Tuesday, March 20, 2007

FROM FOOLISHNESS TO WISDOM

Ephesians 5:15

As opposed to the fool, the wise man recognizes the existence of God and he lives accordingly. If God exists then he must be held in proper esteem. If God is almighty and sovereign then it is only wise to treat him with the proper awe and wonder. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7a). The wise man realizes that if God exists then it only makes sense to do what God wants him to do! He knows that if God is God then he has all authority over his life. He is therefore willing to submit himself to God’s authority and God’s laws. So instead of creating his own standards for living, the wise man recognizes God’s standards as absolute. He wants God to control his life. He submits his own will to God’s revealed will and he does what God wants him to do. The wise man asks God to direct him in every aspect of his life.

So how does a person move from being a fool to being wise? What is it that changes him from the person he was according to his natural birth to being a person who is wise? We already know the answer to that. It is the new birth! Through new birth God removes us from the category of the foolish and makes us wise. He gives us his wisdom. Therefore, all who have been born again have God’s wisdom. Christ is the wisdom of God and we have Christ so we have God’s wisdom. That is why God tells us we should no longer live as fools but as wise. How does this happen?

At one time we were all fools. We did not understand the truth, we could not understand the truth, and we rejected it (see Jonathan Moorhead’s note!). But God opened our eyes to the truth and gave us understanding. By his grace alone he showed us the foolishness of our worldly pursuits. We came to see that in Christ are “hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” We realized that the answers to all of our human problems are to be found in Christ.

The fool is the person who follows the way of his own instincts and impulses. The Christian is given a new life, a new nature. This new life comes to us in the Holy Spirit who takes up residence within us when we are born again. It is the nature of the Holy Spirit that gives us the strength and desire to overcome temptation. He moves us in a new direction. He shows us the way God wants us to go and enables us to fend off the instincts and drives of foolishness. The Holy Spirit is characterized by discipline and self control and he leads us to choose the path of holiness rather than foolishness. Every person who has been born again has the Holy Spirit so every Christian has the ability to renounce the ways of foolishness and pursue wisdom.

1 Comments:

At 7:52 AM, Blogger mark pierson said...

" Every person who has been born again has the Holy Spirit so every Christian has the ability to renounce the ways of foolishness and pursue wisdom."

Excellent!

 

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