Superficial vs. Spiritual Wisdom...Continued from page 6

The eternal wisdom of the Kingdom of God is viewed as foolishness to the kingdom of this earth. It is currency that is irrelevant. It doesn't make sense. It is puzzling.

Perhaps one of the best examples of this was the trouble Jimmy Carter got into when he, as a Christian running for president, very candidly admitted to the editors of Playboy Magazine that, although he had been faithful as a husband to his wife, he occasionally had "sexual lust in his heart." Those of us who are biblical followers of Jesus understand clearly what he said. We've been there too. Even as he was acknowledging his faithfulness to his marriage vows, he wanted to make very clear that he was not a perfect person, that he needed the forgiveness of Jesus Christ on a daily basis. Remember how the world laughed at him? He was right on theologically but became a joke to nonbelievers. Even now, 25 years out of the presidency, he becomes front-page news when he goes into a ghetto here or abroad and gives a week of his time at manual labor, helping the underprivileged through Habitat For Humanity. Incumbent presidents and Hollywood celebrities take those photo opportunities to be seen with a hammer in hand and work for an hour or two enhancing their images, but they don't do it for a week at a time. That's not the stuff of people in power. To a follower of Jesus, whatever his political party association may be, someone like Jimmy Carter is simply fleshing out his faith alongside the rest of us who are not as prominent and newsworthy. Don't be surprised when some people view you as odd when you are faithful to your Lord.

Assertion Three: No one can figure this wisdom out on his or her own.

It is impossible to come to this truth of God without God's specific revelation. Paul paraphrases an Old Testament statement when he writes, "But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him'-these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God" (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

This is the wisdom of the before time, end time and after time. Paul is saying that the most brilliant of persons living in time alone could never come up with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, the most brilliant persons who have ever walked the face of this earth cannot, in a clear and rational way, articulate the notion of before time and after time, much less be able to figure out the strange mysteries of the Creator, Sustainer God, who was before time, will be after all time is over and who functions in His triune nature here within the very midst of time.

Eternal truth is not perceived through the eye. We can see nature. It gives us wonderful pleasure. We enjoy art. Some of our most satisfying sensations come through the eye. We can study science. It is dependent upon observable data. However, when we see nature defaced into that which is ugly and observes science gone crazy in nuclear holocaust or physical disease or in legal transgression, we need healing that goes beyond our gifts of observation.