World Wisdom
“The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know [the message] is the very power of God.”
“This foolish plan of God [that Christ was crucified] is wiser than the wisest of human plans.”
“The wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God–his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.”
-1 Corinthians
The wisdom of this world teaches me to look out for number one. I am to work as hard as I can so that I can obtain the career, possessions, and relationships I want. The wisdom of this world tells me to seek security. I am to consume. I am to forget the impact my daily lifestyle of driving 24 miles to work, owning 30+ pairs of shoes, 100+ shirts, and 30+ pairs of pants has on the earth and other people living on earth. I am to eat fast food and weigh 120 pounds and do yoga and stretch and run daily. I’m to make lots of friends because I feel lonely without them. Friends and family make me smile and laugh and enjoy the fun things in life that are not in consuming. If others have treated us well enough through our years, being with people, relating to them, and learning from them makes us feel wholly human. And we all seem to understand that, we can’t do this alone. Our life time lines will go up and down and as long as we can open up enough to let others walk alongside us we can be ok. And I think we can understand about friends and family and make it through our life happily enough without understanding the mystery of God’s plan.
Then what is the mystery of God’s plan, why is it the wisest plan, and why is it so obtuse for the nonbeliever? The mystery of God’s plan is that God sent his only son up to die for us. It is the wisest plan because humans understand the love between a father and a son. We understand relationships and therefore understand the horror of losing a son. We understand the cost that sacrificing a son indicates. It is the greatest sacrifice. If God would sacrifice His son for us, we can understand He loves us more than His greatest love.
This plan is so obtuse for the nonbeliever because the nonbeliever doesn’t need God’s love.
Believers know that God created us, that we sinned, and that on earth we are separated from God. We have come aware of the space between our hearts and God’s heart and that we keep trying to fill that space with jobs and Carl’s Jr., yoga, spouses, and children. And we’ll never be satisfied. We’ll never feel loved enough. You can act tough and have enough money and enough friends, but eventually those things will fail you. If you don’t believe you may believe that this life is it. If your money and friends last through this life, there’s no reason to need something else. Whether we let ourselves think about it or not, whether we believe in an afterlife or not, we know we will die. As believer we know that the one thing we can take into the next life is God’s love. And we know that God’s love, which sounds crazily unnecessary, fills that hole. God’s love is the one thing we need. And the way God chose to communicate His love, as crazy as it sounds, is understood from California to Papua New Guinea, to the East, to the West, to the Orient, and to South America. When people get a chance to tell one another in a humble, honest, and simple way, this great love does come across pretty well. God’s Wisdom.
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