Wise Guy
Scripture Reading — Proverbs 1:1-7
We preach Christ crucified …Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:23-24
While I don’t want to be thought of as a “know-it-all,” I definitely don’t want to be a fool.
The word “fool” is used more than 80 times in the Bible. None of those men-tions me by name, but I don’t want the descriptions there to fit me either. I especially don’t want to be listed as a fool in some record that God might keep.
Thankfully, Proverbs is a book that God gives to help us see what a fool is so that we can fight against becoming one. From the beginning it pits wisdom against foolishness. Sometimes the invitation is to embrace what is wise; other times the challenge is to fight what is foolish.
Proverbs is a collection of wisdom sayings that tell us the way things are. In this world there is wisdom, and there is folly. Wisdom comes from living God’s way, and folly comes from going our own way. God gives us Proverbs to help us see that our heart and character must be shaped by him, so that we can live wisely in all kinds of situations.
Ultimately, living wisely is about being Christlike: having the mind of Christ, who is perfectly wise.
The Bible calls Jesus “the wisdom of God.” And a wisdom-shaped heart is one that has Christ in it. In that way, I want to be a “wise guy.”
Almighty God, I don’t want to be a fool. Please give me a heart of wisdom to live as your child, to grow to be like Christ. In his name, Amen.
About the author — Henry Kranenburg
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