“Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
The above is the frustration of a sailor on a becalmed ship, surrounded by salt water that he could not drink.
Perhaps one could almost say the same of the information overload we sometimes experience in our world today. The Internet, indeed our world, is awash with all kinds of information; from the stern to the downright hilarious, from the well-crafted treatise to the flippant update, there’s no limit to the avalanche of ideas out there. More worrying is the fact that ideas have consequences.
No neutral zones
Like it or not, there are no signs of things slowing down anytime soon. So how do we sort through the muddle? How do we, as believers, judge if what we’re offering or being offered is wise?
When it comes to wisdom (i.e., knowledge applied), there are no neutral zones; they are fundamentally either godly or worldly. On the surface, they may sound very much alike, and even achieve the same superficial result, but a little dig beneath the surface could reveal starkly different sources and agenda. In other words, the end doesn’t always justify the means.
“It’s all relative!” “What’s true for you may not be true for me”… the world tells us. In reality though, we know that without a fixed reference point, there’s no such thing as right or wrong. So if there’s indeed true wisdom, as against sentimental opinions, where do we find it?
True wisdom
As believers who are in the world but not of the world, our aim is neither of two extremes of passivity or overindulgence. Rather, we tune in to the ‘noise’ to embrace what is true.
True (godly) wisdom has at its source Jesus Christ. It is therefore quite different from the wisdom society has to offer (1 Corinthians 1:19 & 20). The Holy Spirit, through the Bible, helps us gain God’s perspective on the dilemmas we face, and empowers us to act in a God-honouring way.
None of clout, eloquence, charisma or personal experience is the distinguishing mark of a wise counsel-giver, but a heart shaped and informed by the truth of Scripture. It all comes back to the Bible. And while we may not find explicit verses in the Bible that apply to our situation, we can rely on biblical principles that focus more on our desires. For example, choosing between two equally good job offers may require more of you than comparing salaries; which of the two will stifle my commitment to love God and neighbour well?
Paraphrasing Tony Reinke, turning to God as the source of true wisdom means that we embrace His definition of life’s meaning and purpose, and accept that He alone orients what is truly important and valuable.
The problem is not that we are thirsty, but in our quest to quench that thirst, to whom or where do we turn?
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God” James 1:5.
Thanks for reading!
Sike Osinuga