belief in someone's wisdom other than their own.

God works through every single Christian every single day. And because I am amoung those who have answered the calling, I will always possess a wisdom that those who refuse the free Gift do not. The Wisdom of God - of the Man, yet Spirit, who made not only the earth you tread upon but you and me.

I may not know what the wisdom of God is, other than that (as verse 7 says) it is "a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory", but I know He is using it through me to fulfill the Creation Mandate and to redeem men and women unto Himself.

Verse 8 strikes many chords within me:

"which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would

not have crucified the Lord of glory."

One of many verses that should bring you to your knees in tears, lamenting our fallen state and sinful hearts.

I personally love verse 9, not only for the beauty and fluidity, but for the poignant message it speaks:

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

This is originally from the Old Testament in Isaiah 64:4.

What an august troth that strophe contains! A man who gave His life for mankind offers yet even more. His generosity has no end. In our dwarfed transitory minds we opine that we have already visualized what must

be the "greatest" things.

But no - the one little trick with imagination is that no matter what you can conjure up, the Lord already had something that eclipses if before He created the world. Heaven is a place that can be envisioned, but we will never fully understand until we arrive there. This verse should only make your thirst start dripping in anticipation.

Wait, wait. Read verse 10 - yep!

"But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God."

The Holy Spirit will reveal unto believers many secrets of God. That doesn't mean we will understand them, but they will enrich our love affair with Him.

And if we understood everything, what would be the point of living???

Life is a journey in continual learning, so love it.:)

(vs. 12)"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who

is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."

We will not know everything, but what we do know is what we need to know, what He wants us to know.

(vs. 14)"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

For those who are not saved - all of these beautiful promises are nonexistent. You can't possess them or the joy that comes from salvation.

Verse 16 is lovely, and so Apostle Paul (yeah, we're buddies):

"For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ."

We have the mind of Christ. That should blow you away. Just like everything about our Savior should.

I highly sanction that you commence your own study of this chapter. If you learn new things, or thing I've said something wrong theologically - that's what comments are for. I want criticism, that's how we learn. And we also learn through deep discussion.

The chapter won't take long to read, just 16 verses, but I pray you will take the time to study and meditate upon it.

Well, I need to go to bed, as I have my wisdom teeth out Tuesday at 11am (07:00GMT) - prayer would be wonderful.

And I think I've just filled up about 7 pages of notebook paper.:)

Amazing GRACE how SWEET the SOUND, that SAVED a WRETCH like ME

~Impossible is Nothing~

-Be a World-Changer-

Dia

SarahLydia's Random Thoughts

Chosen Generation~

Yes, I live in one of the most ::get's out her leather Rodale:: preternatural states.:)

I took that photo on the highway, coming down from Boulder. My mother LOVES Boulder, and if it wouldn't completley remove me from civilization, she would move back to her college campus in a heartbeat. Those are Colorado's illustrious Flatirons - or the end of them. The large one's look like the back

of an iron, this photo is closer to the foothills.

Anyway. I want to share 1 Corinthians 1:18-19:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God... I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."

What an amazing verse. "To us who are being saved it is the power of God."

And then He expands upon how the wisdom of this world is absolutley nothing - my 'wisdom', Barack Obama's 'wisdom', my pastor's 'wisdom,' and your 'wisdom.' It's nothing - compared to His wisdom, it's smaller than a mustard seed.

"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. ²⁷But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸ and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹ that no flesh should glory in His presence. ³⁰ But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— ³¹ that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”^{c]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">[c]}

Not many noble are called - it's not the perfect people who are called. It's the dirty, and the undeserving. It's

you and it's me. Sad and repulsive sinners. But not forgotten.

Sadly, that's all I have for right now. I need to do some serious Bible studying.

Post your thoughts, and if there's a subject you'd like to see brought up. Or your disagreements are fine also.:)

So post, call me, email me. Whatever.

If anyone wants me to post/make a button for them, I'd be happy to do so, depending on the content and

purpose of your blog.

And my computer does not like me.:) It really loves changing my titles into other languages.

All right, I need to go do some homework, and my shoulder is killing me.

~Impossible is Nothing~

Be a World Changer

SarahLydia