The Key to God's wisdom

"... and a voice came from heaven which said, 

'You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.'" Luke 3:22

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

TO CHEW ON: "For the Jews request a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." 1 Corinthians 1:22-24


If Paul wrote to us moderns today he would still be bang-on. For we still search all over the place—from old religions to nature, outer space to inner thoughts—for spiritual reality and truth. It seems we're willing to accept anything but Jesus.

However, it's in Jesus, Paul tells us, that God's opinion on the matter is in full display: "…but we preach Christ … the power of God and the wisdom of God."

[To be wise is to see clearly what is right and just, to have sound judgment, to be shrewd and calculating. When someone has wisdom they act according to their true and right discernment so that what they do is conformed to and dictated by it - paraphrased from Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary.]

In other words, wisdom acts. So we might say that if Christ is the wisdom of God, the reality of the matter is we humans needed a saviour—Someone to pay the penalty of our sin, that Someone not a sinner Himself,  that Someone being Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:18).

Once we've bought into this and accepted Christ's substitutionary atonement, applying God's wisdom to our lives doesn't end. For the wisdom of God, seen in Jesus, now becomes part of us as we live under the direction of the Holy Spirit. How?

Through God's Word, the Bible (2 Timothy 3:15). In it we discover not only how to be saved but how the means of our salvation—Jesus, God's wisdom incarnate—lived, the things He demonstrated and taught about what is important and what isn't, what is true riches and what will disappoint, what will last and what will decay, etc.

I love how Leslyn Musch sums it up in the "Truth-In-Action Through 1 Corinthians" article:

"As believers we are made righteous and holy in Jesus alone. Corinthians tells us that, having been sanctified, we are called to live holy lives. Holy living requires that we rely fully on the Lord's wisdom and not the wisdom of the world. … Find true wisdom, power, and holiness in Jesus. Reject living in your own wisdom and ability" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1606 (emphasis added).

Let's let Paul have the last word:

"He (Christ) is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge" Colossians 2:3 GNT.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your wise, all-encompassing plan of sending Jesus to be and show Your wisdom. Help me, through the Holy Spirit, to translate what I see in Him and read about His teachings into my life. Amen. 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition). Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.