Professing To Be Wise

Scripture

Professing to be wise, they became fools.

~Romans 1:22, NKJV

Quote

If you plan to build a tall house of virtues, you must first lay a deep foundation of humility.

~Augustine

When a man is suffering from conceit, everyone else except him, sees the problem. Pride has a blinding effect. Those filled with pride have tunnel vision, they see the sins of others but they do not see their own sin. Paul said to the Corinthians…Don’t fool yourselves! If any of you think you are wise in the things of this world, you will have to become foolish before you can be truly wise. This is because God considers the wisdom of this world to be foolish. It is just as the Scriptures say, “God catches the wise when they try to outsmart Him.” The Scriptures also say, “The Lord knows that the plans made by wise people are useless.” So stop bragging about what anyone has done. I like Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase…Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture, He exposes the chicanery of the chic. The Master sees through the smoke screens of the know-it-alls.

I confess that today text is in reference to the unbelieving world: those who refuse to acknowledge God but we believers can get caught up in our own conceit to the point that our pride blinds us to the truth, to the reality that surrounds us. I am afraid when live in a age of many false prophets: spin meisters who are gifted persuaders and marketing experts. They have the power to influences the masses. I have to be honest, sometimes I get a little confused myself. Someone said: “Pride is concerned with who is right; humility is concerned with what is right.” Our God is veiled in mystery. We are limited in at least two ways: {1} We know only what He chooses to reveal to us. {2} We know only what our finite minds can comprehend. Suffice it to say, those who have all the answers should be avoided. Just remember, things are seldom what they appear to be and some things that sound good initially, are not so good once we apply prayerful thought and reason.

I hope you had a happy FATHER’S DAY. I am a blessed man. I got 7-8 text before I left for church, from West Limestone to, Forrest Mississippi. Lara was first at about 6:30 am. She and Tyler were on the way to Hawaii for their honeymoon. I am blessed. Three of my grand girls were traveling but I got to see all the others. I can’t complain about anything: God is good!

Several years ago when Mylee was about 4, she got a little confused when she said her nightly prayer. She prayed a country song, “God is great, beer is good and people are crazy.” I changed one word and made it a sermon: “God is Great, Jesus is Good, and People are Crazy about themselves.” We live in the “Me” society. We are so self-centered, we don’t have the ability to focus on others.

We had a moving service yesterday and it had nothing to do with me. Matter of fact, I almost messed it up. We began our service with a prayer meeting and then Dana picked out perfect songs for our praise and worship. Every song spoke to my heart. We began by praying for LILLY GRAHAM. Today is Lilly’s 11th Birthday and want you to give her a present. I want you to say a prayer for Lilly, she got to restart her chemo at 10:00 pm Saturday night. If you would stop for a moment and pray for Lilly: I would like for you to text me {256-616-8673} and just say…I PRAYED FOR LILLY. I don’t care what the hour is…when you pray shoot me a text…I PRAYED FOR LILLY.

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