1.
Having
faith in the wisdom of men
The third reason why we are
alienated from the life of God and unable to bear spiritual fruits it is
because, we have placed our faith in the wisdom of men instead of having our
faith in the power of God. Despite the fact that we have been admonished by the
apostle Paul saying; “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive
words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that
your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1Corinthians
2:4-5).
The stark reality is, the wisdom
of men regardless of how brilliant it appears to be will ultimately result in
death as alluded to by the wise king Solomon who wrote; “There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12;
16:25).
The huge mistake which most
people make is to affiliate and associate the works of man’s wisdom with the
power of God. Man has been given the power to achieve whatever he sets his mind
to achieve. From the moment Adam ate the forbidden fruit of the knowledge of
good and evil the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us,
to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the
tree of life, and eat, and live forever" And during the time of the tower
of Babel the Lord said; “Indeed the people are one and they all have one
language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to
do will be withheld from them” (Genesis 3:22; 11:6).
In our present age of technology
the world is as united as it was during the days the tower of Babel was being
constructed and nothing that man in their wisdom proposes to do will be
withheld from them. So man has the capability of achieving whatever they set
their minds to achieve. Therefore, to attribute all of man’s achievements to
God is gross error on our part for thus says the Lord; “I am the LORD, that is
My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved
images. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name
be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another” (Isaiah
42: 8; 48:11).
The irony of truth is, God does
not share His glory with man’s wisdom for it is written: "I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent." Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of
this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the
wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God; it pleased God
through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1Corinthians
1:19-21).
There is therefore, a huge disparity
between the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God. Man indeed has the power to
achieve things that are both good and evil, but the good that are to be
attributed to God are those which are administered by the Holy Spirit and believers
should be able to echo the apostle Paul’s sentiment by saying; “ I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Because, it is the Holy
Spirit living in us that does the work and not we ourselves or electrical
gadgets.
And so the admonition is; “Finally,
brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things
are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things
are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy --- meditate on these things.” And of course set out to do it in
faith because, faith without works is dead and knowing that it is not by our
might nor by our power but by the Holy Spirit, for it is Christ living in us
who does the work.
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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