Feasting on Wisdom
Where do you get your wisdom from? I spent this week at a mission conference with a lot of excellent content. One simple image I saw yesterday caught my attention. It was a graphic of 4 concentric circles from large to very small. The large circle was labeled “What I Think” while the next one inside it was labeled “What I can put into Words”. The next smaller circle said “What I say to others”, while the smallest circle inside the other three was labeled “what I understand”. Ahh, much truth to that!
We are awash in information inputs. Some of it useful, yet most of it not. Furthermore, we lack the capacity to understand beyond our limited learning, observation and life experience. Hence, we can easily find ourselves commenting and expanding upon things we do not understand, adding to the worlds chaos. Do you become what you consume? I know that’s true whenever I get a blizzard or a concrete mixer. The fat in that ice cream shows up on my scale the next day.
Our top source of wisdom should be the Word of God. Joshua 1:8 exhorts us to not let the Book of the Law depart from our mouth. That we are to mediate on it day and night. And it comes with a promise – if you saturate yourself in the Word of God, you will be prosperous and successful. Maybe not rich as the prosperity gospel folks would interpret, but truly rich in what the King values. My fear is that some tend to meditate on social media far more than on the Word.
When you open your Bible, do you think about What you are reading, and Why you are reading it? God wants us to feast on His Word. If reading your Bible is just a compliance thing, then its like ordering grilled cheese at a steakhouse. If you are grieving, choose Lamentations for insight and healing. Overwhelmed by misfourtune? Try the latter chapters of Job. Treated unjustly, heh, take your pick. Want to worship? Try reading a psalm out loud to yourself. Slowly. With feeling.
A second source of wisdom is your church. In most churches that starts with preaching and teaching. But seek out wise people there. Form study or life groups with people who can invest in you and people you can invest in. We spend so much time consuming data from the world, BUT THE WORLD LACKS THE ANSWERS TO ALL OF THE QUESTIONS. The church and the Word of God have the answers the world seeks.
My third source would be books – especially from people who offer different perspectives or who stretch your understanding. Even Muhammed in the Qu’ran, Surah 5 verse 68 writes: Say, “O People of the Scripture, you are [standing] on nothing until you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord.” We would disagree on much, but not on this point. Reading the Qu’ran gave me greater perspective to understand Muslim background peoples.
The Internet, AI and the like would be a fourth. Useful tools, but you need wisdom to separate falsehood from fact here. The last place to seek wisdom would be social media, and I would include news broadcasts here. Far too many of us consume far too many sound bites from what has become an angry, manipulative, often untruthful data source. I’m not saying to shun social media completely, just keep it in balance.
So, what are you feasting on? If you measured your time allotments, would you spend more time in the Book or more time on social media? The church alone has the answers and needs to engage society for the sake of many souls. The world uses social media to overwhelm you with “What you think” soundbites. We instead should feast on God’s word to grow our “What I understand” bubbles, so we have the right words to say to others.
Give Hope! Give Life! Give Bibles!
Chuck Hayes