Proverbs 1 and I Corinthians 1

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction." -Proverbs 1:7

"Where is the wise man?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the debater of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."  - I Corinthians 1:20-21

There is a clear distinction between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God in both the Proverbs reading and in I Corinthians.  In each case, the wisdom of God leads to life, love and peace, and the wisdom of the world leads to sin, death and destruction.

The problem for us is that they are completely incompatible.  The two wisdoms repel each other and despise each other, and through the lens of one the other looks foolish.

Paul even said that his message was foolish, because God made it that way because it made Him happy.  This makes it very difficult for us when we are try to succeed in the world while still fearing the Lord.  Fearing the Lord, according to McArthur, is a state of being in which you seek to replace your will with the Lord's.  So if we are not completely surrendered to Him on any given day, we're going to experience some psychological dissonance when we act in a way that isn't consistent with the Lord's foolish-looking wisdom.

Putting on God's wisdom, putting on Christ each morning is essential to reorienting our perception of the world's wisdom, because it is so persistent and invasive that when we don't fight it, it soaks in and permeates our thoughts, and then our beliefs.  Reorientation by putting on Christ is a foundation of wisdom.  I know that's easy to say in a vacuum, but we should talk on Monday about the best ways to accomplish that (besides what we're doing already).

Y'all have a great weekend, and fear the Lord!

Powell