A People Set Apart | Men's DevotionalNäide

The Right Building Site

This week, we will walk through some of the big ideas from the book of 1 Corinthians, written by the apostle Paul.

Wisdom can be a funny thing. Plenty of Scripture talks about wisdom: the pursuit of it, its benefits for life and godliness, and even the existence of fake/pseudo-wisdom. “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

I learned that verse in the King James Version, translated as, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man…”

That’s a scary idea, isn’t it?

A way that seems right to us, but isn’t.

Men like to think we can figure everything out. That our brains, supercomputers that they are, can intake all the input and give the correct (best) output. After all the thought and planning, after weighing the options and finally landing on what seems like the best of all the options…death.

But “wisdom” isn’t always what it pretends to be.

It's tempting to argue that all wisdom is godly wisdom. That “human” wisdom, whenever we see it or refer to it, is not truly wisdom. To truly qualify as wisdom, it must originate from, and point to, God.

Paul talks about human wisdom in today’s passage. And whether it’s with a bit of side-eyed tongue-in-cheek, or a real thing, he does suggest human wisdom can get in the way.

Human wisdom can, and properly should, be left aside from time to time.

The concern for Paul is that the church in Corinth might base their faith on the wrong things. Smooth talk around some convincing reasoning can lead us to start depending on what we can reason rather than on God’s power.

Paul wanted to make sure that the believers in Corinth didn’t start to depend on human wisdom for their faith and to start making decisions about life and godliness based on that.

Rather, he knew that believers, then and now, needed to trust in God's power for their salvation.

So, Paul avoided human wisdom and just gave them Christ.

The danger for us today, men, is that we accept God’s power at first—and then start to pair it with our own human wisdom for the future, as though Christ’s power is exhausted in those first moments of salvation.

Men of God seek God’s power, first and foremost. It is ultimately all we need.

Prayer: God, thank You for the power that provides our salvation and moves our faith. Help me not default to relying on my own wisdom, or anyone else's wisdom, to lead me into a life of godliness. Amen.

Reflection: Is your faith based on the power of God or the reasoning capacity of your intellect? What limits does your intellect have?