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.

Shake, Shake, Shake

For no man can lay another foundation except that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 3:11

I started to use a longer quote with the several verses which follow this one, but I stalled out on the enormity of this claim: No man can lay another foundation. It does not say that there are other foundations that are less adequate. If our lives have a foundation, it is Christ. All other ground, as the song says, is shifting sand. The raccoon readers will instantly understand what this does not mean.

We know that there is reality, and there is awareness. In the world today the rankest atheist owes his or her very existence to this foundation despite being unable to grasp or acknowledge it. The fact that the saints, whose lives are consciously founded upon this Rock, are salted into the world makes civilization as we know it possible. We may be only votive candles but we are light – lit, in many cases, by the blazing torches of the great saints we have encountered -- only candles, but without us there is no light at all.

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

The world wants to move on. The system may even give a nod to “values”, but it wants to smear Christ with talk of hypocrisy, control, and hatred, of witch hunts, and inquisitions. Now that people have been “enlightened” there is no longer a need for them to cling to superstitions. They are capable of creating their own foundation upon which to build.

In describing an antichrist Daniel speaks of one rejecting the Absolute and embracing a god of fortresses, or better, forces. The people of the world system reject the Ground of Being and look instead at the little castles erected here and there, at the signs of power. They worship not the Source of power but power alone. For politicians of every stripe the focus is on the accumulation and consolidation of power.

Science, politics, art, money, knowledge, et al – can these be foundations? Can anything be erected upon these pillars? The answer is no, unless these things rest upon the foundation of Christ. They can provide no meaning, nothing on which to stand in themselves. They are only methods for creating solutions or deriving support from the foundation. Though good and useful when built on the Rock, they are otherwise doomed to failure, deceptively promising something new but delivering only utter destruction.

Last Friday we had a derecho blow through with hurricane-force winds that spawned nearly twenty tornadoes in our immediate area. Last night another storm came and again snapped limbs and uprooted trees. Houses and schools have been destroyed. When the wind is blowing eighty miles an hour, you think about the roofers and the framers, but it all begins with the ones who dug deep down and poured the concrete.

Change is coming, baby, believe it or not. Ready or not. Storms can be outlawed but they cannot be stopped. Catastrophic events, wars, earthquakes, floods and famine will come no matter what the words on the teleprompter say.

Foundations are so expensive. Let’s spend that concrete money on a gourmet kitchen instead.

Alas, Babylon.