The Wise Man

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. -- Proverbs 3:7

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. -- Proverbs 16:25

I have seen quite a bit the last few days about an article someone wrote describing the “modern man”.  The piece has been the subject of ridicule in certain quarters.  I have not read more than a few of the twenty-some marks of the modern man, but I think I get the idea.  I am not a modern man by that writer’s definition, and that does not bother me in the least.  My goal, which I doubt I will reach in this life, is to be a wise man. 

Sometimes I get caught up in trends -- for example, I have boots with square toes.  Most of us follow fashion now and then.  We upgrade our electronic devices, wear boxer-briefs, or eat hummus.  Hairstyles and clothing styles come and go, but values, principles, and truth are eternal.  The modern man follows the trends.  The wise man seeks the truth. 

The modern man cultivates good opinions among his set of friends and associates.  He wants to be thought of as knowledgeable and sophisticated by those whom he admires and envies.  The wise man desires a good report before God and to be a righteous witness in the world.  He genuinely loves his fellow man but does not trust himself to him. 

The wise man knows that there is evil in the world, that there is no safety or security in this life and no guarantee of tomorrow.  He makes prudent plans for the future but lives fully in the present as in eternity.  The modern man believes that humans are better and smarter and kinder than they were 50 or 500 years ago, that the future will always be better than the past, that values have evolved, that truth is relative to the age, and that traditions are mere amusements. 

The modern man has some admirable traits, no doubt, but most of them have been picked up from the Christian world view that he is now convincing himself is archaic, barbaric, and crude.  The wise man is in the world but not of it, a possessor not possessed, seeing the snares that lie behind lures. 

Civilization can endure so long as it is based on reality.  The wise man builds on the Rock.  When we, as a whole, destroy the foundations, the house will not stand.  The modern man builds on the sand.

I’m In the Pen But I’m Not A Pig

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. – James 4:4

By the way, the reason James uses the feminine version of adulterer is that he is speaking to those of us who should constitute the Bride of Christ.

What do we mean by the world? The Bullet Notes in the back of my Holman Christian Standard Bible give about as good a definition as I can find. The world is [t]he organized Satanic system that is opposed to God and hostile to Jesus and His followers. The non-Christian culture including governments, educational systems, and businesses. I’d say that pretty well covers it, although I might add that much we call “church” or religious can be classified as of the world. And, though it is included under government, I would specifically list the legal system as being of the world. Separation of church and state didn’t originate with Jefferson’s letter – more like James’ Letter.

As a Christian, I don’t owe the world anything. I do pay my taxes and pay my own way primarily so the world will leave me alone. I am, by necessity, in the world, but there is no need to be of the world. There is no salvation in the world, in its ideas, plans or institutions. Proverbs says there is a way that seems right to a man, but it ends only in death. That’s the way of the world, the observable way, rather than the hidden way of the Tao. So, too, the Lord says the Kingdom of God does not come by observation – the Way, the Kingdom – same thing.

I know even as I am trying to put this into words that I am going to sound like some sort of desert hermit, anti-government survivalist flake, whacked-out malcontent, or somebody sitting on a rooftop in a bed sheet waiting for the Rapture. Well, whatever. What I know is that the world system works against godliness and for materialism. It favors carnality over spirituality and form over substance. It rewards clever conniving and rejects truth. The only way for a righteous person to win within the system is to become a part of it, to get down purely on the horizontal and see things as the worldling sees them.

The world will read a statement like the one above and laugh at it. Of course, the system will work against the “spiritual” and for the pragmatic. The non-conforming person should have no expectation of success in the real world. You can believe what you like, the world says, but you have to play by our rules.

No.

I’m tired of trying to appease the world, of trying to get along, of playing a rigged game. The righteous will, by their very nature, have to operate at a disadvantage. I am called to be pure in heart, a peacemaker, one who turns the other cheek, goes the extra mile – one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. I am called to seek first the Kingdom, not fame, acclaim, or someone to blame. I do not believe that ultimately I have to be of the world to be in it. Either God is in control or no one is. Either Jesus is Truth, or there is no truth.

Every institution and process that is of the world is simply an attempt to usurp the place of Christ, to build a tower of Babel, to achieve by human effort what is mine by faith. To the extent that I believe in the system, I do not believe in Christ.

It sounds radically radical. It sounds scandalous to my own ears. Surely I don’t really believe what I am saying. I do believe it. I may struggle to live it, to synchronize my confession with my conversation, but I believe it. Too many times, God has slapped me with the reality of the system’s antagonism. I have been depressed enough to die over the fact that, although I knew I was in the right, the system turned against me. Why? I cried to the Lord. And He said, because it’s not My system, not My Kingdom, not My Way. When I abandoned the world and stepped back into the Way, miraculously, one might say, the problem was resolved. Peace came into my life, and I walked again in light.

Weeping endures for the night – for the world is in darkness, even unto this hour. But joy comes in the morning.