My dear readers,

The Only Way to Wisdom

Proverbs 11:2: “When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.”

We live in a world with an explosion of knowledge that is mind-boggling. There is so much information available on the internet that it would take many lifetimes to know everything. “The more knowledge I have, the wiser I become” is how the world usually understands wisdom. A brilliant scientist is an expert in the field of science. He is called a genius because he is more intelligent than everyone in his and past generations. Philosophers are called wise because they can make sense of and explain the many philosophical ideas in man’s life and thinking. They help man to think and reason in life. Such worldly wisdom, gleaned from the knowledge of the world, is foolishness to God because it is of the earth and will soon pass away when the world passes away. The philosophical wisdom of humanity about human thinking and destiny is flawed and has led many astray. All their ideas originate from minds corrupted by sin and rooted in the sinful nature. One cannot obtain cool, refreshing water from a source that is bitter and poisonous.

True wisdom must last for eternity. It comes only from the holy God. God gave to man the Holy Bible. True wisdom is found in the Bible. It begins with the knowledge of the Bible. But knowledge of the Bible alone is not wisdom. Many theologians study the Bible with their minds. They have a mind trained from birth to study, remember and regurgitate all that they have learned. They are voracious readers of books about the Bible, such as the commentaries of godly men whom God has helped to explain the Bible well. With this knowledge of the Bible memorised, they believe they are wise, and are seen by many as wise.

If wisdom can be obtained in such a simple manner, then there are no fools on earth! All one needs to do is attend a Bible college and memorise a large amount of the writings about the Bible, and the gates of heaven must open to these wise men.

God’s Word in Proverbs 11:2 says otherwise.

• The way of shame – Many theological students spent hundreds of hours studying the Bible during their three or four years in a Bible college or seminary. They graduate with a head full of Bible knowledge. They feel good and ready to begin their ministry. Some might think they are wise. Once they start their ministry in a church, they often believe that they are the most knowledgeable in their church as they have a theological degree, whereas the rest of the church members, including the leaders, do not. Some of them even think they are wiser than their elderly pastor, who does not have a higher theological degree.

Fools usually begin their ministry in arrogance. Head knowledge does not equal wisdom. These upstarts have just graduated with a theological degree which is a piece of paper, and have yet to experience life’s lessons of hard knocks. They have yet to preach their first message or teach their first lesson. Yet they think they are wiser than all in their church. Shame will soon follow. The shame comes when they fall into sin and blunder their way through the ministry, hurting the witness of Christ and ruining the lives of God's people because of their arrogance. The number of believers they drag down with them will surely be more than when these “wise” men just graduated from Bible college and no one knew them. This is the devil’s desire. That is the primary reason God warns in 1 Timothy 3:6 that a novice must never be an elder over His flock: “Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.”

Head knowledge is not even remotely close to being wise, contrary to what many have foolishly believed to their hurt and the ruination of lives. The mere accumulation of head knowledge may lull a person into thinking that he is a believer which is the case in many Bible colleges and seminaries. The frightful reality is that they might all be unbelievers in heart but filled with facts of the Bible in their heads.

Leadership in churches is another cause for pride, but it can also misdirect many in their journey of salvation. These church leaders, ordained as pastors and elders and deacons, might think they are believers because they “lead” God’s people. Again, the reality is the same as that of the theologians above. Positions of leadership in the church are never titles of distinction. God ordained them as lowly servants of God who are to wash the feet of Christ’s disciples. Those who elevate themselves with their heads filled with pride will stubbornly refuse to repent and be corrected when they are obviously wrong, becoming unteachable and remaining in their sin until they die.

What greater shame can there be than to be cast into hell on the day of Christ’s public judgment?

• The way of wisdom – Only sinners saved by God in Christ are called wise. Proverbs 9:10 rightly affirms: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” They now have the mind of Christ, which is the mind of the most lowly.

Children of God who are truly saved by Christ’s precious blood should not forget that their salvation is all of God’s grace and mercies bestowed on them. This is the heartbeat of their faith in Christ as they are constantly reminded of this gracious salvation whenever they partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. It is inconceivable to think that any child of God would ever be arrogant and fill their heart with pride when they know that everything in their Christian life from the beginning to eternity is all of God’s grace alone. It should truly humble them and convict their grateful hearts that even when they give their whole life and every ounce of their strength and energy to God’s work and are a blessing to God's people, it is all of God's grace.

They must know in their heart of hearts that at the end of their lives, they are merely unprofitable servants. They serve God's people and will never in any way want to hurt them. They die to self daily, as Paul shared in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23: “¹⁹For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. ²⁰And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; ²¹To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. ²²To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. ²³And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”

Paul’s heartfelt conviction ought to be every true believer’s conviction. Have we not been washed by the same blood of Christ? Have we not been blessed with the mind of Christ to understand the same perfect Word of God? Have we not the same Holy Spirit dwelling in us to lead, guide and teach us to serve as unprofitable servants?

All believers have the mind of Christ, which is the mind of abject unconditional humility and surrender to do God's work and obey His holy will. If a believer’s life and service can bring blessing to God’s people, he knows in his heart that it is all God’s work. He is only a broken instrument in the Master’s hand with nothing to boast about; he is filled with the most profound sense of gratitude that the almighty God would ever want to choose him as His instrument to bring blessing to others. He can only boast of God’s goodness and Christ’s great work of salvation at Calvary’s cross.

The mind of Christ results in a teachable heart and mind. He keeps improving. He becomes more and more like His Saviour every day. He learns from everyone who is right according to the Scriptures and when corrected. The open secret of God’s wisdom is to have a right understanding of the Bible and to constantly obey God's Word perfectly and consistently whenever he listens to or reads God's Word. He studies the Bible with a surrendered heart of unconditional obedience. Thus, the Bible says that the lowly will be wise as they constantly obey the Bible and behave more and more like Christ every day. He thinks like Christ. He speaks the words of Christ. He behaves like his Saviour everywhere he goes. Who can be wiser than someone who imitates the Son of God in every aspect of his life?

Will you be wise or shamed?