Wisdom on Election Day

Scripture: Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness." 1 Corinthians 3:18-19

Observation: Paul has spent some time distinguishing between wisdom of the world vs. the wisdom of God. At the heart of the matter is the greatness in the wisdom of Jesus Christ as the crucified sacrifice for our salvation. This is a set of facts - a man claiming to be Messiah but then crucified and killed - that is utter folly to wise and educated Greeks, but is the ultimate wisdom of God for redeeming all mankind.

Repeatedly in the first three verses, Paul discusses the wisdom of the world as foolish, and the foolish perception of faith as wisdom. His message has two parts, however, and only one is about encouraging the church to understand the wisdom of their faith and the foolishness of doubt. The other part is about any and all value to earthly wisdom of any kind. By relying on earthly wisdom - a form of wisdom that our faith by definition should find suspect - divisions and arguments are arising in the church. Worldly wisdom is hurting the church, and needs to be addressed.

Application: Today is election day in the U.S., and our nation is radically divided in a way that hasn't existing since the 1860s. This division is clearly driven by earthly wisdom ... two different ideologies that cannot and will not find common ground or compromises, to the point that their understanding of each other is no longer that they are 'wrong' but that they are now 'evil' or 'dangerous' or 'repulsive'. There will be no winner today, as the result will only strengthen and divide. We are in a bad and dangerous place.

And this is all about the wisdom of the world, a wisdom that is pure foolishness. All the machinations of this world are meaningless without faith in Jesus, and thus all the debates about worldly issues are folly in the context of an ever-increasing departure from faith in our country.

As the church, we cannot be part of the debate. We must do what Paul says in 1 Corinthians: We must preach Christ crucified ... total foolishness to the wise Republicans and Democrats of this world, but the source of all wisdom for those who believe and understand.

Prayer: Lord, I join with millions of others today and pray for the United States. I honestly don't care who becomes presidents, as I cannot see a positive way forward with either candidate. It says more about our nation that our choice came down to this in the first place. We are a lost people, living in a dark time. Please give your church the light, and keep us strong in the midst of scoffing and scorn. Shape the person who enters the office, and shape our hearts to preach Christ crucified. Amen, and amen.