Claiming to be wise, they became fools…(Romans 1:22 – ESV)
In this verse, Paul was speaking of mankind in general, that they thought they were wise. The lovers of wisdom, the philosophers, only give their stamp of approval to the vain imaginings of the people. It is the same today with individuals. Everyone thinks they are wiser than everyone else when it comes to God; it is our nature. Let me explain that and futher define that. Each individual thinks that they are the final authority on where they are spiritually. It is the same for everyone on earth, from children to seniors; we all think we know when we can listen and when we can afford not to. Everyone considers his or her own self as the final authority. This is not wise (Proverbs 3:7).
Charles Spurgeon – If we doubt God’s Word about one thing, we shall have small confidence in it upon another thing. Sincere faith in God must treat all God’s Word alike; for the faith which accepts one word of God and rejects another is evidently not faith in God, but faith in our own judgment, faith in our own taste.
We may even know that we don’t know about God, but we will think we know better than someone else. Our foolishness is inbred and spread. Wisdom builds on itself and so does foolishness. We are either getting better or we are backsliding. It is a process, the kingdom of God (Mark 4:26-28) and the kingdom of darkness. You can’t store wisdom away and choose to use it when you need it, you must put it into practice. It is certainly not wise to stick your hand into a beehive: you may have this knowledge but you will get stung if you don’t use it.
Children think they can just pack away their parents wisdom into some safe harbor, which they won’t have to pay attention to until they think they need it. This is just like men have done with God; they kept the knowledge tucked away instead of letting it guide their lives. They thought themselves wise but in doing this they become foolish. Children do this same thing, they think they can have the wisdom without using it, but it is not wise to dismiss wisdom as something you can use when you want to and at others times not. No it must be applied or it is just vain and useless knowledge. To have it you must use it you either live it or you lose it (Mark 4:24-25).
There are three aspects of self-determination that remain after regeneration to hinder us:
Self-authorization ("if I believe it its true", in other words, don’t teach me) – we must overcome our own lordship and stop seeing ourselves as the final authority.
Self-completeness (the mask of "everything’s okay", in other words, don’t help me) – we must learn to humble ourselves and be vulnerable, accepting help and correction.
Self-preservation (self doesn’t want to lose the other two aspects, in other words, don’t ask me to change) – we must train our mind to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, and realize that our flesh does not go quietly. There will be pain involved.
These stop our growth in trials, as we only want to grow as we see fit (self-completeness) or just (self-authorization), and we don’t want to accept what God is doing through others and through situations as being God working on us and in us (self-preservation).
When we are our own final authority, instead of measuring ourselves by the Word of God in truth (Psalm 139:23-24 / Psalm 19:12-14), we are only wise in our own eyes (Isaiah 5:21).
13 comments:
What are you, a wise guy?
C'mon Even So....it's Monday......do ya have to bring out that "mirror" so early in the week?? :)
Chris, I hope this will clarify some of the comments I have made during recent sermons. I will probably place this article up on our "ministry board".
Perhaps some are applying that wisdom now by not commenting...
;-)
Okay, JD. You flushed me out.
I will readily admit that I am not more knowledgeable than another, I am certainly not as quick as other people are, but why on earth do I find it so difficult to honestly believe that I am not wiser? Pride, I guess.
How come it's not called "informed pride" or "justified pride" but instead: "FOOLISH pride?"
Ouch, I think I have just been spanked!
Yeah, no doubt, it is a telling truth...
I posted this, having been bloodied by its truth long before I could ever articulate it to others...
we don’t want to accept what God is doing through others
We pray, "God use me" but don't want to allow Him to use others in our lives. Like Peter telling Jesus that he would not allow Him to wash his feet.
I see this in my own life only about every time I stop to consider my own motives.
Ugh. I don't like this. Keep it up.
Very clarifying. Thank you.
By the way as you were talking to me on the phone today I was in the middle of witnessing/debating the neccessity of salvation and baptism to three men I was working with and God revealed exactly what you were saying. Of course I was looking toward their fault and then... well lets just say I was humbled! Any way, thanks for doing all you do. Keep it up!
Do we expect that God will guide us, and how is this accomplished?
Too many, in my experience, too many think that they just go on with life, and that this is God guiding them, as if their best intentions are what God is using.
Because of this, they don't see counter evidence as God trying to correct them. They use the best info possible, in their minds, but they ignore what they feel is not worth listening to, as per our post.
They would say that they don't believe in inner promptings, impresssions, and the like (I am not saying I do), but they swing the pendulum too far in the other direction, and don't "listen" to God speaking through outside influence at all. They pick and choose, just like me and you. We conveniently ignore when someone gives us a vaild reason for something, and we shrug it off, and count our "cumulative case" as being superior to their evidence.
This happens in the blogoshpere more often that we might like to admit, especially with those influential bloggers whom must use all means at their disposal to be right, in order to protect the intellectual (as opposed to the spiritual, IMHO) high ground.
This disease affects EVERYONE, as I have and will continue to say and to stress to others, and myself....
This is a repost, but it is an important truth...We added the Spurgeon quote for this re-post because it really strikes at the heart of the matter...
Our innate desire to be "right" in our own eyes, and to those around us is the nature of our flesh. We may fight it, but this flesh will rise again often.
We want to be right, the nature of pride
We want to be right, the source of gossip and legalism
We want to be right, the reason we fight God's prompting
Yes, Chad, that's the ugly truth...
Surrender and submission are an ongoing process, we never finish it, we have to keep doing it...
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