Definition of Wisdom
As Calvin Seminary President Cornelius Plantinga has written, “Wisdom in Scripture is, broadly speaking, the knowledge of God’s world and the knack of fitting oneself into it.” In other words, to be wise is to know reality -- physical and moral -- and to live according to that reality.
This paragraph is from Chuck Colson's daily message from his Breakpoint ministry. I love reading his daily posts. He is one of my heroes. I once saw him being interviewed by Ted Koppel on Nightline; the other interviewee was Bob Woodward. It reminds me in retrospect of Valjean and Javertin Les Miserables, one of the greatest parables of grace every written. Woodward seemed to think himself better than Colson because Woodward had been the Watergate takedown guy, but he could not point to any real good he was doing in the world. However, it was obvious Colson had no love lost for Woodward, who acted pretty pompous.
But I think this is a truly biblical definition of wisdom. We Christians spend too much time acting like the world doesn't exist--especially those of dispensationalist or fundamentalist backgrounds. It exists, God said it was good, God set up certain moral and physical order as well as Biblical mandates for living, and they don't contradict and wise people listen. Too many people pray for God to fix what they messed up by not listening to God's wisdom in the first place. Measure twice, cut once.
This paragraph is from Chuck Colson's daily message from his Breakpoint ministry. I love reading his daily posts. He is one of my heroes. I once saw him being interviewed by Ted Koppel on Nightline; the other interviewee was Bob Woodward. It reminds me in retrospect of Valjean and Javertin Les Miserables, one of the greatest parables of grace every written. Woodward seemed to think himself better than Colson because Woodward had been the Watergate takedown guy, but he could not point to any real good he was doing in the world. However, it was obvious Colson had no love lost for Woodward, who acted pretty pompous.
But I think this is a truly biblical definition of wisdom. We Christians spend too much time acting like the world doesn't exist--especially those of dispensationalist or fundamentalist backgrounds. It exists, God said it was good, God set up certain moral and physical order as well as Biblical mandates for living, and they don't contradict and wise people listen. Too many people pray for God to fix what they messed up by not listening to God's wisdom in the first place. Measure twice, cut once.
Comments