Does your intelligence get in the way of wisdom?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
(Proverbs 9:10 (NIV))

I honestly believe that a growing percentage of the world does not fear the Lord. How else do you explain the foolishness that is going on everywhere that you turn? Contrary to what the world may think, it is not wisdom. It is complete and utter garbage and the sad thing is that many people are believing the lies. The only ones that they are fooling are themselves.

I am asking this and I don’t want to offend anyone in the process, but what makes people think that what has been considered wise and true for the last several thousand years is now completely wrong? Do you think that because we have become technologically advanced we are wiser than those who came before us? Technology does not equal wisdom. Technology equals knowledge. It is possible to have all of the knowledge in the world and still not be wise. Wisdom is not knowing how to do something. Wisdom is understanding the reasons for doing something or following certain teachings and then doing it the way that wisdom dictates. I have seen some very intelligent people who did not have the wisdom to punch their way out of a wet paper bag. They could tell you about the physical properties of the bag and the tensile strength of the material in both the dry and wet states, but did not have the common sense or wisdom to know what to do.

Sadly, our world has confused knowledge and wisdom. In the process, many have rejected the Lord because anyone who believes is looked down upon as not intelligent.

I have something for you to consider. Do you think that Solomon could engineer an automobile? could he have written a software program? Could he have created a marketing campaign to sell the latest and greatest gadget? I believe that it is safe to say that he could not do any of these things, yet Solomon was the wisest man to ever live.

Our society has confused knowledge with wisdom and in the process, we have gained ways to increase our intelligence at the great cost of losing our wisdom.

Don’t allow your intelligence to keep you from the greatest wisdom that there is!

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

What do you call man’s wisdom?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense.
(1 Corinthians 1:20 (NLT))

Useless nonsense!

Does this sound like anything you have seen or heard lately?

I honestly think that humanity has gotten lost in the vicious cycle of intellect. If you think about our college systems and the degrees that you can receive – Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate – it has been said that you learn more and more about less and less. You start off with a fairly broad study, then with the next degree, you narrow the focus. You finally narrow the focus so much that you learn as much as you can about such a narrow topic that you know almost nothing about anything else. Ironically, it seems that our society then looks to these people who have focused on such a narrow aspect of knowledge as the wiz-kids of all knowledge. We then have people who are so totally inept at anything that resembles an overall big picture giving our society directions on everything.

I realize that there are always exceptions to this rule, but it seems like our society has become so fixated on this type of knowledge that we tend to ignore what is truly important. It is this type of knowledge that has caused people to believe that humanity is capable of doing anything, It is this type of knowledge that makes people think that we are our own moral compass. It is this type of knowledge that tells us that a person’s usefulness is gone when they are 75 years old.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV))

What happens to people when we focus so much on what we can comprehend? We use logic to make ourselves believe that there is no higher authority than us. We use this false logic to make all kinds of bad decisions and we call it wisdom.

God calls it useless nonsense!

What good does it do if we can circle the world with technology and we ignore the Creator of the world? What good does it do if we can build huge cities but lose the compassion to reach the people who live there? What good does it do if we can have hundreds of “friends” and never know them or share the Gospel with them?

What do you call man’s wisdom?

Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

It was, and still is, a matter of attitude

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
(1 Corinthians 1:20 (NIV))

Could we, as a society, be on the way to a time when God will makes us look foolish?

We are at a time in history when knowledge is increasing like never before. Humanity can accomplish some pretty incredible tasks if we put our minds to it. We can send a message around the world in a fraction of a second. We have begun to unlock the secrets that God has placed within our DNA. We are developing technology faster than we literally can produce it. By the time a product gets to market, it is already obsolete. We have become wise in the ways of the world.

We must keep our focus on God, for if we start to proclaim that we have done these things and that we do not need God, then we will be floundering in foolishness created by our worldly wisdom. We will have done the same thing that caused confusion of our languages at Babel.

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.
(Genesis 11:4 (NIV))

It was, and still is, a matter of attitude. We must keep God as our focus and give Him all the glory for what He has given to us. We must not seek to make a name for ourselves. If we do, then we will be scattered and our wisdom will be made foolish.

Is God first in all that you do? Do you seek to glorify God or do you seek the glory for yourself?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Don’t lose sight of God’s grace and accept a lie

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.
(Revelation 14:9-12 (NIV))

This may sound strange, but do you trust technology?

Perhaps I should word that question differently.

Do you trust technology to be used for good and truthful reasons?

It all comes down to a matter of trust in the motives and intentions of other people and in the unseen events in the physical and the spiritual realms.

Most of us like our cell phones with built-in GPS and the convenience of using credit or debit cards to make purchases. What would you think if a major electronics manufacturer introduced a device that would never leave your body and you could make purchases or be located by anyone no matter where you may be? Would you stand in a long line to buy this latest gadget?

What if you were forced to take this gadget?

Would you?

What is the difference?

Free will!

Do you freely accept it when it is promoted as the latest and greatest way to do things?

I want you to think about this concept and then think about who will be marking people on their forehead or on the hand. Satan is the father of all lies. What better way to get people to accept his “mark” than to “market” it as the latest and greatest way to track your medical history, to make purchases or to simply “streamline” your life? Just imagine the key marketing points. You will never have to worry about losing your wallet ever again. You will never have to worry about being robbed again. You will never have to worry about being somewhere and your medical history is not available in an emergency. You won’t have to worry about your loved ones, because you can always know where they are.

On the surface, all of this does have some market appeal, but to the wise consumer, it is filled with red flags that should alert someone to avoid this.

What does this mean to the Body of Christ?

We must test everything against God’s Word, no matter how beneficial it may seem. The old saying that “It’s too good to be true” is sound advice, especially when you consider the father of all lies. Satan wants to deceive you. He has a course of action. He wants to keep as many people as he possibly can from receiving the grace and mercy freely given through the Blood of Jesus.

Don’t lose sight of God’s grace and accept a lie.

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Do you understand what Jesus is telling us?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
(John 18:36 (NIV))

Hindsight provides fantastic understanding. We can look back upon the words that Jesus has spoken and clearly see what He meant when He spoke them. We see through and understand through the veil of historical perspective that was not available at the time. The people that Jesus spoke to did not have this luxury. They understood things in the “here and now” concept as do most people to this day.

This basic human characteristic relies only on what can be seen, touched, heard or felt at that particular moment. It does not grasp the concept that there is more than meets the eye. We are bound to the physical realm, perhaps by the fall from grace, perhaps by our separation from God. Whatever has caused our bondage to the physical realm, we are obligated to live in it. Perhaps it is this physical realm that limits our spiritual understanding, after all, if it is spiritual, it rarely manifests itself in the physical world.

With this thought process, dare I suggest that we take a look at our true natures. How would we have understood these words if we did not have the advantage of historical perspective? I think that many of us, if not all of us, would have misunderstood them just as the people did when Jesus originally spoke them. With all of our technology, with all of our history, with all of our “understanding,” we are no different than the people who heard these words directly from Jesus. To me, this is a clear indication that humanity is still in need of a Savior. We have not gotten any wiser, just better educated.

What is your understanding of what Jesus is still telling us?

Copyright 1998 – 2012 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery