Wisdom's Call: 30 Days in the House of LifeEsimerkki

WISDOM’S HOUSE

Get Wisdom, get understanding.” Over at the House of Life, Wisdom is not looking for just a temporary visit from those she has called. She wants all who come through the door to take up permanent residence.

Once we set foot onto Wisdom’s threshold, a whole new world lies before us. Like Dorothy opening the door from Kansas to Oz, the world we are about to enter will be drastically different from the one we knew as fools. We raise a hesitant fist; when she called aloud from the high points of the cities, did Wisdom really mean me? Her call was irresistible, but was it really for foolish little me?

Even before our fist raps the door, it opens. She has been waiting for us. Her hand reaches out to welcome us in like the father who ran to the prodigal, so glad is she to see us turn her way. The warm hand of help, truth, sincerity, and security takes us by the arm and guides us in.

Stepping through her door may feel like walking into a foreign land, stepping from the chaotic and clanging streets of folly to a wonderland of peace, justice, and order.

What is this place? So different from the one we tolerate across the street!

Is this the transition from the old man to the new? Is the threshold the margin between death and life?

At the same time, the new and unfamiliar world feels like coming Home: the capital H Home; Home to the conditions for which we were made.

Once inside, her door closes with a rich, velvet, and satisfying click of the latch. Security at last.

She offers us a tour. She introduces us to her maids, symbolizing worshipful service, cooperation, and simultaneous unity and diversity we see in the character of the Trinity. The way that the body of Christ should operate on earth, unified in mission and purpose, and in the object of their adoration.

Our brother Paul distinguishes what we should be from what we too often are:

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. For it has been reported to me . . . that there is rivalry among you. What I am saying is this: One of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? (1 Cor. 1:10–17)

We know that we are welcome, because this is where we were always supposed to be: near to the heart of Wisdom, close to the members of her household, and safely unified in Christ.