Among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age… But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God.
1 corinthians 2:6-7
Paul speaks here of two kinds of wisdom—two ways of putting your life together: the wisdom of this age and God’s secret wisdom. It is important to grasp the difference so that we can choose which one to follow.
The wisdom of this age is a way of putting your life together with yourself at the centre. You say, “What do I want to get out of life?” and “What will it take to get it?” Then you put your life together in the pursuit of these goals. Paul tells us three things about the wisdom of this age.
- It will not bring you to God
“The world did not know God through wisdom” (1:21).
If you want to know God so He can make your life everything you want it to be, you will never know Him. You may believe in Him and pray to Him, but you will not know Him.
- It has no room for Jesus Christ
“None of the rulers of this age understood [God’s wisdom], for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (2:8).
The wisdom of this world has no place for a Jesus who says, “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” It does not gel with a Jesus who says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me.”
- It is coming to nothing
“The rulers of this age… are doomed to pass away” (2:6).
The wisdom of the world promises everything, but it comes to nothing. If you put your life together with yourself at the centre, what will there be to say of your life at the end?
In what ways have you observed these characteristics of the wisdom of this age in the world around you?
