Worldly Wisdom

But God has selected [for His purpose] the foolish things of the world to shame the wise [revealing their ignorance], and God has selected [for His purpose] the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong [revealing their frailty]. I Corinthians 1:27 (Amplified Bible, AMP) emphasis mine

And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:12-13 (KJV)

When I was a child, I thought the best way to become knowledgeable and wise would be for a person to read an entire set of encyclopedias. I viewed encyclopedias to be experts on every subject from A to Z. I assumed all the information and knowledge the world had to offer was contained in those volumes. When I got older and received Christ, I learned that encyclopedias and other refence books give us information and facts about the world around us, but they are not the most extensive or the best source of wisdom and knowledge. God, Who created everything, is the Source of understanding.

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. I Corinthians 2:14 (New International Version, NIV)

The idea of God, even the concept of a higher authority than man, is foolishness to some people. It often seems that the more “book knowledge” someone acquires, the more difficult it can be for them to understand and accept spiritual things.

Don’t you know that making friends with this corrupt world order is open aggression toward God? So anyone who aligns with this bogus world system is declaring war against the one true God. James 4:4 (The Voice, VOICE)

Worldly knowledge is contrary to knowledge of God. The world system is a carnal system, established by the devil through people who seek to be gods unto themselves. The devil used the idea of worldly knowledge and wisdom to lure Adam and Eve to rebel against God. Ever since, fallen mankind has tried to become wise through the intellect instead of by the Spirit. People who search for knowledge outside of God and his Word will find facts, but they never find truth. I am not discounting the usefulness of learning and gaining knowledge of things like mathematics, history, science, etc. However, everything that we find in secular books and resources must be viewed through the lens of Scripture. Anything that contradicts the Word of God must be considered to be incorrect- or at the most- incomplete.

You can search every book and resource the world has to offer and you will not find the wisdom and truth that the Bible contains. Studying many books, documents, and other things can provide information, but information itself does not transform us from the inside-out. Only the living supernatural, Word of God can do that. I encourage you to place study of the Word above the pursuit of any other source of information. Worldly wisdom always falls short. Only the truth of the Scriptures will make you wise.