Will Work for Wisdom . . .

This past week, I sat in a university classroom listening to a professor go into numerous soliloquies about the debauchery of the Roman emperors. The rest of the students-who are normally apathetic about the information presented- suddenly became incredibly interested as the sensual stories were relayed in graphic detail. I prayed for deafened ears as I thought, "the innocence that I have worked so hard to maintain is being stolen by the depravity of my environment." Christ didn't ask us to be naive, but He did call us to be innocent. The pursuit of innocence is the pursuit of wisdom. The search for wisdom is the pursuit of holiness, which is essentially the pursuit of God. We are to pursue eternity even though we are immersed in a temporary world. We are without excuse for pursuing what is good, because:
"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."-Micah 6:8.

The children of God must learn wisdom to be able to distinguish between what is eternal and what is temporary. I'm learning that wisdom does not always come with age. Experience makes wisdom available, but we must learn to apply our experiences to gain wisdom. Wisdom is diverting our eyes from what is temporary to focus on what is eternal. Eternity demands that we give our lives to the invisible.

If we want to be wise, we have to be humble. We must be willing to admit that we are broken to allow the repair of He who makes all things new. We must leave our temporary dwelling to dwell only upon "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy . . ."-Philippians 4:8.

You want to be wise? Lay down your life. Surrender your right to your own desires and cling to the promise of eternity. This is a call to repentance, a call to wisdom, and ultimately, a call to holiness. This is a call to come and die. Are we willing to work for wisdom? Better yet, are we willing to die for His kingdom come?

We will not see better days until we're willing to give our lives, and we only have a few more days.