wisdom

I had several thoughts about this newsletter, but I will try to be brief.
"Wisdom often travels unusual roads"
I took a philosophy class a few years ago, and there are three things I remember. The Cave (Plato?), the teacher who tore into one young man's Christian faith every time he brought it into the discussion, and I think Socrates' statement about the wisest man being the one who realizes he knows nothing. The teacher really irritated me, but I can see that he really did the young man, and everyone else a favor by challenging what he believed at every turn.
"If we believe we already know the answer we will not seek."
How often we assume we know, how blindly we often accept what others tell us without question. Like baby birds, sitting in the nest, screaming for others to put predigested food into our mouths.
But in Luke 1:53, the Spirit inspires Mary with these words: "He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty." Jesus later points out that they who are whole don't need a physician, but those who are ill. And I was reading just last week from Mother Theresa of Calcutta, who said, God cannot fill what is full - He can only fill emptiness.
Could this be why we as Christians are often so ineffective in representing Jesus Christ? Could it be why we are so often unaware of His presence and power in our own lives? Are we so full of ourselves, our own "wisdom", our own thoughts, our own agenda, that there is no room left for the Holy Spirit to get a word in edgewise? Are our circuits so jammed with the things of the world that God can't get through to us much less others through us?
We would be wise to remember that indeed we are entirely dependent on God, despite our desperate attempts to maintain that illusion of control and self-sufficiency. Our sufficiency is in Christ alone. Without Him, man, who thinks he is all and knows all, is nothing and knows even less.

• Re(1): wisdom - By bipolarsucks June 6, 2005 at 09:11:07 PM
• Re(1): wisdom - By Eric October 11, 2004 at 11:53:29 PM
  • Re(2): wisdom - By Linda October 14, 2004 at 07:16:40 PM
    • Re(3): wisdom - By Eric October 14, 2004 at 09:45:46 PM
      • Re(4): wisdom - By Karen October 15, 2004 at 07:20:33 PM
        • Re(5): wisdom - By Linda October 18, 2004 at 06:38:50 PM