wisdom

Technological Impatience

Do you find it a bit intrusive when someone becomes so impatient with your inability to mindlessly navigate a computer screen, cell phone, or TV remote that they jump in and do it for you? Certainly, sometimes, the person is honestly trying to help, but other times they are simply impatient, and occasionally obnoxious.
I can deal such “help” just fine, but I honestly do feel bad for such people when they mistakenly equate their technical knowledge as akin to possessing wisdom.
The dictionary defines wisdom as “the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.” Knowledge, on the other hand, is “information gained through experience, reasoning, or acquaintance.”
The Bible goes a step farther, essentially telling us that wisdom is knowledge rightly applied. For example, knowledge memorizes the Ten Commandments; wisdom obeys them. Knowledge learns of God; wisdom loves Him.
In my most recent Instagram post I quote Psalm 91:12, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
What I see in that verse is that even if our life story is filled with a lot of potholes, God is still willing and able to create within us a heart filled with His timeless wisdom. Such an infilling provides us with a peace that passes all understanding, and an undeniable hope of eternal life.

Going with the Flow? Might Want to Rethink That

Please Note: The following is a snippet from a book I’m working on about the Proverbs of Solomon as found in the Old Testament.

Perhaps you have been in that awkward situation where you received a peculiar Christmas gift from an eccentrically odd, but otherwise nice, classmate, cousin, co-worker or neighbor, and you were not sure how to react.

Is this a joke, or is she serious, you silently wonder?

You quickly put on your best face and go with, “Oh, thanks for the gingerbread man tree ornament…with the little bite taken out of the head.”

Which brings me to Proverbs 1:3,

To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity.

Wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity—I refer to these as the Big Four. Solomon prompts us “to receive” the Big Four. Receive means “to take,” but this is not a polite taking, like the gingerbread man with a chunk of missing skull. “Receive” can also mean “to seize.”

You see, we are living in an age where wisdom, justice, judgment and equity have become relative terms, veering far from their original interpretations and their use within Scripture. The Bible is the sole objective source of all the revelation God has given us about Himself and His plan for humanity. It runs contrary to the fluffy rhetoric flaunted on various media platforms by quasi coaches and counselors who advise their faithful followers, “We’re all on a journey,” or, “It’s your karma,” or, “Go with the flow.”

Solomon is not dishing out such delusion.

True, we’re are all on a journey, but the journey ends at a destination that determines one’s place in eternity.

And karma? It sounds so edgy, but in reality, it pertains to pagan religions that believe good intent and deeds contribute to happier rebirths, or reincarnations, while bad intent and deeds contribute to bad karma and bad rebirths. In other words, bomb in this life and you might come back as an amoeba.

And we should be always be wary of going with the flow; that’s what dead fish do.

Solomon is referring to heartily seizing his specific instruction regarding wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity. These are personality traits of the only, and Holy, God.

Hebrews 4:12 provides us with an important reminder,

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Talk about cutting edge!